of the 14M of November, 1866. 83 



only for a few seconds, the train then faded away. I fre- 

 quently noticed that the head of the meteor was visible for a 

 short distance beyond the extremity of the train. 



The nearer a meteor was to the radiant-point, the shorter was 

 the apparent distance traversed. This was the case to a re- 

 markable extent. Likewise the luminosity of a meteor and that 

 of its train was much less the nearer it was to the radiant-point. 

 The time, however, during which a meteor was visible seemed 

 to remain pretty constant in whatever part of the heavens it was 

 seen. So much fore- shortened did their paths become, that in 

 the constellation Leo one frequently saw merely a point of light 

 bursting forth, and then fading away. The longest trains ex- 

 tended over nearly 40° ; but the general distance traversed by 

 those near the zenith was about 20°. The next observations to 

 be noticed are those on particular meteors. 



At about half-past twelve I saw a meteor larger than Venus 

 at her brightest, which burst in all directions : it was blue in 

 colour. It was first visible in the head of Hydra, and then shot 

 down nearly to the horizon in an inclined direction, which 

 pointed towards the general radiant-point. I only saw two or 

 three bursting meteors during the whole night. 



At 12 h 41 m the most brilliant and remarkable meteor that I 

 saw during the whole night appeared. This was a triple me- 

 teor, in which each of the three components was fully as bright 

 as Venus. They shot through the zenith with enormous ra- 

 pidity, following one another in quick succession almost ex- 

 actly in the same line, and leaving a train extending over a 

 distance rather exceeding that between the bright stars Alde- 

 baran and Betelgeux. This train lasted till 12 h 49 m . It was 

 at first lance-shaped, like those of the other meteors. It then 

 gradually shortened, thickened, and at the same time became 

 of a serpent-like form. It continued to get thicker and shorter 

 till it was of an oval shape, having a spiral appearance. After 

 continuing to contract for a short time longer, it remained for 

 some time with a diameter of 15 minutes, when, after growing 

 fainter, it slowly disappeared 8 minutes after its appearance. 

 During the whole time that these changes were proceeding, the 

 impression given was that they were produced by the action 

 of currents in the air. Its position, shortly before its disap- 

 pearance, was in the Milky Way, close to the star Persei. 

 I noticed that stars were visible through this nebulous mass. 



At l h 20 m I was standing close to the house with my face 

 turned towards it. I suddenly saw the wall of the house close 

 to me illuminated by a crimson flash. At the same time I 

 heard a shout from a friend, but on turning round was too 

 late to see anything. He, however, told me afterwards that at 



G2 



