Miscellanies. 385 



from the same liquid by sulphuric acid, usually known as defiant gas, 

 and with which the former has been confounded, contains two of car- 

 bon and two of hydrogen in one volume, as is generally received. 



The gas-light gas therefore contains twice as much hydrogen in 

 proportion to its carbon, as those above described, and this might 

 have been inferred from its being sufficiently buoyant for balloons, 

 agreeably to Mr. Wise's aeronautical experience. As the excess of 

 hydrogen tends to lessen the liability to smoke, it is presumed that 

 the gas, as constituted, may be preferable, for the purpose of illumina- 

 tion, to such as contain a greater proportion of carbon. — Journal of 

 the FranJclin Insiitute, July, 1839. 



55. Fall of a Meteorite in Missouri, February 13, 1839. — On the 

 afternoon of the 13th of February, 1839, a meteor exploded near the 

 settlement of Little Piney, Missouri, (lat. 37° 55' N. ; Ion. 92° 5' W.) 

 and cast down to the earth one stony mass or more in that vicinity. 

 Mr- Forrest Shepherd, of this city, who was at the time exploring this 

 region in the line of his profession ; viz. that of a mineralogical and 

 geological surveyor; hearing of the explosion of the meteor, exerted 

 himself to collect all the circumstances of the occurrence. He subse- 

 quently succeeded in obtaining several fragments of one of the stones 

 thrown down by the meteor. Mr. Shepherd has favored me with an 

 opportunity to examine these fragments, and has also communicated 

 to me the details below related. 



The meteor exploded between 3 and 4 o'clock P. M., of the 13th of 

 February, 1839, and although the sky was clear, and the sun of course 

 shining at the time, the meteor was plainly seen by persons in Potosi, 

 Caledonia, and other towns near which it passed. At Caledonia, which 

 is about nine miles southwesterly from Potosi, the meteor passed a lit- 

 tle north, and at the latter place, a little to the south of the zenith. Its 

 course was almost precisely to the west. The most eastern spot at 

 which it was seen is about fifteen miles west of St. Genevieve, (or 

 about kt. 37f° N. ; Ion. 90° W.) — the most western is Little Piney, 

 near which it exploded. To the observers at the latter place, the 

 meteor appeared of the size of a large star. They represent its mo- 

 tion as very slow ; but do not state how many seconds it was in sight. 

 We have no data for determining the meteor's size, or velocity, or the 

 inclination of its path to the horizon. The direction of the meteor's 

 motion with regard to that of the earth, was probably such that the 

 velocity of the former would be apparently diminished ; and as at Lit- 

 tle Piney the meteor must have traversed only a small arc, its mo_ 

 tion, to an observer there, would appear quite slow. At the time of 

 the occurrence, Mr. Shepherd was on the western bank of the Missis- 



Vol. XXXVII, No. 2.— July-October, 1839. 49 



