Matice of several Meteors. 317 



No sparks were observed. The whole appeared lo be a 

 compact mass of fire, in which was combined all the red- 

 ness of Mars, and the softer light of the moon. The whole 

 appearance was sublime, beyond description. At about 

 30 degrees from the zenith, westward, it began rapidly to 

 decline, and in two seconds became, to appearance, extinct; 

 its tail, in the mean time, lengthening to 10 or 15 degrees, 

 forming a narrow red streak of evanescent fire. About three 

 minutes after it had disappeared, a noise was heard resem- 

 bling cannon, or distant thunder, and in a westerly direc- 

 tion." 



A letter respecting this meteor, addressed by Mr. Samuel 

 Turney to the Editor, and dated Chester county, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Dec. 9th, 1819, states : — 



" It passed near Easton on the Delaware, and a sound 

 was heard in the direction of the body. Easton lies nearly 

 north from us. It first appeared here in the northeast at 

 an elevation of about 45 degrees. Its light was very vi- 

 vid — a blaze streaming from it to a considerable distance. 

 When it had arrived at abont 40 degrees from the horizon 

 in the south or southwest it suddenly disappeared, and after 

 a lapse of two, three, or four minutes, two reports were 

 heard. The sound continued (a succession of echoes I sup- 

 pose) for many seconds. 



You will not hesitate to pronounce this for the want of a 

 better name a terrestrial comet. That it was a solid body 

 cannot be doubted if we consider its velocity. Its height 

 must have been at least twenty miles, and it passed through 

 our hemisphere in a very few seconds. No gaseous body 

 could be carried at this rate, moving as they uniformly do, 

 I believe, with the currents in the air. 



The sound heard at Easton about sixty miles north of us, 

 could not be the same, I think, with that heard here, which 

 came from a point not less than thirty miles to the south. 

 The body then must have been ignited a second time. 



I have not been able to get such information as I wish 

 with regard to the apparent size of the body. It is, by many 

 who were capable of judging in such a case, declared to have 

 been of about one third of the apparent size of the moon, 

 by which I understand that its diameter appeared to them 



