D. Kirkwood on the Meteoric Fireball of July, 1846. 349 
Motion, exceedingly slow.—Time of flight not less than 20 sec- 
onds. ‘This seems scarcely credible, but the chief observer, who 
8 an exact man, well aware of the danger of over-estimating 
small portions of time, thinks the time still longer. 
pparent size.—EKqual to that of the planet Venus on the ay- 
erage, at the same altitude. 
The meteor left no train, emitted no sparks, and did not 
vary in brightness during its course. 
i, A “Ss 
from Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, but so miserably 
1 e very slow 
as near as possible.” 
I had furnished the same number of the Record and Journal 
With an article on this meteor. As published, however, it con- 
tained several unfortunate typographical errors. com- 
ee moreover, of the descriptions given of the phenomena 
ed me to a sligbt modification of my results. As might be ex- 
pected, some of the accounts by observers were very unsatisfac- 
tory and even conflicting. I even found it impossible to har- 
monize those which separately would have been considered trust- 
worthy. Without further details I will merely state that after 
Various trials the following results were found most nearly in 
mony with the best observations. 
The course of the meteor’s path was north, about 30° east, and 
its rojection on the earth’s surface passed about four miles west 
of ancaster, Pa., and nearly through Mauch Chunk, in,Carbon 
County. The almost unanimous testimony of those who saw the 
meteor at Lancaster was that it passed a little west or northwest 
of the zenith; while a few stated that it passed directly “over- 
head.”” When west of Philadelphia, according to a correspond- 
ent of the Public Ledger, its angle of elevation was 42°. This 
would make its altitude above the earth’s surface, when near 
Lancaster, about 59 miles. The place of the meteor's disappear- 
ance, as seen from New Haven, was at the distance of about 135 
Miles, near the south corner of Wayne county, Penn. Its appa- 
