266 OBSERVATIONS UPON THE METEORS OF AUGUST. 



At the suggestion of Mr. Herrick, I prepared for observation about the 10th 

 of August, 1838 ; but in the gloom of a sudden and overwhelming bereavement, 

 which had just deprived me of the companion of all my studies, I entirely forgot 

 my appointment, until the morning of the 11th. At half past 2 o'clock, A. M., 

 I was startled from my re very , over the fresh earth that covered my lost companion 

 by a blaze of light, that, in the face of a full moon, near mid-heavens, lighted up 

 the landscape with intense brilliancy. I did not see the meteor, but its light re- 

 called the date of the expected display, and I immediately commenced obser- 

 vation. 



The light of the moon, one of the clearest nights in the pure atmosphere of 

 Iowa, obscured all stars below the second magnitude. Indeed, very few stars 

 were visible in the heavens. After some fifteen minutes' observation, in which I 

 saw ten meteors, all having trains, and radiant, with one exception, from near 

 Cassiopeia, I awoke a friend, to aid me in observing. In so doing, about fifteen 

 minutes were lost. But from that time till dawn, we watched closely as great 

 a field as could be seen by two observers, one looking northwardly and the 

 other southwardly, in an open prairie. At 4 o'clock, day-break in the east and 

 the moon in the west concealed all the stars and terminated our observations. 



In the mean while we had counted sixty-five meteors, including those first above 

 noticed. Of the whole number seen, more than three-fourths had trains, chiefly 

 of a pale purple colour, which remained, in several instances, a second or two 

 after the body disappeared. Doubtless, the great number seen with trains 

 is properly accounted for from the consideration that the larger meteors 

 are generally attended by trains, and none but the larger ones were visible on 

 this occasion. Their apparent velocity was by no means constant. While some 

 passed through an arc of 40° in a second of time, others occupied 3" in passing 

 the same distance, and then left trains of 2" duration. In several meteors I 

 was confident of having observed a retardation of velocity, before the bodies 

 disappeared. This I attributed to the resistance of the earth's atmosphere, 

 which, I did not doubt, many of the bodies penetrated. Subsequent obser- 

 vation has led me to doubt the latter presumption, and consequently the cor- 

 rectness of the observations upon their retarding motion. I would invite the 

 careful attention of observers to this inquiry, as its results will furnish the best 

 evidence in regard to their entering the earth's atmosphere. No noises were 

 heard, nor was a single explosion witnesssd — a phenomenon by no means un- 

 usual in common meteors and in the November displays. 



