162 



LUMINOUS METEORS DESCRIBED. 



light. 



A luminous 

 meteor of 

 larger size. 



but from inferior region*, they did not seem to iaswe: 

 Over, or rather (to speak move properly) below this apparent 

 surface, were spread light and floeky clouds, broken into 

 large fleeces, white and apparently lui&ttMH&s throughout. 

 I looked round that I might find whence proceeded the 

 light that illuminated them ; for they seemed as summer 

 clouds in a bright sun, and as the clouds have appeared t<* 

 day. I could perceive no light. Every other part of the 

 hemisphere was totally dark. 

 VVhHc cloud; Looking fixedly at them, I fancied, that they seemed full 



apparently full ° J . J 



of speaks of of Utile dazzling and dancing specks ot light, that some- 

 times shone as stars peeping through a misty cloud. Some 

 of these increased gradually, and as gradually died away* 

 One in particular became more and more distinctly visible, 

 and increased in size, till it reached the brilliancy and mag- 

 nitude of Venus, as she shines in a clear evening: and yet,- 

 there seemed no body of the light. At first I thought it 

 must be some star; and it was with difficulty, that 1 re- 

 nounced the idea. But such it could not have been : for, 

 when these clouds had passed away, and when the intensity 

 of the black masses above became diminished, when they 

 seemed only concealed by a dark and thick haze, none of 

 them became visible. To be certain that the motion, that, 

 I fancied, I observed it to have, did not proceed from the 

 motion of the cloud, and was not deceitfully produced to 

 me, from the swimming and indistinctness of vision neces- 

 sarily occasioned in my eyes by the quick and vivid flashes 

 of lightning, that encircled the whole horizon, I brought 

 the meteor to a bearing with the window frame, and by that 

 means distinctly ascertained its movement, and, that it was 

 with considerable rapidity. I observed it coqst, if I may 

 use the expression, round the edge of that mass in which it 

 appeared, and, having again, become stationary, diminish 

 from its full splendor till it disappeared. . Its. duration must 

 have been of minutes. 



After a short interval I had an opportunity of ob&ervipg: 

 another of these meteors in, a similar cloud, though that at 

 a considerable distance; and of which, though it beha,ve4 

 much as the former had doiie, \ was not able so distinctly 

 to n».ark the motion-, 



During 



Another rue- 

 u- r of the 



