62 Sir W. Thomson on a 



The two gentlemen on shore are both dead ; but the mate is 

 believed to be still living. It was often a matter of wonder to 

 them that an occurrence which to them appeared so extraordi- 

 nary was never publicly noticed; but it seems that they were 

 the only Europeans who observed it, as I learn that, besides the 

 natives of the place, the only other residents at that time were 

 Armenians. 



The whole account which I have been able to gather of this 

 phenomenon so closely agrees with the description given of that 

 class of meteors known as silent fireballs, or bolides, that I feel 

 convinced that my informant must have witnessed one of these 

 bodies in terrific proximity ; and as I am not aware that any one 

 has ever recorded such an experience, I have thought it worth 

 while to draw up this proces verbal, to which my informant has at- 

 tached her sanction. 



When at Dundee I was much struck by Mr. A. HerschePs 

 concluding experiment, which represented a silent bolide, and 

 considerably startled the audience by its noiseless flash across the 

 back of the hall. The gliding light and the accompanying heat 

 forcibly recalled to my recollection the particulars I had gleaned 

 of the Rangoon phenomenon. 







y 



n House. 





-A — 









— Manodk 







— ^ , . y' ~ 



■ 





T—^— 7 /^- ±_- 



San goo n 



Hirer. 



,S Apparent path 

 / of meteor. 







The above plan will assist in giving an idea of the relative 

 position of the ship, house, and meteor. 



VI. On a Uniform-Electric- Current Accumulator. 

 By Sir William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S* 



/CONCEIVE a closed circuit, CTABC, according to the 

 V^ following description :— One portion of it, T A, tangen- 

 tial to a circular disk of conducting material and somewhat 



* Communicated by the Author, having been read atthe Meeting of the 

 British Association, Dundee, September 186/. 



