Miscellanies. 381 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



' 3. Most Brilliant Meteor. — On the evening of the 14th (August 

 or July, 1839, old style, i. e. 26th, new style,) about 9 P, M., Capt. 

 Pellegrines, being on the coast near Koutzolara, saw an extraordina- 

 ry meteor toward the shores of Albania, Greece. A luminous body, 

 which at first appeared like a common falling-star, crossed the sky 

 from North to South ; the blazing nucleus soon bursting forth with 

 so much splendor that it eclipsed the stars, and turned night into day. 

 It seemed as though the vessel would be burned up. The duration of 

 the meteor was, as usual, very short; but when it disappeared it left 

 behind it a long and broad fiery track, which, for the space of twenty 

 minutes, accurately noted, sparkled like Bengal fire; until after an 

 undulating motion, it curled up into the form of the letter Z, and by 

 degrees ceased to be visible. 



(Translated from the flnlog Tov Aaov, Athens, Sept. IS, [O. S.] 

 1839, p. 64, where it is quoted from the Journal of Corcyra, Corfu.) 



4. Explosion of a Meteor near Antigua, West Indies. — The fol- 

 lowing account is taken from the Dansk Westindisk Regierings 

 Avis, of Jan. 2, 1840. 



" On Saturday morning, November 9, 1839, a little after daybreak, 

 a concussion was felt in this town, preceded by a sound like the dis- 

 charge of a heavy piece of ordnance, not far off, with blank cartridge, 

 with reverberations ; we thought it might be an earthquake. The im- 

 pression was various in the town, it being an hour at which so few 

 persons are awake: some thought it thunder; others, guns; and 

 others, again, the explosion of one of the magazines at the forts at 

 the mouth of the harbor. On inquiry in the course of the day, we 

 heard that it was said by some servants and laborers, who were out 

 soon, that it was a star with a train of fire, which came from the 

 eastward, passed over the town toward the sea, and burst in a blaze. 

 Anxious for all the information we could procure, we sent down to 

 the fort, about three miles below the town, and at the south entrance 

 to the harbor, to desire the chief signal man to report any observa- 

 tions he may have made on that morning. The following reply, 

 coming from a person of great steadiness of character and intelli- 

 o-ence, may be relied upon. It has been since fully corroborated by 

 others, and especially fishermen, who were at sea at a very early hour 



that morning." 



" Queen's Battery, Goat Hile, Nov. 11, 1839. 



"I received your note yesterday about that ball or star. It was 

 the case ; about two or three minutes before James's fort fired the 



Vol. XXXIX, No. 2.— July-September, 1840. 49 



