\ 
178 On the Shooting Stars of August 9th and 10th, 1837. . 
1. The observations of Prof. Brandes above mentioned. 
2. In the meteorological observations appended to the ‘“‘ Report of 
the Regents of the University of the State of N. York, made March, 
1837,” is the following entry, p. 169. ‘August 9, 1836, meteors 
frequent during the night, Bridgewater, N. Y.”’ No other like entry 
occurs throughout the year.* ; 
3. “ During the extreme heat which introduced the pestilence of 
the last summer, 1798, about the 9th of August, the small meteors 
or falling stars were incredibly numerous for several nights. They 
almost all shot from the northeast to the southwest, and succeeded 
each other so rapidly as to keep the eye of a curious spectator almost 
constantly engaged.” Dr. N. Webster’s “Brief History of Epi- 
demic and Pestilential Diseases,” &c. (2 vols. 8vo. Hartford, 1799,) 
vol. 11. p. 89. It will be noticed that these meteors coincided very 
nearly in direction with those of 1837. 
4. Mr. Caleb Gannett in a Historical Register of the Aurora Bo- 
realis, contained in the Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. i. 
(Boston, 1785, 4to.) p. 327, states that on the night of August 
8th, 1781, ‘ Meteors appeared in great numbers, shooting, in gen- 
eral, from N. W. to S. E.” 
5. An unusual display appears to have been witnessed in Wor- 
cestershire, (England,) August 10th, 1833, but the notices of the 
event, within my reach, are so scanty, that the case cannot at pres- » 
ent be considered a very strong one. Mr. W. B. Clarke, in a me- 
teorological summary for 1833, (Loudon’s Mag. Nat. Hist. May, 
1837, p. 232,) reports—“‘1833, August 10th. Falling stars and 
meteors in Worcestershire 10 to 12 P. M.,” and again (idem. vol. 
vil, 1834, p. 386,) in speaking of the meteors of November, 1833, 
he asks, ‘‘ Why may we not suppose that the meteors of precisely 
x P.§8. Since this article was sent to press, I have received the following im- 
portant additional facts concerning this case, from Prof. B. F. Joslin, to whom I 
had written for information. He has kindly furnished me with a transcript of his 
meteorological record for that evening, viz. Tuesday, August 9th, 1836. I regret 
that there is room here only for his results. ‘‘ Combining the above observations, 
I conclude that during most of the evening, at least when observations were made, 
Jate or early, the shooting stars fell in the observed and unobserved quarters of © 
the sky at the rate of about one hundred and fifty per hour; that those which did 
not leave trains were small; that the trains were real; that the long trains were 
all small; that the large brilliant trains were all short; that all the meteors de- 
scended; and that they appeared at a time when an aurora might have been ex- 
pected had not the barometer become stationary; yet it had been rising, and the ~ 
. thermometer falling.” The observations were made at Schenectady, N. Y- 
