258 Dr. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 



Found December, 1872. — Neuntmannsdorf, Saxony. 1 



A block of iron, weighing 251bs., now preserved in the Dresden 

 Museum, was found in 1872, two feet below the surface. As I could 

 meet with no announcement of the constitution of this meteorite, I 

 conceived it possible that it might form a new member of the inter- 

 esting little group of siderolites to which the Breitenbach, Steinbach 

 and Bittersgriin meteorites belong. I learn, however, from Professor 

 Geinitz, that it is a metallic mass, and that it has been analyzed by 

 Lichtenberger with the following results : — 



Iron = 94-59 ; Nickel = 5-31 = 99-90 

 It contains no cobalt, carbon, manganese, or uranium. The author 

 states that although it is carefully preserved under a glass shade, a 

 liquid (ferrous chloride) exudes from it, and it shows a tendency to 

 scale off, as the Greenland (Disko) irons do. A more complete inves- 

 tigation of this meteorite will shortly be undertaken. 



1873, February 3rd, 9-58 p.m. — Liverpool and Chester. 9 

 This meteor, which is described as one of the largest class of deto- 

 nating meteors, illuminated the whole district which it traversed 

 with one or two prolonged flashes of light at least as powerful as 

 that of the full moon. Owing to the clouded state of the sky, which 

 nearly concealed the moon in many places, the descriptions of its 

 apparent path are nowhere sufficiently determinate to indicate with 

 much precision its real course ; the meteor, however, appears to have 

 moved at a lower elevation than is usual with shooting-stars over the 

 north of Staffordshire and Cheshire, passing at a height of less than 

 40 miles over Crewe, and to have vanished at an altitude of less than 

 30 miles over a point between Liverpool and Chester ; a sound like 

 the loud boom of a distant gun or a loud roll of thunder was heard 

 about three or four minutes after the disappearance of the meteor. 

 The observations of its apparent path show considerable discordance, 

 and it seems that its course may have been more directly from E. to 

 W. The light of the meteor was of a bluish hue, leaving a train of 

 brilliant sparks along its track. It appears to have been visible as 

 far south as Bristol. On the same date, and at the same local time, 

 a very brilliant fireball was seen in Australia. 



1873, June 17th, 846 p.m. (mean Breslau time). — Proschwitz, 

 near Reichenberg, Bohemia [Lat. 50° 40' N. ; Long. 14 c 31' E.] 3 



A brilliant meteor was seen about half an hour after sunset, and in 

 bright twilight, over the whole of the Eastern area of Germany and 

 in - Austria ; the train remained visible for a quarter of an hour, 

 which enabled the astronomer of the Breslau Observatory to measure 



1 Amer. Jour. Sc, vi. 237. — Sitzungs-Ber. der Isis zu Dresden, 1873, 4. 



2 Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1873, Obs. Luminous Meteors, 353 and 364. — Brit. Assoc. 

 Rep., 1873, Obs. Luminous Meteors, 376.— English Mechanic, 1873, 171. 



3 G. von Niessl. Astronom. Nachrichten, lxxxii. 161. (No. 1955). — J. G. Galle. 

 Sitz. Meteorolog. Section der Schles. Gesell. fur vaterldndische Cultur, 1873, 

 December l7tb. 



