rOMINOVS METEOR OBSERVED AT OENEVA. gl/ 



*«The )5th of this noortth, at 35 Tninutes after eight in Description oi 

 the eveniiie;, we heard a whizziny sound in the north-west. '** 

 A sudden flrish of light caused us to turn our heads, and we 

 saw a kind of serpent of fire, which appeared to us four or 

 five degrees in length. It was bent back at the west end, 

 80 as to approach the figure of the letter S ; it then spread 

 out in the lower part ; after which it assumed the shape of a 

 horseshoe, and nearly of a parabola. At the end of seven 

 or eight minutes, according to our watches, a cloud con- 

 cealed it from our eyes, at the moment when it appeared to 

 advance very slowly toward the west. Its brightness dimi- 

 nished every instant ; and justat the time of its disappearing 

 we no longer perceived any thing but two very bright 

 points, one at the extremity of the lower branch of the pa- 

 rabola, the other on the samelnanch nearer the summit of 

 the curve. As to its height we cansay nothing precise, as we 

 had no instrument with us adapted for measuring angles : 

 but to the eye it appeared twice the height of mount Jura." 



One of the eye-witnesses of this phenomenon*, who ob- Composed eif 

 served it with a small telescope, remarked, that the most pojms" 

 luminous part was not homogeneal, or contmuous, but com- 

 posed of distinct and separate particles. 



A fortunate circumstance enabled us to determine with Its apparent 

 tolerable precision the important circumstance of tie appa- 

 rent height of the meteor, which was for a long time nearly 

 stationary. Two of its observersf, whom we consulted, re- 

 marked that the meteor, seen from a t.pot whir h they easily 

 found again, grazed the summit of a certain tree, which 

 even concealed part of its light : We afterward measured 

 from the spot of observation the angle of attitude of this 

 tree, and its azimuth. This altitude, and consequently 

 that of the meteor, was eighteen degrees ; and its azi- 

 muth was precisely in the direction of the magnetic me- Its azimuth, 

 ridian, which at present at Geneva is 20° 15' N. W. This 

 direction passes nearly through the zeni;h of the towns of 

 G ray i Lang res, Chaumont, Vitry, Chalons sur JVIarne, 

 Jlheims, Valenciennes, and Bruges, 



* Mr. Tremblev. nephew of the celebrated naturalist. 

 fMr L'huilier, professor of mathematics ia the aca<iemy3 and Mr. 

 Galland, student in the faculty of divinity. 



We 



