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c< bling ftars, and immediately vaniihed. Soon there- 
“ after the remaining body vanifhed alfo, diredlly to 
“ the north-weftward of my houfe, and the former 
“ darknefs returned *. At this time, I imagined I 
“ ftill faw the intire figure of the body in the air, 
“ tho’ perfectly black ; but I have been fince told, 
“ that this appearance might have been only a de- 
“ ception, occafioned by the brightnefs of the body 
“ finking the eye ; as when we firft look at the fun, 
“ and then turn our fight to the ground, or a wall, 
* I alfo inquired of the obferver, by Mr. Smith, whe- 
ther the body went on for fome time in its progrefs northward, 
after the reparation of part of its tail, or inftantly vanifhed ? The 
anfwer was, “ That the tail (meaning the part which broke off) 
“ went into fparks, and inftantly vanifhed ; that fome fparks came 
“ from the body alfo; but that it went forward a little way before 
“ it was extinguifhed ; viz. fo far as that he could be affured it bore 
“ then due north-weft of him.” Upon this information, in order 
to know the place of extinction, I drew on the map a line north- 
weft from Ancram, till it interfered the line of direction of the 
meteor, and found, that this point, by Elphinfton’s map of Scot- 
land, lay near Fort William ; by Moll’s map of Great Britain, 
the interfection was carried as far to the northward and weftward as 
the weft end of the ifle of Skye: but as I relied moft on the former, I 
have referred the extinction to a point perpendicularly above Fort 
William. As for the feparation of the tail, that other remarkable 
period, according to Mr. Pringle’s meafures, it muft have happened 
when the meteor was vertical to the fouthern and weftern part of 
the fhire of Lanerk, near the borders of the fhire of Air, as was 
obferved before. 
With regard to the apparent variation of the height, to the ob- 
ferver at Ancram, Mr. Smith wrote as follows, “You inquire, 
“ whether, at the firft fight James Turnbull had of the meteor, it 
“ appeared to be as high as it did afterwards, when oppofite to his 
l * houfe ? His reply is, that, at firft view, it appeared indeed 
“ lower in the air than it did afterwards, which he afcribed to the 
i‘ greater diftance ; but that he cannot fay, that, at the end of its 
courfe, it was certainly lower than when he faw it firft.” 
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