Dr. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 23 



1869, May 20th, 11.20 p.m.- Moriches, Long Island, Suffolk Co., 



New York. 1 



An unusually brilliant meteor was seen at New Haven, New 

 York, Philadelphia, Hartford, and many other places. It ajopears 

 to have moved, nearly horizontally, at an elevation of fifty miles, 

 along a visible path of about 200 miles, and to have exploded over 

 the Atlantic somewhat N. and E. of Boston. The time of flight is 

 estimated at five seconds, which indicates a velocity of forty miles 

 per second. Three minutes after the passage of the meteor, "a 

 terrific sound " was heard at Moriches, which shook the house of 

 the observer to the very foundation. The angular diameter of the 

 meteoric body is estimated to have been 30', the distance from 

 Moriches at the time of the explosion, thirty -nine or forty miles, 

 the altitude twenty-eight miles, and the actual diameter 1843 feet. 

 It recalls to mind the celebrated meteor of 1783, August 18th, 

 9-30 p.m., which traversed Europe from N.W. to S.E. 2 



1869, May 22nd, 10.5 p.m. Paris time (9.45 p.m. Vannes time). — 

 Kernouve, 2 kilometres from Clegueree, Arrondissement de 

 Napoleonville, Morbihan, France. 3 



A meteor was seen moving in the direction from S. to N. It burst 

 very soon, throwing off a number of greenish-white sparks, which 

 almost immediately lost their brilliancy, and in two and a half or 

 three minutes an explosion was heard. At Yannes, the very intense 

 bluish-white light, which lasted for some seconds, resembled that 

 of burning magnesium. The stone penetrated the soil of a meadow 

 to the depth of one metre, and was quite covered by the loose earth 

 thrown up by the shock ; when exhumed it was broken up by the 

 peasants. A young girl, distant only a few metres, was the sole 

 witness of the fall; the leaves and ends of the branches of some 

 trees close at hand bore marks of having been scorched. The stone, 

 when perfect, probably weighed about 80 kilogrammes, and was of 

 a conical form ; the crust is of two kinds : an outer black enamel 

 rugose and blistered, and an inner simple coat of glaze ; in some 

 places grains of iron projected through both crusts. The interior is 

 a dark grey colour, and is very compact and granular. The iron is 

 disseminated in very brilliant grains ; here in veins some centi- 

 metres long, there in masses several millimetres in diameter. The 

 magnetic pyrites (troilite?) occurs but rarely in veins, sometimes in 

 masses 3 centim. long, and 2 millim. broad. Occasionally grains of 

 an enstatite or felspar are seen. In texture this stone bears a great 



1 E Loomis. Amer. Jour. Sc, 1869, xlviii. 145. 



2 May 20th-22nd, appears at the present time to be a period during which 

 meteoric falls may be looked for. Duriug the last six years the following five falls 

 have occurred : 



1868, May 22nd, Slavetic, Croatia. 



1869, May 20th, Moriches, New York. 

 1869, May 22nd, Clegueree, France. 

 1871, May 21st, Searsmont, Maine. 

 1874, May 20th, Virba, Turkey. 



3 De Limur. Compt. rend., lxviii. 1338. — F.Pisani. Compt. rend., lxviii. 1489. 



