194 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
the wide area defined by the observations. The facts are, unfortu¬ 
nately, bare, and the deductions from them consequently of no great 
value : to us their interest is simply relative, so far as they go to 
show that the phenomena of the 20th of November, 1887, are by 
no means unique, hut may he observed more or less frequently in 
different parts of the world.— FL. George Fordham, Lausanne , 
Switzerland. 
Lead at Watford , 13 th April , 1891. 
A Fire-ball Meteor seen in Hertfordshire. —-At our meeting at St. 
Albans in December, a letter from Dr. Brett was read, stating that 
a brilliant meteor had been seen by his dispenser and his gardener 
at Watford at about half-past nine on the night of Sunday, the 14th 
of December. This meteor was also seen by several persons in the 
neighbourhood of St. Albans, and all state that it was something 
like a flash of lightning, and that the light was bluish. It is 
also reported to have been seen at Hertford, but I have not 
heard of its having been observed elsewhere in Hertfordshire. It 
was, however, seen at many places in England wide apart, and 
accounts of it have been given in ‘ Nature,’ in Symons’ ‘ Meteoro¬ 
logical Magazine,’ and in the ‘ Essex Naturalist.’ It was seen as 
far north as Hodsock in Notts, as far north-east as Bury St. 
Edmunds in Suffolk, as far south-east as Bamsgate in Kent, and as 
far west as Bedbourn Bury, three miles north-west of St. Albans, 
in Herts. Its path appears to have been from north to south, over 
Cambs, Essex, and Kent, and therefore it must have pursued a 
very different direction from that of the meteorite of the 20th of 
November, 1887, of which Mr. Eordham gave such a very complete 
account in our 1 Transactions.’ * The time of its appearance seems 
to have been between 9.40 and 9.45 p.m., and it was therefore 
dark, but the meteorite of 1887 was seen at 8.20 a.m., and there¬ 
fore in broad daylight, also on a Sunday. That, however, was 
rather heard and felt generally, than seen, giving to most people 
the impression of an earthquake, and as such it was first reported, 
while only two persons saw it. The recent meteorite was taken by 
several for a flash of lightning, and one observer posted a thunder¬ 
storm form to the Boyal Meteorological Society immediately he had 
seen it, only finding by the accounts in the papers the next morning 
what it really was. It gave a light so vivid that it appeared for a 
few seconds almost as light as day. No observers seem to have 
heard any noise or felt any disturbance of the air. It is reported by 
Dr. Brett’s gardener to have been “ forked and red and blue when it 
burst , just like a sky-rocket, vanishing directly.” His dispenser 
states that it was “like an electric light, of a bluish colour, and 
only lasted a few seconds.” 
An exhaustive examination of the phenomena attending the 
appearance of this meteor is being undertaken under the auspices of 
the Boyal Astronomical Society, and a very interesting report will 
doubtless be published by that Society. Pending its issue it would 
* ‘ Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ Yol. Y, p. 33. 
