394 On the Meteors of 13t7i JVovemher. 



(1.) Their course was directly downwards, and not oblique as Is 

 usually seen, except in two instances, when the course was horizon- 

 tal, nearly in a straight line, from N. E. to S. W., and these tvfo 

 meteors were high and small. ('Observer,' Boston Centinel.) 



(2.) See Mr. Palmer's observations, p. 384. 



(3.) The line of descent was rectilinear, the course from the di- 

 rection of the zenilh towards the horizon, and most generally in a 

 line varying from 10° to 45° from a vertical line. Many fell direct- 

 ly downwards towards the earth. (Philadelphia National Gazette.) 



(4.) All tended westward. (Dr. S. B. Smith, Annapolis Re- 

 publican.) 



(5.) The greater number inclined in a path towards the west and 

 north, in an angle of 60° with the zenith, [with a vertical line .'' ] 

 while some few seemed almost perpendicular, and others, nearly 

 parallel with the surface of the earih. (At Halifax, Vir. Richmond 

 Enquirer.) 



(6.) Their direction was a little to the vilest of a perpendicitlar 

 line, when you look north or south. (Augusta, Geo. Courier.) 



(7.) They fell in every direction resembling a fall of snow. (Geo. 

 Messenger at Macon.) 



(8.) At Concord, N. H. the course of many of the meteors was 

 observed /rom ike horizon towards the zenith, and in every other 

 direction. (Professor Caswell.) 



(9.) They all passed, while visible, with great velocity through the 

 air, but in no uniform direction ; some rose, some fell, others moved 

 horizontally, and others again at every conceivable angle to those 

 several courses. (Buffalo Journal.) 



(10.) At Poland, (Ohio,) these fell uniformly from S. E. to N. 

 W., forming an acute angle with a vertical line. (Dr. J. P. Kirtland.) 



(11.) At Matanzas, (Cuba,) they descended in perpendicular lines, 

 describing arcs from the zenilh to the horizon. (Mr. A. Mallory to 

 Professor Silliman.) 



8. Apparent origin. — The meteors, as seen by most observers, 

 appeared to proceed from a fixed point in the heavens, which some 

 referred to the zenith, and others to a point a little S. E. of the ze- 

 nith. Those who marked its position among the fixed stars, observ- 

 ed it to be in the constellation Leo, in which it appeared stationary, 

 accompanying that constellation in its diurnal progress. 



(1.) From a point in the heavens, about 15° S. E. from our ze- 

 nith, the meteors darted to the horizon in every part of the compass. 

 (New York Commercial Advertiser.) 



(2.) They appeared in every direction, but chiefly shooting from 

 the zenith to the east and south. (Great Falls, N. H. paper.) 



m 



