THE METEORITE OF NOVEMBER LAST. 45
bringing a report of the occurrence before the Hertfordshire Natural
History Society, the Editor abandoned the idea of drawing up a
separate account (for which he had collected much material) and he
accordingly left the matter in more competent hands.
By an oversight no further reference to Mr. Fordham's paper has
been made in our pages ; it appeared in the "Transactions of the
Hertfordshire Natural History Society," vol. iv. pp. 33-62. The
appearance of the remarkable meteor of December 14th recalled the
occurrence of the great "bolide"of 1887, and it seems desirable,
even thus late, to print a short notice of Mr. Fordham's observations
and conclusions, referring those readers specially interested to the
paper itself, which is an admirable example of careful recording of
natural phenomena.
The general result of the information obtained was that a sound,
variously described, and, naturally enough, in the first instance
regarded as arising from an earthquake, was heard about twenty
minutes past eight on the morning of Sunday, the 20th of November,
over an area
" Extending east and west from near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk to Upper
Lamborne on the western border of Oxfordshire, south to Watford and Reading,
and north to St. Neots, Risley in the north of Bedfordshire, Sulgrave in
Northamptonshire, and an isolated point near Leamington ; the sound being
accompanied in many places by a movement of the air of sufficient force to cause
windows to rattle and light objects to move. Bury St. Edmunds and Upper
Lamborne are on an E.N.E. and W.S.W. line about 150 miles apart."
According to Mr. Fordham's data the sound was heard in 153
distinct localities, distributed among the following eleven counties :—
Suffolk, 1 ; Essex, 6 ; Cambridgeshire, 19 ; Huntingdonshire, 3 ;
Bedfordshire, 34 ; Hertfordshire, 43 ; Northamptonshire, 2 ; Buck-
inghamshire, 16; Warwickshire, 1 ; Oxfordshire, 15; and Berkshire,
13.
Mr. Fordham's estimate of six stations in Essex at which the
sound was heard is certainly too low—we have records from the
following places in the county:—Arkesden, Audley End, Birchanger,
Broxted, Chesterford, Chishall, Clavering Debden, Elmdon, Elsen-
ham, Farnham, Finchingfield, Heydon, Newport, Saffron Walden,
Stanstead, Mountfitchet, Wendon, &c.
From Hertford, and from Solihill, near Birmingham, about the
same time on November 20th, a meteor was seen ; from Hertford
passing towards the westward, from a point about N.E. to a point