360 Meteoric Shower of April 20, 1803. 



non has extended. It is hoped that persons who have remarked 

 it in other places, will not neglect to inform the public of the par- 

 ticulars ; as such information may add in a great degree to the 

 knowledge of meteorology. 



" Since writing the above, we have been informed that several 

 of the largest of these shooting meteors, were observed to descend 

 almost to the ground before they exploded. Indeed, many of 

 those which we saw, appeared to approach within a few yards of 

 the house tops, and then suddenly to vanish. Some persons, we 

 are told, were so alarmed, that they imagined the fire in the Ar- 

 moury was occasioned by one"^ of these meteors, and in place of 

 repairing to extinguish the earthly flames, they busied themselves 

 in contriving to protect the roofs of their houses from the fire of 

 heaven. 



'' This circumstance of the shooting stars descending within a 

 short distance of the ground, is, however, a fact highly important 

 to be known ; as it has been generally supposed that meteors 

 only proceed in a horizontal direction and never fly perpendicu- 

 larly upwards or downwards. Those which we particularly re- 

 marked, appeared to descend in an angle of sixty degrees with the 

 horizon ; but as the smaller ones were so numerous and crossed 

 each other in different directions, it was only possible to ascertain 

 with any precision, the paths of the largest and most brilliant." 

 — Quoted in N. Y. Spectator, of April 30, 1803, f'om the Vir- 

 ginia Gazette, of Richmond, April 23, 1803. 



3, Observations in Schoharie Co., N. Y. N. lat. 42|° ; W. 

 Ion. 74|°. — " In the Balance of the 17th ult. we republished from 

 the Virginia Gazette, an account of a remarkable phenomenon 

 which was observed in Richmond. The same appearance of in- 

 numerable meteors or shooting stars, has also been announced 

 from various parts of Massachusetts ; and we have just received 

 a communication from a gentleman of veracity and respectability, 

 who resides in Schoharie Co. in this State, which gives in sub- 

 stance the following particulars. He was returning home from a 

 journey, late in the same night that the meteors were observed at 

 Richmond, when he was astonished at the immense number of 

 shooting stars which fell in all directions around him. Some of 

 them approached so near the earthy that he could plainly distin- 

 guish them between the high hills on the east and west sides of 

 him, which were distant not more than half a mile. Those that 



