400 Miscellanies. 



meteor traversed an arc of about 50° toward the S. W, point of the 

 horizon, passing several degrees westward of Fomalhaut, and disap- 

 pearing in the distance at an altitude of about 10°. The preceding 

 part of the body of the meteor appeared intensely white, and the fol- 

 lowing part of a deep blue ; a brush of light 2° or 3° long, was left 

 near and a litttle above S Aquarii, and remained visible more than 

 ninety seconds. At New Haven, the meteor was first seen about half 

 a degree below the Pleiades, and disappeared midway between ^ and 6 

 Ceti, leaving a trail 8° or 10° long, near the Whale's head. This trail 

 remained visible full three minutes. The meteor was two or three sec- 

 onds in passing, and some thought it had a well-defined disk 3' or 4' in 

 diameter. 



These observations are too vague to justify much labor in calcula- 

 tions founded upon them, but a simple geometrical construction of the 

 case gives the following results. 



The meteor was twenty five to thirty five rods in diameter, and was 

 first noticed by Mr. Bond. It was then over Plymouth, forty one miles 

 S. 31° E. of Boston, at an altitude of sixty five miles and a quarter. 

 It moved S. 27° W. 31 miles, and was seen at New Haven, when over 

 Buzzard's Bay, twenty four miles W. of Holmes's Hole, and after hold- 

 ing the same course fifty miles further it began to leave a trail of light, 

 off" Montauk Point. This trail was sixteen or eighteen miles long, and 

 was something really left at that place only, since the meteor was then 

 twenty or thirty miles farther from Mr. Bond than at the beginning of 

 its course, and the trail being seen at that part of the track could not 

 have been caused by its proximity. Finally, after a run of one hundred 

 and fifty three miles, it disappeared over the ocean in lat. 40° 7' N. and 

 long. 71° 16' W., at the same altitude as when first observed. The same 

 point of disappearance was noticed both by Mr. Bond and at New Ha- 

 ven, proving that the meteor suddenly became invisible, and was not 

 merely lost in the distance. The velocity of this body was very great. 

 According to the New Haven estimate of the time of its flight, its appa- 

 rent velocity was not less than fifty miles per second. The tangent of 

 this part of the ecliptic being inclined to the track of the meteor at an 

 angle of about 19°, would make a deduction of about sixteen miles for 

 the earth's motion, — more than a hundred times swifter than a cannon- 

 ball. Twelve minutes at that rate would carry it round the earth, and 

 five weeks would carry it far beyond the sun. 



It must however be remembered, that these results are obtained, not 

 by calculation, but by construction ; and that the distances may vary 

 perhaps one or two miles from the truth, but not more than that ; for 

 the lines of disappearance when constructed, intersect each other, prov- 

 ing the accuracy of Mr. Bond's and of the New Haven observations ; 



