308 MEMOIR ON METEORITES. 



That of Wilton was estimated by Mr. Edward C. Herrick 

 (Amer. Jour, of Science and Arts, vol. xxxvii, p. 130) to be 

 about one hundred and fifty feet in diameter. It appeared to 

 increase gradually in size until just before the explosion, when it 

 was at its largest apparent magnitude of one fourth the moon's 

 disk ; exploded twenty -five to thirty degrees above the horizon 

 with a heavy report that was heard about thirty seconds after 

 the explosion was seen. One or more of the observers saw 

 luminous fragments descend toward the ground. When it ex- 

 ploded it was three or four miles above the surface of the earth ; 

 immediately after the explosion it was no longer visible. The 

 large size of the body is made out of the fact of its appearing 

 one fourth the apparent disk of the moon at about six miles 

 distant. After the experiments just recorded and easy of repe- 

 tition, the uncertainty of such a conclusion must be evident; 

 and it is insisted on as a fact easy of demonstration that a. body 

 in a state of incandescence (as the ferruginous portions of a 

 stony meteorite) might exhibit the apparent diameter of the 

 Wilton meteorite at six miles distance, and not be more than a 

 few inches or a foot or two in diameter, according to the in- 

 tensity of the incandescence. 



Besides, if that body was so large, where did it go to after 

 throwing off the supposed small fragments? The fragments 

 were seen to fall, but the great ignited mass suddenly disap- 

 peared at thirty degrees above the horizon, four miles from 

 the earth, when it could not have had less than six or seven 

 hundred miles of atmosphere to traverse before it reached the 

 limit of that medium; it has already acquired a state of igni- 

 tion in its passage through the air prior to the explosion, and 

 should have retained its luminous appearance consequent there- 

 upon, at least while remaining in the atmosphere; but as this 

 was not the case, and a sudden disappearance of the entire 

 body took place in the very lowest portions of the atmosphere, 

 and descending luminous fragments were seen, the natural con- 

 clusion appears to be that the whole meteorite was contained 

 in the fragments that fell. 



As to the Weston meteorite, it is stated that its direction 

 was nearly parallel to the surface of the earth at an elevation 

 of about eighteen miles ; was one mile farther when it ex- 

 ploded ; the length of its path from the time it was seen until 



