OF A METEORIC EIRE-BALL. 5 



F. Harrison, of Wallingford, says : " At 14 miles south of us it is said to have 

 passed as nearly through the zenith as could be judged." 



Brantford, Canada West, No. 165. Communicated by John K. Johnston, 

 Principal of the Grammar School, who says : " I had not myself the good fortune 

 to witness the phenomenon, nor have I been able to find among those who did, in 

 this neighborhood, a single person whose attention was directed at the time to the 

 points you wish to ascertain, or whose experience in estimating angles could give 

 any ground for relying on his testimony, as having any value in relation to them. 

 The vaguest language, ' right overhead,' &c. &c. is used in relation to the place of 

 the meteor's appearance ; and an attempt to learn the stars, near which it passed has 

 been defeated by the cloudiness of the night on which it occurred." 



Bridgeport, Connecticut, Lat. 41° 11', Long. 73° 13'. An article in the Bridge- 

 port Advertiser, says -that the meteor passed almost vertically over that place.-' 



Brooklyn, Long Island, No. 71. Observed from the corner of Fulton and 

 Franklin Avenues. The observer describes the apparent path of the meteor as 

 " commencing at the constellation Ursa Major, and continuing in a straight line to 

 Aquarius (near the triangle called the Waterpot)." Mr. E. Merriam reports the 

 time as 9h. 46m. P.M. In another account the time is said to have been 9h. 45m. ^ 



Buffalo, New York, No. 6. My valued friend, Milo R. Fames, took much pains 

 and made many inquiries to ascertain the phenomena exhibited by the meteor as 

 seen from this place, and thus sums up the result in regard to its path : "I think 

 it most probable that its course was slightly south of east, and that it passed a few 

 degrees south of our zenith ; as I get more testimony thus than otherwise." The 

 following is from the Buffalo Courier, of July 21, 1860: "Last night, about half 

 past nine, the grandest meteor we ever had the fortune to see, made its way 

 through the heavens to the wonderment of every mortal with eyesight who was 

 out of doors at the time. It sprang into view, as near as we could ascertain, at or 

 near the horizon almost exactly in the west. We were standing, at the moment, in 

 the shadow of buildings that completely shut out the western sky. A flood of 

 light, like that of a vivid, continuous flash of lightning, or like a bright dawn, 

 streamed over the tops of the houses, and grew in intensity for a few seconds, ere 

 the majestic orb sailed sublimely into sight overhead. Over the zenith it sped, 

 reddish in hue, and with a wake of flre that spanned the sky for an instant like a 

 vast arch of celestial flame." The Commercial Advertiser, of the same date, says it 

 " traversed the heavens from west to east, producing a flood of light like that of a 



below the horizon more than an hour before the meteor appeared, and, according to calculation, it 

 must have passed through Leo Major, and entirely south of Ursa Major. The calculated interval 

 between the two explosions is about 16^ seconds, and the whole time from the constellation Leo 

 Major to the point where it was last seen from New Haven, " 15 to 80 seconds," while the maxi- 

 mum altitude was less 50°. 



» According to the calculated path it passed from IT to 18 miles southwesterly from the zenith of 

 Bridgeport. 



= According to the calculated path the meteor as seen from Brooklyn passed through Ursa Major, 

 and crossed the meridian of Brooklyn at 9h. 47m. 59 sec. 



