Miscellanies. ' 201 



especially as only six persons chanced to be within this tract at the 

 time — two of them within a mile of each other — three close together, 

 but about six miles from the first named, and one eight miles further 

 on. 



All that was obtained amounted to about twenty pounds avoirdupois, 

 and the analysis has been already given in this Journal, (Vol. xxxvii, 

 p. 190.) We are much impressed with the similarity of this occur- 

 rence to the famous Weston case, of Dec. 1807, of which a full ac- 

 count was published by Profs. Kingsley and Silliman, and which may 

 perhaps be republished in this Journal, as the facts were exceedingly 

 remarkable. 



We are so fortunate as to possess a good specimen of the African 

 meteorite, through the kindness of a friend in Boston. It corres- 

 ponds with Sir M. Faraday's description, and is very different in ap- 

 pearance from any meteorite which we have seen. 



Mr. Maclear concludes his account by saying that he has seen a fine 

 meteorite in the hands of a farmer in the country; it was picked up 

 nearly sixty years ago, by a Hottentot, who saw it fall, and by him it 

 was given to his master, the grandfather of the present possessor. 

 This man has refused fifty dollars for it, as the captain of a ship said 

 it would secure the possessor against the effects of a thunder storm. 



4. Further account of the Shooting Stars of August, 1840. — Dr. 

 M. D. Benedict writes to me the following : " I was called at IIP. M. 

 on the night of Aug. 11, to ride about twelve miles from Skaneatelcs, 

 N. Y. The person in company with me remarked that he had never 

 seen so many falling stars, and ray attention being thus drawn to the 

 subject, I soon noticed quite an unusual number. As we rode along, 

 we concluded to count, and in the course of two hours or a little more, 

 I counted one hundred and twenty, and my companion about the same 

 number. I had occasion to ride more or less every night in the month 

 of August, and think that during most of that time these erratic visit- 

 ors were more numerous than ordinary." 



2. Rochester, N. Y. A friend has sent me the following observa- 

 tions. " On the morning of Aug. 10, 1840, 1 looked for an hour, com- 

 mencing at 2h. 30m., chiefly toward the northwest. In this period, I 

 counted fifty eight meteors, thirteen of them being quite large and 

 leaving trains. Besides these, I saw indirectly about twenty, — either 

 just as they disappeared, or merely the trains they left." 



3. M. Quetelet informs me that at Brussels the sky was too cloudy 

 for observation. The observations in other places given below are 

 communicated by him. At Parma, in Italy, M. Colla with two other 



Vol. XL, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1840. 2Q 



