362 Star-Showers of Former Times. 



gensis. — Script. Rer. Bohem. pars II, p. 389. Prag. 1784 Quo- 

 ted by Boguslawsld, Jr. in Poggendorff^s Annalen der Physik 

 und Chem. B. 48, s. 612, 1839. 



(32.) A. D. 1398. "Many stars of a fiery appearance fell 

 down. At this time pestilence invaded nearly the whole of 

 Italy." 



" Anno Domini mccclxxxxviii. Multse stellae ad modum ignis 

 ceciderunt, quas Asub vocant. Tunc pestis totam fere Italiam 

 invasit." — Annales Forolivietises, in Muratori, Rer. It. Sc7\ torn, 

 xxii, p. 200. 



(33.) A. D. 1399. "An eclipse of the sun happened on the 

 second of the Calends of October. [Sept. 30.] Stars like fire 

 were also seen falling from heaven in many parts of Italy." 



" Anno Domini mcccic. Eclipsis Solis facta est secundo Ca- 

 lend. Octobris. Stellae quoque instar ignis de coelo cadentes in 

 plerisque Italiae locis visge sunt." — Annales Forolivienses, in Mu- 

 ratori, Rer. It. Scr. t. xxii, p. 200. 



(34.) A. D. 1635, 1636. "During the whole summer of 1635, 

 no less than during that of 1636, signs of this sort were seen, viz. 

 burning stars running together in the heavens in great numbers 

 and falling to the earth." 



"Hujus quoque generis varia signa pestein Noviomagensem 

 prsenunciare visa sunt : Tota enim sestate anni 1635, non minus 

 quam anni 1636, hujusmodi indicia se prodiderunt : Nempe, stel- 

 larum ardentium in coelo oberrantium magnus concursus, et in 

 terram prolapsio." — Dierm,erhroeck: Op. omnia, fol. Ultraj. 1685: 

 De Peste, p. 10. Q.uoted in Wehstefs Hist. Epidem. and Pes- 

 tilen. Diseases, Vol. 2, p. 89. 



If this is to be interpreted literally, it must be considered an ex- 

 travagant account. In (Short's) Gen. Chron. Hist, of the Air, 

 6lc., is the following statement, (the time of year being uncer- 

 tain,) — "From March to August, 1636, not one drop of rain. 

 This Numigen plague raged most at new and full moon. It was 

 presaged by great Justling and Falling of fiery Stars south or 

 west, many fewer birds than ordinary, &c." — Vol. I, p. 314.* 



* Rev. W. B. Clarke, in Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist., 1834, Vol. 7, p. 294, states 

 that, " On August 18, 1716, meteors were seen all over Europe, from 8 P. M. to 

 3 A. M." — " On January 4, 1717, there was a shower of fire at Quesnoy." — The 

 first case is probably a display of the aurora borealis : the latter was probably a 

 lightning-bolt, or possibly a large meteoric fire-ball. — (Hist, de V.icad. de France, 

 1717, p. 8, II.) 



