On Meteoric Showers in August. 395 
universally remarked, that the air this night, for many hours after the eruption, 
was filled with meteors, such as are vulgarly called falling stars; they shot gen- 
erally in a horizontal pasar, leaving a luminous trace behind them, but which 
quickly disappeared. The ont was remarkably fine, starlight, and without a 
cloud. This kind of electrical fire seemed to be harmless, and never to reach the 
ground.”—Ann. Reg. pp. 81, 82. 
It is scarcely possible that these meteors came from Vesuvius. 
The writer says expressly, that at 7 at night all was calm, and gives 
us no intimation that there were, after that hour, until the morning 
of the 11th, any signs of disturbance in the mountain. If these 
bodies proceeded from the crater, they must have been visible in 
their ascent. Moreover, had they been either incandescent or burn- 
ing particles ejected from the volcano, they must have fallen to the 
earth. 
The constant expectation of a new volcanic eruption, doubtless 
induced many persons to maintain a vigilant watch during the night, 
and thus they happened to witness this display of shooting stars, 
which might otherwise have passed unnoticed. 
(3.) The following extracts are taken from the “ Results of « 
Meteorological Journal for August, 1826, kept at the Observatory 
of the Royal Academy, Gosport, Hants,” contained in Taylor’s 
Philosoph. Mag. and Journal, 8vo. No. 341. London, Sept. 1826. 
Vol. 68. 
“This high mean temperature is chiefly owing to the warm and sultry nights 
in which meteors were frequently seen. In the night of the 10th instant, from 9 
till 12 P. M., there was a fine display of meteors in all directions, amounting to 42 ; 
the lower ones appeared the largest and most luminous, and several left long 
sparkling trains behind them. It is remarkable that these meteors appeared 
almost at regular intervals, viz., three, four, and sometimes five, in quick succes- 
sion about every quarter of an hour. There were dark horizontal beds of cirros- 
tratus-of an electrical appearance moving about at the time, which with freshen- 
ing breezes from the westward, seemed to favour their appearance. Two brilliant 
meteors, each about four inches [ ! ] in apparent diameter, were also seen here in 
the nights of the 18th and 27th. They descended comparatively slow from an 
alt. of 44° or 45°, and in the mean time each separated into two distinct meteors 
before they disappeared. According to observations made here for some years 
past, meteors have been more prevalent in August, than in any other month.” 
pp. 237, 238. 
(4.) In the Philosophical Magazine and Journal, 8vo. London, 
No. 277, May, 1821, Vol. 57, p. 346, is a “Series of Queries re- 
garding Shooting Stars and Meteors,” by John Farey, Sen., in 
which he furnishes evidence that on the night of August 9, 1820, 
there was seen at G'osport, a very unusual number of shooting stars. 
