‘REO Di. Be Mowatt s Account of : 
‘flantaneous, or {een fo much alike by different fpedtators, a 
be marked with fufficient certainty. 
/Even in proper tations it/rarely happens, char tee alee of 
elevation’ can be obferved with that degree of accuracy, which 
is neceflary for any certain determination of the height.’ An 
eftimate by the eye is doubtful, not only on account of the 
“flattened-curve the {ky feems to defcribe, for which the moft 
experienced obfervers fearcely ever make a juft allowance, but 
likewife of the emotion produced by fuch an unexpected, mag- 
nificent, and perhaps alarming fpectacle, which’ renders it 
almoft impoffible to be quite collected. Therefore, unlefs an 
obférvation be checked by means of a houfe, tree, or fome 
‘fixed body, along which the meteor was found to range, it 
“muft be received as uncertain. By night the ftars afford ex- 
cellent marks, efpecially if the time be known with exaétnefs ; 
the brighter meteors, indeed, render thefe faint lights invifible. 
for the moment, but here we derive an eminent advantage from 
the train, which remains after the meteor is gone, and deli- 
neates perfeCtly its track through the heavens. - If no fuch 
marks have been taken, the expedient of endeavouring to re- 
colle& the part of the fky where it pafled, and afcertaining that 
height with a quadrant, may often be ufeful; but there are 
many men of fuch a turn of mind, that the original impref- 
fion made upon them will be totally perverted’ by their own 
fubfequent reflexions and the remarks of others’; in which cafe 
fuch an application of inftruments is likely to give a refult 
farther from the truth, than their firft immediate judgement, 
however vague and hazarded. oh 
I am {forry to add, that moft of the obfervations in my pof- 
feffion of the meteor which appeared the 18th of Auguft, give 
its altitude by eftimation only ; yet ] hope their correfpondence 
I with 
