Miscellanies. 203 



4, Further account of the Shooting Stars of Aug. 9 and 10, 1839. 



1. Columbia, Tenn., W. lat. 35° 36' ; W. Ion. 87°.— Mr. Thomas 

 R. Dutton has coraraunicated to me the following observations made 

 on the night of August 9, 1839. "From Oh. 41m. A. M. (Aug. 10,) 

 to Ih. 3lm., I saw 45 shooting stars; three fourths of these pro- 

 ceeded from a radiant ; about one fourth had trains. From 2h. 36m. 

 to 3h. 6m. I saw 35 ; from 3h. 6m. to 3h. 36ra. I saw 20. Of those 

 which had trains, scarcely one moved in an unconformable direction : 

 of those seen from 2h. 36m. to 3h. 6m. about three fourths left trains 

 behind them, and five sixths of them obeyed the radiant. The meteors 

 were not as large or as brilliant as those of last year, but resembled 

 them in other particulars. I observed the progression of the radiating 

 point noticed last year by Mr. Schaeffer." (This Journal, Vol. xxxv, 

 p. 169.) 



3. At Tunhridge Wells, (Eng.) N. lat. 51° T ; E. Ion. 15', "Prof. 

 Powell saw on the 10th of August, 1839, a very brilliant exhibition 

 of meteoric stars : they averaged from 15 to 20 in the quarter of an 

 hour : they all left trains of light after them : the motion of all was 

 from N. toward the S." Lond. Athenczum, Aug. 31, 1839, p. 657. 



3. At Brandshury House, about 3 miles N. W. of London. Ed- 

 ward Cooper, Esq., aided by Messrs. Jones and Fenton, observed 

 during 3h. 22m. on the night of Aug. 10, 1839. The sky was at 

 times partially overcast. "The average number of meteors observed 

 in the half hemisphere to which we attended, was 44. Three or four 

 were very splendid, but none equal to the finest seen Aug. 10, 1838, 

 at Geneva. The general result however fully establishes the fact that 

 the nights of the 10th or 11th of August, furnish a most remarkable 

 exhibition of these interesting celestial travellers." Extract from a 

 paper hy Mr. Cooper, in Lond. and Ed. Phil. Mag., Nov. 1839, p. 373. 



4. Breslau. N. lat. 51° 6|'; E. Ion. 17° 2'. The St. James's Chron- 

 icle, of London, Sept. 5, 1839, contains a translation of an account 

 published by Von Boguslawski in the Prussian State Gazette, of me- 

 teoric observations, at the August epoch, made under his superinten- 

 dence. The following is an abstract of the account. " For several 

 days previous to August 10, 1839, the sky was overcast. The night 

 of the 10th was clear, and at dusk, it was evident that an unusual fall 

 of meteors had begun. Arrangements were made for observing the 

 numbers, times, durations, magnitudes, courses, &,c. of the meteors. 

 These however were not completed until 9h. 26m. P. M., when all 

 the observers, fifteen in number, were assembled. Eleven (?) were sta- 

 tioned at the six windows of the Observatory, and four at the clocks. 

 In the course of 5h. 48m. ending at 3h. 14m. (A. M. of the 11th, 

 when daylight interfered,) they noticed one thousand and eight shoot- 



