tude, which appeared at Bononia larger than the moon in one dia. meter, and above half as large again in the other; which with the given distance of the eye, makes its real less diameter above half a mile, and the other in proportion. This supposed, it cannot be wondered that so great a body moving with such an amazing velo. city through the air, though so much rarefied as it is in its upper regions, should occasion so loud a hissing noise, as to be heard at such a distance as it seems this was. But it will be much harder to conceive, how such an impetus could be impressed on this body, which far exceeds that of any cannon ball; and how this impetus should be determined in a direction so nearly parallel to the horizon; and what sort of substance it must be, that could be so im. pelled and ignited at the same time: there being no volcano, or other spiraculum of subterraneous fire, in the N. E. parts of the world, that we ever yet heard of, from whence it might be projected.

I have much considered this appearance, and think it one of the hardest things to account for, that I have yet met with in the phæ nomena of meteors; and am induced to think that it must be some collection of matter formed in the æther, as it were by some fortuitous concourse of atoms, and that the earth met with it as it passed along in its orb, then but newly formed, and before it had conceived any impetus of descent towards the sun. For its direc tion was exactly opposite to that of the earth, which made an angle with the meridian at that time (the sun being in about eleven degrees of Aries) of 67°; that is, its course was from W. S. W. to E.N. E. so that the meteor seemed to move the contrary way. And besides, falling into the power of the earth's gravity, and losing its motion from the opposition of the medium, it seems that it descended towards the earth, and was extinguished in the Tyrrhene Sea, to the W. S.W. of Leghorn. The great report being heard on its first immersion into the water; and the rattling, like the driving a cart over stones, being what succeeded on its quenching; some. thing like which is always observed on quenching a very hot iron in water. These facts being past dispute, I would be glad to have the opinion of the learned on them, and what objection can be reasonably made against the abovesaid hypothesis, which I humbly submit to their censure.

P. S. Since this was written, there has fallen into my bands an account of nearly such another appearance, seen in Germany, in the year 1686, at Leipsic, by the late Mr. Gottfried Kirch, who was for many years a very diligent observer of the heavens, and was perfectly well instructed in astronomical matters. In an Appendix to his Ephemerides for the year 1688, he gives this remarkable account of it." On the 9th of July, O. S. at half an hour past one in the morning, a fire ball with a tail was observed, in 8 degrees of Aquarius, and 4° north, which continued immoveable for half a quarter of an hour, having a diameter nearly equal to half the moon's diameter. At first, its light was so great that we could see to read by it: after which, it gradually vanished in its place. This phenomenon was observed at the same time in several other places; especially at Schlaitza, a town distant from Dantzic eleven German miles towards the south, its altitude being about 6° above the southern horizon."

At the time of this appearance the sun was in 264° of Cancer, and by the given place of the meteor, it is plain, it was seen about

of an hour past the meridian, or in S. by W. and by its declination it could not be above 24° high at Leipsic, though the same, at Schlaize was about 60° high: the angle therefore at the meteor was about 36°. Whence, by an easy calculus, it will be found, that the same was not less than sixteen German miles distant in a right line from Leipsic, and above 64 such miles perpendicular above the' horizon, that is at least thirty English miles high in the air. And though the observer says of it, immotus perstitit per semi-quadrantem horæ, it is not to be understood that it keeps its place like a fixed star, all the time of its appearance; but that it had no very remarkable progressive motion. For he himself has, at the end of the said Ephemerides given a figure of it, which he has marked fig. D, whence it appears that it darted downwards obliquely to the right-hand, and where it ended, left two globules or nodes, not visible but by an optic tube (a telescope.)

The same Mr. Gottfried Kirch, in the beginning of a German treatise of his, concerning the great comet which appeared in the year 1680, entitled Newe Himinels Zeitung, printed at Nurenburg, anno 1681, gives an account of such another luminous meteor, seen likewise at Leipsic, on the 22d of May, 1680, O. S. about three in the

:

morning which though he himself saw not, was yet there observed by several persons, who made various reports of it; but the more intelligent agreed that it was seen descending in the north, and left behind it a long white streak where it had passed. At the same time, at Haarburg, the like appearance was seen in the N. E. or rather N.N.E.; as also at Hamburg, Lubec, and Stralsund, all which are about forty German miles from Leipsic: but in all these places, by persons unacquainted with the manner of properly describing things of this kind. So that all we can conclude from it is, that this meteor was exceedingly high above the earth, as well as the former.

All the circumstances of these phænomena agree with what was seen in England, in 1708; but it commonly so happens, that these contingent appearances escape the eyes of those that are best qua. lified to give a good account of them. It is plain, however, that this sort of luminous vapour, is not exceedingly seldom thus collected; and when the like shall again happen, the curious are entreated to take more notice of them than has been hitherto done, that we may be enabled the better to account for the surprising appearances of this sort of meteor.

[Phil. Trans. 1714.

SECTION III.

Extraordinary Blazing Meteor, seen all over England, March 19, 1718-19.

By the same.

THIS wonderful luminous meteor, which was seen in the heavens on the 19th of March, as it was matter of surprise and astonishment to the vulgar spectator, so it afforded no less subject of inquiry and entertainment to the speculative and curious in physical matters; some of its phænomena being exceedingly hard to account for, according to the notions hitherto received by our naturalists; such are the very great height thereof above the earth, the vast quantity of its matter, the extreme velocity with which it moved, and the prodigious explosions heard at so great a distance, whose sound, attended with a very sensible tremour of the subject air,

was certainly propagated through a medium extremely rare, and

next to a vacuum.

In No. 341 of these Transactions, I have collected what I could find of such meteors; and since, turning over the Ephemerides of Kepler, I accidentally hit upon another, prior to all those there described, and which was seen all over Germany, Nov. 7,O. S. 1623, and in Austria also was heard to burst with an explosion like thun. der. Yet neither this, nor any of the other hitherto described, seem to come up in any circumstance to this late appearance; of which I am in hopes to give a satisfactory account, being enabled thereto by the numerous accounts communicated to the Royal Society from most parts of the kingdom. Some of the most per fect descriptions we have received are the following.

First, our very worthy vice president, Sir Hans Sloane, being abroad at that time, happened to have his eyes turned towards it, at its very first eruption; of which he gave the following account: that walking in the streets in London, at about a quarter after eight at night, he was surprised to see a sudden great light, far exceeding that of the moon, which shone very bright. He turned to the westward, where the light was, which he apprehended at first to be artificial fire works, or rockets. The first place he observed it in, was about the Pleiades northerly; whence it moved after the manner of a falling star, but more slowly, in a seeming direct line, descending a little beyond and below the stars in Orion's Belt, then in the S.W. The long strean appeared to be branched about the middle, and the meteor in its way turned pear-fashioned, or tapering upwards. At the lower end it came at last to be larger and Its colour spherical, though it was not so large as the full moon. was whitish, with an eye of blue, of a most vivid dazzling lustre, which seemed in brightness very nearly to resemble, if not surpass, that of the body of the sun in a clear day. This brightness obliged him to turn his eyes several times from it, as well when it was a stream, as when it was pear-fashioned and a globe. It seemed to move in about half a minute, or less, about the length of 20°, and to go out about as much above the horizon. There was left behind it, where it had passed, a track of a cloudy or faint reddish yellow colour, such as red-hot iron or glowing coals have, which continued more than a minute, seemed to sparkle, and kept its place without falling. This tract was interrupted, or had a chasm

VOL. IV.

towards its upper end, at about two-thirds of its length. He did not hear any noise it made; but the place where the globe of light had been, continued for some time after it was extinct, of the same reddish yellow colour with the stream, and at first some sparks seemed to issue from it, such as come from red-hot iron beaten out on an anvil.

All the other accounts of the phenomenon, in London, agree in this, that the splendour was little inferior to that of the sun; that within doors the candles gave no manner of light, and in the streets not only all the stars disappeared, but the moon, then nine days old, and high near the meridian, the sky being very clear, was so far effaced as to be scarcely seen; at least not to cast a shade, even where the beams of the meteor were intercepted by the houses; so that for some few seconds of time, in all respects resembled perfect day.

The time when this happened was generally reckoned at a quarter past eight; but by the more accurate account of the Rev. Mr. Pound, who only saw the light, agreeing with what has been sent us from the Parisian observatory, it appears to have been at eight hours eight minutes apparent time at London. And the sun being then in 91° of Aries, the right ascension of the mid-heaven was 130° 45', by which the position of the sphere of fixed stars is given. Hence the lucida pleiadum will be found at that time to have been 254° high, in an azimuth 6° to the northward of the west; and consequently the arch the meteor moved in, was inclined to the horizon with an angle of about 27°, having its node or intersection with it, nearly south-south-west, as will be more evident by what follows.

At Oxford, five minutes earlier, Mr. John Whiteside, R. S. Soc. Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, and very skilful in both mathematical and physical matters, immediately after the extinction of the meteor, made haste out to see what it might be; and well con. sidering the situation of the track it had left in the sky, found it to have passed about 14° above the preceding shoulder of Orion, and about 34° above the middle of his Belt, where there appeared a Juminous nubecula of a reddish light, being a dilation of the track, seeming to have been occasioned by some explosion there; and by what he could learn from those that saw it, it was thereabout that it broke out, and first began to efface the stars. Hence it proceeded