346 On the Meteors of 13th November, 1833. 
in the same part of the heavens which Mr. Palmer found to expire 
after four seconds, and which were in length 40°—from Mr Merrick’s 
estimate of time, and his remark respecting its angular velocity—and, 
above all, from what the writer himself witnessed respecting the ra- 
pidity of other meteors’ flights, one cannot venture toassign to this mete- 
or a longer duration than three seconds, or certainly than four. Oth- 
er means of verifying the result have been attempted,—one of whicl: 
was the revolution, in a dark room, of a wheel of considerable diam- 
eter having a brilliant spark attached to its circumference—whose 
angular velocity was calculated, at the moment when the spark pre- 
sented an apparent motion like that of the similar sparks which were 
recollected in the sky. Without stating particular results, we may say 
that it is only from a reliance upon Mr. Palmer’s measurements that we 
have been willing to assign a time of flight quite so long as even three 
seconds. ‘To the velocity deduced from these considerations some- 
thing still must be added, for the effect of retardation in the atmos- 
phere—an effect which we shall not now attempt to estimate. Our 
conclusions come to this; that this particular meteor, and probably all 
the meteors, entered the atmosphere with a velocity not less, but perhaps 
greater, than fourteen miles in a second ; that they became luminous 
many miles from the earth—in this case over eighty miles ; and be- 
came extinct high above the surface—in this case nearly thirty miles. 
Obs. 3. We are now prepared to enter upon the question whether 
the meteors are to be ascribed to a celestial or a terrestrial cause ; 
and to review, as was proposed in the beginning, the real strength of 
the hypothesis advanced by Prof. Olmsted. In making this review, 
however, the author proposes, as the more effectual Fociked of trying. 
the basis of the hypothesis, not to tread upon ground occupied by that 
gentleman, except in relation to one or two general and obvious ideas, 
which are common to the two arguments ; but to pursue that line of 
investigation which originally led the author to those coincident con- 
clusions which Prof. Olmsted has alluded to, in his memoir. The 
author begs leave here to repeat the remark that he is not able, as 
yet, to adopt even his own inferences respecting the cause, inany other 
way than-as conjectural and highly eredible—and even that, only in 
obedience to a limitation which will be pointed out in the end of the 
argument. ‘This being understood, we put down, briefly and deci- 
dedly, under a few general heads our ideas respecting the present as- 
pect of this subject. 
