45 



Dr. Bache announced the death of Dr. Samuel Colhoun, a 

 member of the Society, who died on the 7th of April, 1841, 

 aged fifty-four. 



Mr. Walker read a paper, entitled " A Continuation of As- 

 tronomical Observations made at Hudson Observatory, by 

 Elias Loomis, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philoso- 

 phy at Western Reserve College;" which was referred to a 

 committee. 



Mr. Walker read a letter from Mr. Simeon Borden, dated 

 Boston, 6th April, 1841, giving the results of the Trigonome- 

 trical Survey of the State of Massachusetts, lately completed 

 by him, and those obtained by Mr. Paine's Chronometrical 

 Survey of the same State; which was referred to a committee. 



Professor S. Alexander, of Princeton, made an oral commu- 

 nication on the subject of the Meteor of March 15th. 



He prefaced his communication by a notice of the arguments, as 

 stated by M. Arago, which tend to show that aerolites cannot be of 

 terrestrial origin ; a conclusion which Prof. A. regarded as irresisti- 

 ble: and, in view of it remarked, that he regarded the aerolites them- 

 selves as presenting a subject of special interest, inasmuch as what- 

 ever might be their origin, they telegraphed to us the fact, that mat- 

 ter such as that with which we were familiar, existed apart from the 

 earth ; it having been demonstrated by an analysis of the fragments 

 which have, from time to time, di'opped from the bodies in question, 

 that they were composed of materials similar to those which exist 

 upon our planet. 



Prof. Alexander described the meteor which he had observed at 

 Princeton. 



It was, as he stated, of a white or bluish white colour, except that 

 one half, — the following half of it, as regarded the direction of its 

 apparent motion,; — was bordered with red. He observed, moreover, 

 that the atmosphere was so hazy at the time, that even Venus was 

 seen but indistinctly. From a comparison of the relative positions 

 of this planet and the meteor, at the time of the sudden disappearance 

 of the latter, he concluded that its azimuth at that time was 86°, and 

 its altitude 29°. He estimated its apparent diameter to have been 

 somewhat less than half that of the Moon, or about 12' or 13'. He 

 had seen a newspaper account of observations made of the same me- 



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