xxxviii FIFTH REPORT— 1835. 
tical or horizontal); the velocity of motion (by the time 
of passing from one star to another); their changes; 
their permanency ; whether they appear to affect the 
arch, or to be entirely in front of it. 
IV. If there are any black clouds in the luminous re¬ 
gion, notice should be taken whether the streamers 
seem to have any relation to them ; whether the arch 
seems to have any relation to them; whether and in 
what manner they increase or disappear. 
V. If there are waves or flashes of light, the observer 
should notice the time of beginning and of finishing; 
the general extent of the flashes (up and down, as well 
as right and left); whether the flash is a real progress 
of light or successive illumination of different places; 
and anything else that strikes him. 
VI. The existence and change of colours will, of course, 
be noticed. 
VII. From time to time the needle should be observed. 
If there are two persons capable of accurate observa¬ 
tion, it is most desirable that one should steadily watch 
the needle and the other the sky. 
6. When all is over, the observer should immediately put his 
rough notes in form, and as soon as possible should compare his 
watch with the regulator, or other authority for his time. 
7. The next day he should, from a celestial globe, take the 
altitudes and azimuths by means of the stars ; he should reduce 
his observed time to Greenwich mean solar time, and he should 
append these reductions to his rough observations. In this 
state the observations are fit for publication, and adapted for 
immediate use. It is desirable that they should be transmitted 
without delay to the Assistant Secretary of the British Asso¬ 
ciation , Museum , York . 
FALLING STARS. 
M. Quetelet’s mode of observing these meteors is contained in 
uiie following extract of a letter from him :— 
I take my station out of doors, in a situation which commands 
a good view of the sky, with a good map of the heavens spread 
out before me. When a falling star appears, I mark on the map 
the point of its commencement, the line of its course amongst 
the nearest stars, and the point where it vanished. This is done 
by an arrow line , wdiich marks the apparent direction and extent 
of the course of the meteor; the time is carefully noted; a nuni- 
