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Notice of a remarkable Meteor seen at Coldstream, on 

 August 15th, 1870. By George Edwards. 



Two extraordinary meteors have, this year, been visible in 

 Great Britain, one on the 15th and the other on the 20th of 

 August, about the same hour of the night. That on the 15th 

 was first seen at Coldstream about 8.45 p.m., and remained 

 visible about thirty minutes. The Duke of Argyll describes 

 one as appearing on the 15th at Inverary, in the N.N.W. 

 " The sky was cloudless, suddenly a large star appeared," 

 &c. As it may not have been witnessed by any of the 

 scientific members of the Club I have thought that the 

 evidence of a less-learned witness might be useful. 



I was near the monument, at Coldstream, on the evening 

 of August 15th, when about 8.45, a large star — about the 

 size of the Evening Star — appeared in the N.N.W. It had 

 a dull hazy appearance, and when first seen was round, but 

 soon altering in shape, it gradually got a tail, which had a 

 peculiar oscillatory motion. The ball gradually grew up, 

 and the tail became curved, and after taking a form almost 

 like a horse shoe, a ball appeared at each end, and the whole 

 looked not unlike a great chandelier. The curve and two 

 balls kept moving, as if the balls were coming and going to 

 each other, the curve being greater or less as they advanced 

 or receded. After being visible for nearly half-an-hour, it 

 gradually faded away. 



Notice of Orchis pyramidalis. By Charles Stuart, M.D., 

 Chirnside. 



In July, 1869, one of my sons brought me specimens of an 

 orchid, which I had never before seen, and which he had picked 

 in the pastures at Whitehall, in Chirnside parish. Upon 

 examination I found that it could be no other than Orchis 

 pyramidalis. After a careful search over the ground indi- 

 cated, 1 did not succeed, that year, in finding other specimens ; 

 but in July of 1870, the period when the plant flowers, I 

 succeeded in getting several good specimens, one of which I 

 sent to Professor Balfour, of Edinburgh University, and he 

 at once verified the identity of the plant. As the ground on 

 which the plants grow is pastured by cows, its present 

 scarcity may be due to the chance of being eaten over, and 



