46
THE METEORITE OF NOVEMBER LAST.
about W.N.W., and from Solihull at a point reported to be clue S.
of that place. Elsewhere the foggy state of the atmosphere appears
to have prevented the meteorite from being seen.
Mr. Fordham admits the difficulty of bringing the whole number
of records into complete harmony, but he thinks that the following
deductions seem fairly to arise from a consideration of the various
reports :—
(1) That a meteorite of considerable magnitude passed across central England
at a very high velocity at 8.20 a.m. on the morning of November 20th, 1887 ;
(2) that its track may be laid down approximately on the map as passing over
East Harting, Newmarket, Barrington, Aylesbury, Thame and Wantage ; (3)
that its elevation was, at East Harting, between twenty and thirty miles, and was
in the latter part of its course between five and ten miles ; (4) at the points in the
neighbourhood of Ampthill, Thame, and Abingdon and Wantage, explosions took
place which account for the sounds and shock reported by numerous observers ;
and (5) that the explosion in the Abingdon-Wantage district terminated the
course of the meteorite by final dissipation of its mass either in solid fragments or
as gaseous products of its combustion.
The report is furnished with a map showing the area in which the
meteorite was observed and laying down approximately its course.
There is also a very useful list of references to records of former
phenomena of the kind.
[Among the letters collected for the intended report is one from Mr. Working-
ton Smith in which he gives some interesting particulars of a similar bolide which
passed over Dunstable about forty years ago. As Mr. Smith believes that no
report has been published of this we print his notes here :—"A gigantic meteor
fell here [Dunstable] about 1849, in the summer, about II p.m. A few people
saw it, but all heard it; amongst others my wife that now is. Old people remem-
ber it. They say it was a very dark but very starlight night, when suddenly a
terrific rush and explosion was heard in the air. The people who saw it say that the
whole sky was one mass of fire and sparks, and of different colours. My wife was
going to bed at the time, and although the shutters were closed (she was down-
stairs) the room was illuminated as if by the sun of mid-day. She says the sound
was like a 'ton of coal being suddenly thrown down in front of the house.' She
was so stunned and frightened that she dare not leave the room or go to the
door, but at length she heard some neighbours speaking in the street, and then
she went to the door. From them she learned of the sky being one mass of fire
just before. When she looked out the stars were shining as usual and all was
calm."
Puffin at Bures.—Mr. Pettit has a Puffin (Fratercula arctica), for preserva-
tion, caught at Bures on the river Stour a few days since, a rather unusual locality
for such a sea-loving bird, but the late stormy weather may have driven it out of
its course.—Henry Laver, F.L.S., Colchester, January 17th, 1891.