S80 Scieniijic Intelligence. 
to the house, but the lightning perforated a piece of white iron 
with two holes^ of an inch in diameter, and five inches distant ; 
and, what was very remarkable, the burs at the edges of the holes 
were in opposite directions. Hence, as Professor Pictet remarks, it 
appears to follow, either that the electric fluid has passed through 
the white iron, forming one hole, and, after moving five inches 
along it, has penetrated it again in an opposite direction ; or that 
two currents of electric fluid had moved simultaneously in op- 
posite ‘directions, and at the distance of five inches from each 
other. . 
METEOROLOGY. 
6. Mr Bowditch on the Meteor of Nov. SI. 1819. — Mr 
N. Bowditch has published, in the Memoirs of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, a very full account of the large 
and brilliant meteor which was seen on the Slst November 1819, 
at such a height above the earth, that it was visible at the same 
time in Danvers, Massachussets, Baltimore and Maryland, by 
persons above 380 miles distant from each other. The size was 
equal to that of the moon ; its first appearance was marked by 
a quantity of falling sparks ; and two minutes after losing sight 
of it, a rumbling noise, like distant and protracted peals of thun- 
der, was heard for upwards of 90 seconds. The light was equal 
to that of the sun when just emerging from the horizon. By 
comparing the various observations which were made on this 
meteor, Mr Bowditch assumes the following places of the me- 
teor as those which on the whole will best satisfy the aggregate 
of the observations : 
At its appear- At its dis- 
ance. appearance. 
Latitude of the Meteor, - 40“ 23' N. 39“ 11' W. 
Longitude of ditto, - - 74 34 W, of Greenw. 76 3 
Height above the Earth’s surface, 38 miles. 22 miles. 
Its apparent direction over the earth’s surface was nearly 
S. 44° W. The duration of its appearance w^as about 16 se- 
conds, and its velocity was about 7^ miles per second. Its ac- 
tual diameter appeared to be about 2710 feet, or nearly half a 
mile. 
7. Remarkable Aurora Borealis seen in Scotland. — On Wed- 
nesday evening the 13th February 1822, Sir George Mackenzie, 
