402 On the Meteors of 1 3th November. 



the appearance, as observed by the ship Hilah, on St. George^s 

 Bank, is represented to have been as splendid as at Nevir York. 

 Off Bermuda, hkewise, the ship Phoenix, of New London, (as we 

 learn from Messrs. Billings's, the owners,) witnessed such a display 

 as would correspond to the appearance at New Haven. — -Accounts 

 received from London, dated as early as the 13th of November, 

 make no mention of the meteors ; whence we infer that they were 

 not seen there, and probably not in any part of Europe. 



It is hardly possible to persuade ourselves that two concurrent phe- 

 nomena, both so remarkable as the change of weather and the falling 

 stars, were independent of each other; but it may prove a difficult 

 point to decide what was the nature of this connexion ; whether, as 

 some have hinted in observations already before the public, the me- 

 teors were occasioned by the change of weather, in consequence of 

 the highly electrical stale of the atmosphere which frequently follows 

 such a change ; or whether higher portions of the atmosphere de- 

 scended bringing the meteors along with them ; or whether the me- 

 teors themselves, by disturbing the equilibrium of the atmosphere, 

 caused air from colder regions to flow into the parts where they 

 prevailed ; or, finally, whether some common and remote cause is 

 to be sought for, that gave origin to both the change of weather 

 and the meteors. 



2. There is much indefiniteness in most of the accounts we have 

 seen, respecting the time when the phenomenon commenced. As 

 " shooting stars" are not uncommon in a clear evening, they would 

 not attract particular attention until their number became much great- 

 er than usual. All accounts agree that the phenomenon advanced 

 very gradually, but the time when the meteors first arrested attention 

 by their uncommon frequency, is variously noted. In places differing 

 many degrees of longitude from each other, as New Haven, (Con.) 

 and Macon, (Geo.), the time of commencing is fixed as early as 11 

 o'clock ; while at many places between these, the beginning was 

 much later; indicating that the descent of meteors, at a given stage 

 of their exhibition, was not equally copious upon all places lying in 

 the same meridian. 



A more accurate point of time is that at which the phenomenon 

 reached its maximum. This was at places very remote from each 

 other, as Brunswick (Maine) and Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio), about 4 

 o'clock, — a point of time which is also noted as the most remarkable 

 at places situated variously between these. This fact, therefore, ap- 



