Shooting Stars of August, 1839. 335 



2 — 2J, 10. M. duetelet remarks that their general direction was 

 from N. E. to S. W. ; and if the sky had been clear, many more 

 would doubtless have been seen. (2.) At Geneva, during the 

 night of the 10th, six observers saw from 8 P. M. to 4 A. M. 

 (11th,) 380 meteors. Mr. C. states that the meteors did not ap- 

 pear to come from a common focus ; but the details which he 

 gives, correspond substantially with the account of their direction 

 given by Ciuetelet. On the night of the 11th, meteors were 

 nearly as abundant as on the 10th. M. Wartmann, in his ac- 

 count of the same observations, [Bih. Univ. Aout, 1838,) adds, 

 that — (3.) At Planchettes, Switzerland, M. Reynier, observed 

 alone, between 9 P. M. of 9th and 2 A. M. of 10th August, sixtt/- 

 ihree meteors ; and on the night succeeding, from SJ P. M. to 

 2 A. M., one hundred and four. (4.) At Vienna, (as appears by 

 a note in L'Institut, No. 261, Dec. 27, 1838,) M. Littrow (with 

 how many assistants is not stated) observed at the August epoch 

 in 1838, with the following results. On the 7th and 8th, meteors 

 were counted at the rate of about 6 per hour ; 9th, 15 per hour ; 

 10th, 60 per hour ; 11th and 12th, about 30 per hour. It was 

 then cloudy until 18th, and the mean number seen during the 

 clear intervals was 10 per hour. 



It must be remembered, that on this occasion the light of the 

 moon greatly interfered with the observations, concealing, proba- 

 bly, full half of the meteors which might have been seen in her 

 absence. 



Additional facts co?2cerning the Meteoric season of August. 



During the year past, the following additional evidence has 

 come to my knowledge. 



(1.) In a letter to Dr. Rush, dated Northumberland, Pa., May 

 4th, 1801, Dr. Joseph Priestley makes the annexed statement, 

 which, although expressed with singular indirectness, doubtless 

 refers to a very considerable display of shooting stars. " Also on 

 the eighth of August last, I was called out of my house to ob- 

 serve a singular kind of lightning ; indeed, it was more of the na- 

 ture of a meteor than of lightning ; for the flashes were of some 

 continuance, and many of them threw out a prodigious number 

 of balls of fire. One of these streams of lightning, for they could 

 not well be called fashes, very much resembled a rocket. It 

 arose from below the horizon, and extended beyond the zenith ; 

 and there came from all the parts of it, in every direction, small 



