Questions relative to Mineral Veins. 135 
them had trails, described by the men as similar to a comet, and one 
was said by them to have remained five or six minutes, though this 
doubtless was an exaggeration. ‘They also were described by them 
as having ‘split off from each other,” evidently referring to a ra- 
diation from some point. As I remained on deck but a part of the 
night, I did not see some of the most brilliant meteors as described 
to me by the men. 
Meteors were seen the night before, and as the extreme brilliancy 
on this occasion induced us to refer them to the atmosphere immedi- 
ately above us, they were carelessly ascribed to the unusual heat ; 
the minute was made and forgotten until more than two years after. 
At the time we were in sight of Pernambuco light, the night was 
one of the most splendid that I have ever seen in any latitude or un- 
der any circumstances. 
I very much regret that I have no data for the point of radiation, 
but as far as it goes, the testimony is good, the note having been 
made long before any notion was entertained of meteors being other 
than random fires of unknown origin. 
Arr. XII.—Questions relative to Mineral Veins, submitted to 
Practical Miners; by Ropert Were Fox,* England. 
1. Name of the mine, as well as of the parish or district in which 
it is situated. 
2. Number of metallic veins or lodes, and the description of ore 
which each contains. 
3. Average size, direction by compass, and underlte of each lode, 
and whether very variable or not in these respects ; and do the lodes 
generally increase or diminish in size in descending into the earth? 
4. Nature of the rocks or country traversed by each lode, whether 
granite, killas, elvan, &c., or all of them; and the bearings of the 
different rocks with respect to each other. 
5. If any elvan courses, (porphyritic dykes ;) their appearance, 
hardness, sizes, directions, and underlie. 
6. In which of the rocks have the respective lodes been found 
most productive of ore, and has there been any difference in this re- 
spect, between those of copper and tin, or of any other metal ? 
* Received through Dr. J. H. Griscom, of New York.—The eminent service 
rendered by Mr. Fox to the cause of science, especially in relation to the electri- 
city of mineral veins, entitle his queries to insertion in this place.—Editor. 
