Meteoric Shower of April 20, 1803. 359 



April, 1803. The beholders have, in several places, given certi- 

 ficates of what they witnessed. They declare that night the 

 heavens seemed to be all on fire, from the abundance of lucid me- 

 teors. They passed over head in all directions, and were too 

 numerous to be counted. One witness counted one hundred and 

 sixty-seven in about fifteen minutes, and could not then number 

 them all. This luminous display continued from one until after 

 three o'clock in the morning. Part of the time the light was so 

 great that a pin might be picked up on the ground. The modern 

 opinion of these appearances is, that they consist of phlogistous gas, 

 (inflammable air) catching fire in the upper region of the atmos- 

 phere. But it is not easy to explain wherefore the air of so many 

 parts of the continent was so over-charged with hydrogenous va- 

 por so early in the season. [! !] The coruscations are stated from 

 all parts to have been unusually frequent and brilliant." — Medical 

 Repository, (8vo, New York,) 2d Hex. vol. i, 1803-4, p. 300. 



2. Observations at Richmond, Ya., N. lat. 37° 32'; W. Ion. 

 77° 26'. " Shooting Stars. — This electrical phenomenon was ob- 

 served on Wednesday morning last at Richmond and its vicinity, 

 in a manner that alarmed many, and astonished every person 

 who beheld it. From one until three in the morning, those 

 starry meteors seemed to fall from every point in the heavens, in 

 such numbers as to resemble a shower of sky rockets. The in- 

 habitants happened at the same hour to be called from their houses 

 by the fire-bell, which was rung on account of a fire that broke 

 out in one of the rooms of the Armoury, but which was speedily 

 extinguished. Every one, therefore, had an opportunity of wit- 

 nessing a scene of nature, which never before was displayed in this 

 part of the globe, and which probably will never appear again. 

 Several of these shooting meteors were accompanied with a train 

 of fire, that illuminated the sky for a considerable distance. One, 

 in particular, appeared to fall from the zenith, of the apparent size 

 of a ball of eighteen inches diameter, that lighted for several sec- 

 onds the whole hemisphere. During the continuance of this re- 

 markable phenomenon, a hissing noise in the air was plainly 

 heard, and several reports, resembling the discharge of a pistol. 

 Had the city bell not been ringing, these reports would probably 

 have seemed louder. The sky was remarkably clear and serene, 

 and the visible fixed stars numerous the whole night. We are 

 anxious to know at what distance from Richmond this phenome- 



