Magnificent Meteor seen on the 27 th of November, 1862. 423 



of distant thunder is heard, and the meteor itself, or fragments, 

 appears to fall to the ground — the actual bursting taking place 

 at some miles' elevation above the surface of the earth. 



There are several distinct features in the light emitted from 

 these large bodies : 1st, there is the light of the meteor itself; 

 2nd, a train of sparks or continuous streak left in its path ; and 

 3rd, a discharge of balls from the head of the meteor. As 

 regards the first case there seems to be great differences of 

 opinion. From my own observations I greatly doubt the self- 

 luminosity of a meteor ; the intense light always comes from 

 the front edge of the body, as if caused by becoming ignited, 

 or igniting something in the region through which it passes. 

 The great difficulty is to imagine what that something can be 

 on the confines of the air, if not actually above the atmosphere. 

 Aurora borealis at the same height exhibits a flame : it must, 

 therefore, be a light-bearing region, perhaps magnetic. The 

 friction produced by the velocity of a large body may cause the 

 ignition. Our ordinary flame is not bright enough to produce 

 the intense light of a meteor ; the brightness of electrical light 

 would be nearer the truth. 



With regard to the train of sparks, or continuous line or 

 streak of light often left after the meteor itself has vanished, 

 and which in the case of a train of sparks only lasts a second 

 or two, whilst as a streak or line of light it has been known to 

 last upwards of a quarter of an hour — this more closely re- 

 sembles a phosphorescent luminosity, that when once luminous 

 it is with difficulty extinguished. I have seen it as a long line 

 that has been gradually bent into a wavy fine by currents. I 

 have also seen the two ends of a straight line of this light 

 actually unite and form a circle with stars shining within the 

 inclosed ring. The meteor which produced the phenomenon 

 had departed in one direction, whilst this phosphorescent lumi- 

 nosity was borne along at right angles to the meteor's path. 

 The velocity is so very different ; a meteor, when recorded as 

 moving slowly, moves many times more rapidly than is the case 

 with this luminosity — the latter is always very sluggish in its 

 movements. The balls projected from the head of the meteor, 

 usually (but I think erroneously) considered the bursting, 

 always fall perpendicularly. The impression given is, that 

 fragments are split from the outer edge of the body, which fall, 

 by the law of gravitation, to the earth. The appearance of these 

 balls is not confined to the bursting of the meteor — i.e., imme- 

 diately before its disappearance they are seen to be emitted as 

 showers, sometimes at frequent intervals along its path ; and 

 these displays were of frequent occurrence with the meteor of 

 November 27th. 



The accounts given of these almost instantaneous appear- 



