Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



449 



miles from the line, or course of the meteor as above noticed, it would 

 make it about thirty-two miles high. 



Again admitting that the meteor when seen by Prof. Harper, was fifty 

 miles northeast of his point of observation, and 35° above the horizon, it 

 must have been about thirty-five miles high. Taking then the course of 

 the meteor as indicated by Prof. Harper, as a base line, we may safely 

 conclude that it was at least thirty miles high when it first became visible. 

 As to its distance from the earth at the time of the explosion, I have no 

 data to found a calculation upon. Prof. Harper however, says, " it could 

 not have been much above the clouds." 



As to where this meteorite found a resting place on Terra Firma, after 

 its countless revolutions around it, for centuries past, would be a difficult 

 task, unless some one was fortunate enough to have seen or heard it strike 

 our globe. 



We might, however, be aided very much in our search for it, if those 

 who saw it under favorable circumstances would take the course in which 

 they saw it, with a compass, and communicate the same to Prof. Harper, 

 at Oxford, together with the altitude above the horizon in which they saw 

 it, and as near as possible the time that intervened between its first ap- 

 pearance and the rumbling noise that followed. The writer of this arti- 

 cle would also thankfully receive any information that an} T one may see 

 proper to communicate to him, respecting the meteor under considera- 

 tion. — Columbus (Miss.) Democrat. 



Columbus, Miss., Sept. 1st, 1856. 



3. Sulphuric Acid Barometer. — Professor Henry stated to the Associa- 

 tion at Albany, that a barometer filled with sulphuric acid had been 

 made for the Smithsonian Institution. The objection from its affinity for 

 moisture is avoided by using a drying tube apparatus containing chlorid 

 of calcium for drying the air that comes in contact with the acid. The 

 tube is 240 inches long and three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and is 

 inclosed in a glass case 2^- inches in diameter. The construction was 

 entrusted to Mr. James Green of New York. 



4. Cantonite. — A mineral with the composition of Covelline, but a 

 monometric form, has been named Cantonite by Mr. N. A. Pratt. A 

 description of the species by Mr. Pratt will appear in our next. 



5. British Association. — The Twenty-sixth meeting of the British As- 

 sociation was held this year, at Cheltenham, commencing with August 

 6th. The presidential address at its opening was delivered by Professor 

 Daubeny, President of the meeting. 



6. American Geological History. — In connection with the article, page 

 335, it should have been stated that the paper was read at the Meeting of 

 the American Association at Albany in August last. 



1. Obituary. — Rev. Dr. Buckland. — Few men have filled a wider space 

 in public estimation for the last twenty-five years than Dr. Buckland. His 

 name is intimately associated in the popular mind of this country with the 

 progress of geology. He may not have possessed the natural acquire- 

 ments or the philosophical acuteness of many of his contemporaries ; but 

 he possessed a heartiness of spirit, an indomitable energy of purpose, a 

 geniality of character, which rendered him, even amongst men remarkable 



SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXII, NO. 66. NOV., 1856. 



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