1868.] Phenomena accompanying the fall of Meteorites, 155 



December 10, 1868. 



Dr. WILLIAM ALLEN MILLER, Treasurer and Vice-President, 



in the Chair. 



It was announced from the Chair that the President had appointed 

 the following Members of Council to be Vice-Presidents : — 



The Treasurer. 

 Dr. Carpenter. 

 Mr. Gassiot. 

 Mr. Prestwich. 

 Capt. Richards. 



Pursuant to notice given at the last Meeting, General Sabine proposed 

 and Sir Roderick Murchison seconded the Right Honourable Lord Hough- 

 ton for election and immediate ballot. 



The ballot haying been taken, Lord Houghton was declared duly elected. 



The following communications were read : — 

 I. " On the Phenomena of Light, Heat, and Sound accompanying 

 the fall of Meteorites." By W. Ritter v. Haidinger, For. Mem. 

 R.S. &c. Received October 6, 1868. 



A particular incident caused me to return to some portions of my earlier 

 studies in regard to meteors and meteorites. 



It was the fall of a meteorite at Kakowa on the 19th of May 1858 

 that first induced me to bestow some more attention on this department of 

 physical science. A report on the subject I laid before our Imperial Aca- 

 demy of Vienna on the 7th of January, 1859. On the same day also I gave 

 the first list of the meteorites forming the meteorite collection in our Im- 

 perial Mineralogical Museum. A series of reports on meteorites followed, 

 as well as a number of catalogues of meteorites, in accordance with the 

 growing riches of the collection, embracing from 137 to 236 numbers of 

 localities preserved up to the date of July 1, 1867. 



But the studies relating to the recent fall of Ausson on the 9th of De- 

 cember 1 858, and the ancient fall of the meteoric iron of Hraschina, near 

 Agram, on the 26th of May 1751, others on the Cape meteorites of 1838, 

 on those of Shalka, 1850, Allahabad, 1822, Quenggouk (Pegu), 1857, 

 Assam, found 1846, Segowlee, 1853, St. Denis- Westrem, 1855, Ne- 

 braska, found 1356, but particularly some studies relating to meteorites of 

 Stannern, 1858, and of that most remarkable meteoric iron from Tula, dis- 

 covered in 1856 by Auerbach, all of them within the period of 1851 to 

 1860, and then the fall of New Concord, 1860, and of Parnallee, 1857, had 

 forcibly called upon me to draw up, as it were, a general rule of the nature 

 and succession of events which probably might have taken place in the 

 history of their existence, though in each particular case only fragments of 

 that history came to our notice. 



VOL. XVII. N 



