448 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



On the Structure of the Algonquin Language ; by Henry R. Schoolcraft. 

 Supposed Runic Inscriptions from the Coast of Maine ; by A. C. Hamlin.' 

 On the Value of the Physical conformation as an element of ethnological science ; 

 by Daniel Wilson. 



Queries relative to some indications of human instinct, as illustrated by primitive 

 arts ; by Daniel Wilson. 



Considerations upon the evidences of the early voyages of the Scandinavians to 

 this Country, and upon the cosmical myths supposed to relate to America ; by A. 

 C. Hamlin. 



2. The Meteor of July 8tk ; by W. Spillman. — Since the appear- 

 ance of the large meteor on the evening of the 8th of July, I have en- 

 deavored to collect all the information I could respecting it : and as I did 

 not see it myself, I have had to rely entirely on information obtained from 

 others, and was thereby, at first, led into an error both as regards its angle 

 of altitude, and the direction in which it was seen from this place. It was 

 my first impression, (and I so expressed myself verbally, and by letters to 

 others,) that its first appearance was, at an angle of 35° above the hori- 

 zon, north-northwest of Columbus. To be more definite in its direc- 

 tion from this place, I took with a compass both its direction and alti- 

 tude, as pointed out by Dr. Hopkins who saw it from a favorable position 

 to observe. From the course pointed out by Dr. Hopkins, the meteor 

 could not have been more than 20° north of northwest, nor at a greater 

 altitude than 30° at its first appearance. Its approach toward the earth 

 as seen from Columbus, as far as I can learn, was apparently a little north 

 of where it first became visible ; and the time that intervened between 

 its explosion and the rumbling noise afterwards heard, was about three 

 minutes ; this however, must be considered as only an approximation, as 

 I have seen no one who observed the time by a clock or watch : — besides, 

 if Professor Harper be correct in his statement, that the meteor approached 

 the earth in a northeast direction from where he observed it, four miles 

 south of Grenada, its line of approach could not have been nearer to Co- 

 lumbus than sixty-two miles, which would have required about 4f min- 

 utes after its explosion for the sound to reach here, even when a due al- 

 lowance is made for the course and force of the wind on that evening, 

 which was from the northwest, at the rate of four miles an hour as regis- 

 tered by J. S. Lull, Esq., of this place, in his meteorological table. 



Prof. Harper, who was four miles south of Grenada at the time of the 

 appearance of the meteor, states in a paper published in the Memphis 

 Appeal, that five minutes intervened between the visible explosion and the 

 rumbling noise, consequently the explosion must have been sixty-eight 

 miles from where he was. The meteor therefore must have been very 

 high when it exploded, if the fragments reached the earth at or near the 

 place designated by him, which was the south-west corner of Pontotoc, 

 adjoining portion of Calhoun or Lafayette county, which would only be 

 from forty to fifty miles from where he was at the time the meteor ap- 

 peared. Admitting then that Prof. Harper was correct in his calculation, 

 that the meteor approached the earth in a northeast direction from where 

 he was, and also as seen from Columbus at an angle of 30° above the 

 horizon, it must have been at least thirty-six miles high. At Holly Springs 

 I learn that the meteor appeared a little east of south, and at an altitude 

 of about 35° above the horizon, and as Holly Springs is about forty-six 



