134 On the Meteors of 13th November, 1833. 
into still smaller balls, till it disappeared. Looking up, they saw the 
other portion of the meteor just as it disappeared in the distance 
before them. This phenomenon was attended with no noise or 
heat, and their clothing exhibited no traces of having been in con- 
tact with any foreign substance.”* 
6. The St. Petersburg Academical Gazette, contains the follow- 
ing account of an extraordinary phenomenon from a letter dated 
Moscow, May 2, 1832. ‘In March last, there fell in the fields of 
the village of Kourianof, thirteen versts from Wolokolamsk, a com- 
bustible substance of a yellowish color, at least two inches thick, and 
covering a superficies of between six and seven hundred square feet. 
The inhabitants, at first, thought it was snow, but on examination, it 
appeared to have the properties of cotton, having, on being torn, the 
same tenacity ; but, on being put into a vessel full of water, it assu- 
med the consistence of rosin. On being put to the fire, in its primi- 
tive state, it burnt and sent forth a flame like spirits of wine; but in 
its resinous state, it boiled on the fire, without becoming inflamed, 
probably because it was mixed with some portion of snow, from 
which it had been taken. After a more minute examination, the 
rosin had the cclor of amber, was elastic like indian rubber, and 
smelt like prepared oil, mixed with wax.y 
7. “Soon after six o’clock in the morning of the 14th November, 
1832, (says a letter from Bruneck, in the Tyrol) a broad stream of light 
suddenly descended from the center of the firmament nearly down 
to the ground, and was then drawn gradually up again to the middle 
of the sky, whence, for several seconds, it stretched itself out to- 
wards the north in a long train of light, which first appeared in a 
straight, and then changed into a wavy line; after this, it gathered 
into a light orb resembling a white cloud, and remained stationary in 
the center of the firmament for a full quarter of an hour, when it 
disappeared with the break of day. The appearance was accompa- 
nied with so vivid a degree of illumination that the smallest pebble in 
the road was readily distinguishable, and those who were abroad at 
the time, were completely panic struck. ‘The sky, instead of being 
muddy with vapor, as is common at this season, and at this time in 
the morning, was clear and cloudless, and the air remarkably serene 
and tranquil. Between five and six o’clock, however, an unusual 
* B. N. Sill, Esq., of Cuyahoga Falls, (communicated to the writer.) 
t Annual Register, 1832. 
