1868.] 



accompanying the fall of Meteorites. 



159 



Professor J. G. Galle in Breslau, and another, "On the Meteorites of 

 Pultusk" *, by Professor G. vom Rath, in Bonn. 



In both of them the most evident proofs are given of the actuality of a 

 swarm, consisting of a very great number of distinct aerolites, having en- 

 tered our atmosphere. 



The course of the Pnltusk meteor, according to M. Galle, met the hori- 

 zontal line under an angle of 44 degrees at the place of dispersion, at a 

 height of 25'25 English miles, or 5j German miles. After its movement 

 was checked, and the force of it expended in the development of light and 

 heat, how would it have been possible that, as it would follow from M. 

 Daubree's supposition, the great mass of the meteor should have risen again 

 and left our atmosphere to continue its cosmical orbit? Nor could' such be 

 the case with the Knyahinya meteor, which pounced upon our earth almost 

 from the zenith of the place, the course making an angle only of 6 degrees 

 with the perpendicular. But even the Orgueil meteor moved in a direction 

 meeting the horizontal line at the point of dispersion under an angle of 

 about 11° 26', from which position it certainly could not rise again higher 

 up into the atmosphere, and still less leave it altogether. 



I availed myself of the circumstance that I had been gratified by several 

 honoured friends with a number of important publications closely connected 

 with the subject, to quote some appropriate passages. I would refer espe- 

 cially to that grand 'Atlas of Charts of Meteor-tracks, 5 by Messrs. R. P. Greg 

 and A. S. Herschel f, together with the " Reports of Luminous Meteors for 

 the years 1865 and 1866-1867" £ and to the recent memoir by M. G. V. 

 Schiaparelli on the astronomical theory of falling stars §, kindly sent to me 

 by the late lamented Matteucci. Schiaparelli holds forth that in shooting- 

 stars " the vis viva, while the meteoric matter is dispersed in the atmosphere, 

 is completely destroyed by being transformed into heat and light " || . From 



Marz u. s. w. Besonderer Abdruck aus den Abhandlungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft 

 fur vaterlandische Cultur. Breslau, 1868. 



* Ueber die Meteoriten von Pultusk im Konigreiche Polen gefallen am 30. Januar 

 1868. Yon Dr. G. vom Rath. Mit einer Tafel. Besonders abgedruckt aus der Fest- 

 schrift der Niederrheinischen Gesellschaft fur JSTatur- und Heilkunde zum 50jahrigen 

 Jubilaum der Universitat Bonn. 



t Atlas of Charts of the Meteor-tracks contained in the British Association Cata- 

 logue of Observations of Luminous Meteors, extending over the years from 1845 to 

 1866, &c.' Prepared for the Luminous-Meteors Committee of the British Association 

 by R. P. Greg and A. S. Herschel. 



+ Report on Observations of Luminous Meteors, 1865-66, by a Committee con- 

 sisting of James Glaisher, F.R.S., of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Secretary to 

 the British Meteorological Society ; Robert P. Greg, RG.S. ; E. W. Brayley, F.R.S. ; 

 and Alexander Herschel, B.A. From the Report of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science for 1866. The same for 1866-1867. 



§ 'Note e rifiessioni intorno alia teoria astronomica delle S telle Cadenti.' From 

 the work ' Memorie di Matematica e di Fisica della Societa Italiana delle Scienze fon- 

 data da Anton Mario Lorgna,' ser. 3, tomo i. parte 1. p. 153, Fireuze, 1867. 



j| " Questa forza viva, dileguandosi la materia meteorica nell' atmosfera, viene com- 

 pletamente distrutta trasformandosi in calore ed in luce." — Op. cit. p. 198. 



