6 
ON THE ORBIT AND PHENOMENA 
continuous flash of lightning. It did not dart, but with a steady even motion 
steered eastward over and down, appearing smaller and paler as it sank away to 
the verge and beneath the eastern horizon. It must have taken at least 30 seconds 
in its aerial passage across the heavens.” 1 
Burlington , New Jersey, No. 94. Observed by William L. Newbold, who “had 
a distinct view of it crossing a street running due north and south, and estimated 
its altitude at just about half that of the pole star.” 1 2 
Cape Cod , Massachusetts, No. 98. Observed by a captain of a vessel off this 
point, who says that the meteor appeared to him to enter the atmosphere, or 
become luminous, “in the neighborhood of Spica.” 3 * * * * 8 
Cherry Valley , New York, No. 93. The latter part of the meteor’s visible 
track was observed from this place by Dr. Titus Powers, who says it disappeared 
from view before reaching the horizon. He and Mr. C. G. Hazeltine, Principal 
of the Cherry Valley Female Seminary, made jointly an estimate of its altitude by 
the “ card method,” at an azimuth that I had named, but which proved to be west 
of the point where the meteor came in view of Dr. Powers; and Mr. Hazeltine 
thinks it “too much a guess-work to be very reliable.” 
Chester, New York, No. 20. Communicated by Lev. Edson Ferrier, who says 
that an observer at this place saw the meteor pass just south of his zenith. 
City of Hartford (steamer), Long Island Sound, Nos. 207, 213 and 221. Observed 
by “ H. Y.,” who says in a communication to the New York Tribune: “At ten 
minutes before 10 o’clock, just after the steamboat City of Hartford had passed out 
of the Connecticut Liver, and before she turned westward for New York, my atten 
tion was attracted to a bright light in the N.W., over the village of Saybrook.” 
“As it came nearer, and to the westward of us, it must have been at an elevation 
of about 50°. It went steadily to the southeast, and slowly out of sight over Long 
Island, still apparently preserving the same altitude.” A communication from Mr. 
B. F. Harrison, of Wallingford, states that “just outside the bar at the mouth of 
the Connecticut Liver” (probably on this same boat), “ it was observed by the 
editor of the Hartford Press, and it appeared to pass north of the zenith.” 
Cleveland , Ohio, Nos. 51, 52, 83, 89, 160 and 122. These observations were 
communicated by Leonard Case, Jr., to Prof. Lyman, of Yale College. Nos. 83, 
51, and 160 were observed by Dr. C. A. Terry, who “happened to be gazing on 
a clear portion of the sky, then, directly in his axis of vision, there flashed out a 
bright spot, which afterward grew into a meteor.”—No. 52 was the maximum 
altitude, and No. 83, a point where the meteor became hidden behind trees. 
Nos. 89 and 122 were observed by four gentlemen, who sat in couples, 40 feet 
1 If we suppose the meteor to have been first seen 20 seconds before it passed the meridian of 
Buffalo, its altitude at that point, according to the calculated path, was about 21°, and its azimuth about 
N. *73° W. Also, according to calculation, it passed themei'idian of Buffalo at 9h. 21m. 45 sec., but 
did not descend below the horizon till more than a minute afterward, when it was far out at sea. 
Mr. George Webb, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, states in a letter to me—I know not on what authority 
—that “ the meteor passed directly over the south part of Buffalo.” 
a Communicated by Mr. B. Y. Marsh, of Germantown, Pennsylvania. 
8 Communicated by Dr. H. C. Perkins, of Newburyport, Massachusetts.