383 Miscellanies. 



morning gun, this ball was seen about southeast of Goat Hill ; it then 

 darted along to a considerable distance westward ; and immediately 

 after it disappeared, there was an explosion as of great guns, in quick 

 succession, three times, from the sky, with a quaking: the distance of 

 time between each report was only about a second ; and fifteen or 

 twenty seconds after the whole, fort James fired its notice gun. 

 These are my own observations, and of half a dozen respectable per- 

 sons, who saw the whole, and on whose character I can depend for 

 the truth, and who were so shocked at the time, that they betook 

 themselves instantly to prayer." 



5. Splendid Meteoric Fire-Bail. — On the morning of Wednes- _ 

 day, May 13, 1840, about 3 o'clock, a meteor of very uncommon 

 splendor was seen in Connecticut, and in many places in the adjoin- 

 ing States. At New Haven, the illumination caused by the meteor 

 was surprisingly vivid; but the person who saw the light, was pre- 

 vented by a large building, from obtaining a view of the body. He 

 could only perceive that its course was from S. E. to E. Accounts 

 from Albany, N. Y., Boston, Mass., and other places, all agree in 

 stating the light of the meteor to have been uncommonly powerful, 

 and its apparent size nearly or quite equal to the moon at full. The 

 accounts do not give the data necessary for determining the path, 

 velocity, or size of this meteor, which was, undoubtedly, one of 

 those from which stony masses are thrown down to the earth. The 

 report of the explosion was, of course, much less distinctly heard 

 here than in the eastern part of the State. Through the kindness of 

 Mr. Gurdon Trumbull, of Stonington, I have received the following 

 account of the occurrence from Capt. Comstock, of the steamboat 

 Massachusetts, who happened to be near the scene of the explosion. 

 It seems probable that when the meteor exploded, it was over the 

 town of Westerly, in Rhode Island. E. C. H. 



"The meteor observed on the 13th of May, at 3 A. M., bore at its 

 starting point, (from my position, in lat. 41° 18' N. ; long. 71° 57' 

 W.,) about E. S. E. perhaps 60° above the horizon, and went with 

 great rapidity on a course N. N. W. I W., at an inclination of about 

 30° towards the earth. When bearing N. E. or thereabouts, it par- 

 tially exploded ; the remainder (in appearance nearly as large as at 

 first,) pursued the same course as before, until it descended within a 

 short distance of the horizon, when it exploded with a report which I 

 distinctly heard. At the time of its explosion, it bore N. N. E., per- 

 haps a little more northerly. Its size appeared larger than the full 

 moon. There was a brilliant train left behind, which retained its 

 brightness some seconds after the main body had become entirely ex- 



