The source of this uncorrected OCR text may be viewed in the DjVu format at: http://fax.libs.uga.edu/QB1xR485xv7n3/ or http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/ugafax/QB1xR485xv7n3/ PLATE IX. METEORIC DISPLAY OF FEBRUARY 9, 1913 (From a drawing hy Gustave Hahn, Toronto). The above represents a portion of the display as observed by Mr. and Mrs. Hahn, in the vicinity of High Park, Toronto. The spaces between succeeding clusters were actually somewhat greater than sbown here. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, IQ13 THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA VOL. VII. MAY JUNE, 1913. No ;. AN EXTRAORDINARY METEORIC DISPLAY Bv C. A. CHANT /^\N the evening of Sunday, February 9, 1913, the inhabitants of an extended portion of the United States and Canada witnessed a meteoric display which, as far as I can learn, is quite without a parallel. It was not my good fortune to be an eye-witness of the phenomenon, but when, a few minutes after it had passed, telephone messages were received describing it, I realised that there had been a very exceptional occurrence. Yet it was only on the following day, after interviewing various observers and reading the reports in the newspapers, that the truly extraordinary nature of the display was recognised. I then decided to investigate the matter. In response to a request for reports of observations, courteously published in the daily newspapers of Toronto and repeated in some of the papers in others places, many letters and verbal communications were received. By reading the vivid descriptions and examining the illustrative sketches supplied by my correspondents, I have been enabled, in imagination, to view the wonderful spectacle again and again. The information supplied has also permitted me to 146 C. A. Chant trace the path of the meteors with considerable accuracy and to determine various other facts connected with their flight. My inquiries also revealed the fact that during a few hours before and after the great display' several other striking meteors were observed, though I have not a complete enough record of the fireballs to enable me to compute their paths. I propose to give, first, a brief general account of the display and then a statement of the conclusions I have reached regarding the path of the meteors, their height above the earth, their speed, the sounds heard, the duration of the display and the size of the bodies. After this I shall refer to other meteors seen within a few hours of the main display, and at the end I shall add extended extracts from many communications sent in. The reports regarding the great display, which extended from Saskatchewan to Bermuda, are printed first, the places from which they were recieved being arranged in alphabetical order; those referring to the other meteors appear together at the end. Along with the reports are reproductions of sketches sent with the letters. These were for the most part hastily drawn by people who have no particular talent for drawing, but they well illustrate what the text describes and are printed without any attempt to turn them into works of art. The reader will be interested in examining these extracts from the letters. He will also see that intelligent people cau differ widely in describing a phenomenon, and will be able to appreciate the difficulty I have had in discriminating between very discordant observations. The numerous communications which I have received regard ing this peculiar natural phenomenon have afforded me much pleasure, especially those sent by the boys and girls ; and the readiness to respond to my requests for further information has been very gratifying. GENERAL DESCRIPTION [AS SEKN IN WESTERN ONTARIO] At about 9.05 on the evening in question there suddenly appeared in the northwestern sky a fiery red body which quickly An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 147 grew larger as it came nearer, and which was then seen to be followed by a long tail. Some observers state that the body was single, some that it was composed of two distinct parts and others that there were three parts, all travelling together and each followed by a long tail. The front portion of the body appears to have been somewhat brighter than the rest, but the general color was a fiery red or golden yellow. To some the tail seemed like the glare from the open door of a furnace in which is a fierce fire ; to others, it was like the illumination from a 'search light ; to others, like the stream of sparks blown away from a burning chimney by strong wind. The first suggestion which occurred to many who saw the body was that someone had set off a great sky-rocket. In the streaming of the tail behind, as well as in the color, both of the head and the tail, it resembled a rocket ; but, unlike the rocket, the body showed no indication of dropping to the earth. On the contrary it moved forward on a perfectly horizontal path with peculiar, majestic, dignified deliberation ; and continuing in its course, without the least apparent sinking towards the earth, it moved on to the south-west where it simply disappeared in the distance. As we all know, most shooting stars are visible for but a very short time, and the brilliant ones very generally descend rapidly towards the earth, seemingly ( as one of my correspond ents remarked) " in a mighty hurry to reach their destination"; but here were bodies moving leisureh7 along, giving ample time for the fortunate observer to make several wishes if he were so inclined. Some report that just before disappearing this body burst, leaving behind it a trail of stars. Before the astonishment aroused by this first meteor had subsided, other bodies were seen coming from the north-west, emerging from precisely the same place as the first one. Onward they moved, at the same deliberate pace, in twos or threes or fours, with tails streaming behind, though not so long nor so bright as in the first case. They all traversed the 14S C. A. Chant same path and were headed for the same point in the south-eastern sky. Gradually the bodies became smaller, until the last ones were but red sparks, some of which were snuffed out before they reached their destination. Several report that near the middle of the great procession was a fine large star without a tail, and that a similar body brought up the rear. To most observers the outstanding feature of the phen-' omenon was the slow, majestic motion of the bodies; and almost equally remarkable was the perfect formation which they retained. Many compared them to a fleet of airships, with lights on either side and forward and aft ; but airmen will have to practice many years before they will be able to preserve such perfect order. Others, again, likened them to great battleships, attended by cruisers and destroyers. Should these bodies strike the earth they might prove destroyers indeed ! Still others thought they resembled a brilliantly lighted passenger train, travelling in sections and seen from a distance of several miles. The flight of the meteors has also been compared to that of a flock of wild geese; to a number of men or horses in a race, and to a school of fish, startled and darting off in a single direction. These and many others interesting details will be found in the reports of observations printed below. Just as the bodies were vanishing, or shortly afterwards, there was heard in many places a distinct rumbling sound, like distant thunder or like a carriage passing over rough roads or over a bridge. In some cases three such sounds, following at short intervals, were heard; while a number of people felt a shaking of the earth or of the house. As to the number of bodies there is great diversity of statement. The usual estimate is from 15 to 20 but some say 60 or 100, while some say there were thousands. Various reasons can be assigned for the discrepancy between these numbers. Those giving the small numbers probably refer only to the chief bodies, and as some people have better eyesight than others, where one would see a single body others would see its An Extraoj'dinary Meteoric Display 149 different parts. Those who report the large numbers undoubt edly included fragments of the larger bodies and also the many red stars bringing up the rear. The onlj' person that I have heard of who viewed the meteors with any instrumental assist ance was Master Cecil Carley, a pupil of the Trenton High School, who used an opera glass. He says: " There were about ten groups in all and each group, as seen through the opera glass, consisted of from twent3r to fort\' meteors." The entire time occupied by the display cannot be determined accurate^, but is given below as perhaps 3 "3 minutes. This is an extraordinarily long time for such a phenomenon, but there is good evidence that it is not an exaggeration. The stretch of country over which the display was seen is also unprecedented. In September, 1S6S, a fire-ball was traced from over the Black Sea to France, about 1500 miles ; and on December 21, 1876, such a body first became visible in Kansas and disappeared near Niagara Falls, thus covering a distance of over 1000 miles; but in the present case persons living 2500 miles (one-tenth of the earth's circumference ) apart saw the same bodies. Moreover ehe description furnished b}' observers in Bermuda, in Ontario and in Saskatchewan do not materially differ. In all ages comets and meteors have excited popular inter est and in some cases alarm. Their appearance, entirely unan nounced, their varied and extraordinary forms, as well as their almost inexplicable motions are well qualified to inspire terror to those unlearned in scientific matters. ' We are therefore not surprised to learn that some who saw this weird and unwonted spectacle were deeply impressed. One of my Toronto corres pondents wrote: "It was a most beautiful sight. There were a number of us on the street watching them in the sky, and a remark from one of the ladies standing near me and who appeared to be in great distress, was that some dire calamity was coming to the earth. Another remark was, that they must be souls going to heaven, and so on, and a more or less serious impression was for the time being upon us all." Dr. Robert 150 C. A. Chant Moore, of Fort Frances, who visited some Indian patients soon after the display states that an Indian remarked; "I am sure you will hear something. It must be the end of the world!" THE PATH OP THF METEOES As the meteors were observed at places a very great dis tance apart the direction of their path can be determined with considerable accuracy, though its exact location may be slightly in doubt. The place farthest west from which a report has been received was Mortlach, which is about 65 miles west of Regina, in Saskatchewan. Here they were described as travel ling from west to east. At Ptn.se, about 48 miles to the east, they were described as moving " in the sky directly overhead, in a direction from west to east." When seen in Ontario the meteors were described as travel ling generally from north-west to south-east, and sufficient observations were reported to enable one to determine with some defiuiteness a point which was directly below the path in the sky. From Campbellville the report states : "They passed directly overhead, travelling from north-west to south east." At Hespeler, they "seemed to go right over our heads, or a little to the north." At Elora they appeared as "rising straight overhead." At Guelph, on plotting the path on a plan of the city streets, they seemed to have passed slightly to the south-west of the zenith. At Waterloo the course of the first was described as " almost directly overhead, but a little to the east." As to the rest, the majority were " a little to the east of us, with a few directly overhead, none to the west." At Berlin the course was judged to be 15° to the north-east of the zenith; at Georgetown, about 30° from the zenith; and at Sheridan, about 15C to the west of the zenith. Reference to the map (Fig. 1) shows that there is considerable discrepancy between these observations. Indeed, observers at points still farther away reported the bodies as having passed overhead. However, we should-not be much surprised at this. Unless a person has some definite objects to guide him it is very An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 151 difficult to judge angular distances correctly. To view a body directly overhead is extremely uncomfortable, and by most people a body is thought to be overhead when it is at a consider able distance from the zenith. Similarly, angular elevation of a body above the horizon is almost always adjudged too great. This question will be referred to again when discussing the height of the bodies above the earth. In view of these conflicting reports it was neoessary to arrive at some compromise, and the most probable path seemed to me to be a line passing almost over the citj- of Guelph, but a little to the south-west. The error in the location of this line may amount to three or four miles; and indeed it is well to remember that the meteoric bodies themselves were scattered over a path of perhaps this width. The line on the earth's surface directly beneath the path of the meteors in the air, I shall call the trace of the meteors. This line cuts the 80th meridian in north latitude 43° 24'. Now the observations show that the meteors were travel ling practically parallel to the surface of the earth. It is true that some observers thought they detected a slightly downward tendency, but w'heu seen a thousand miles farther on they were apparently as high, if not higher, in the air. The downward tendency, if it existed, was very slight. It would seem that the bodies had been travelling through space, probably in an orbit about the sun, and that on coming near the earth they were promptly captured by it and caused to move about it as a satellite. It seemed reasonable, then, tu consider the plane of the path as passing through the centre of the earth and hence cutting its surface in a great circle. By means of the formulas of spherical trigonometrj' I deter mined the location on the surface of the earth of a great circle passing through Pense, W. Long. 104° 59', N. Lat. 50° 25', and the point in Ontario, W. Long. 80°, N. Lat. 43° 24'. In the accompanying table are given points on this circle ranging over two-thirds of the circumference of the earth. 152 C. A. Chant TABLE I. TRACE ON THE EARTH OP THE PATH OF THE METEORS Lun« 106," 100 95 9° «5 82 Si 80 79 75 65 itude Latitude 1 59' W. 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 oo 50« 49 48 47 45 44 43 43 42 4' 34 25' N. 34 28 06 25 15 50 24 57 oo 53 Longitude 50- 35 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 1 20 140 oo' W. 00 oo W. 00 oo E. oo 00 oo 00 00 oo E. Latitude 21° 4 14 33 44 50 51 49 43 31 10 53' N. 29 N. 2 S. 20 36 5 34 34 24 5 38 S. The Erst entry in the table is Pense, and the seventh is the determined point in Ontario ; the succeeding points are on this line extended. At Watchung, N. J., 22 miles west of New York City, an observer reported that the meteors appeared to be overhead. The line drawn as described passes a little to the south of this place. The meteors were also seen bv observers in the Bermuda Islands ( W. Long. 64° 50', N. Lat. 32° 15') and the calculated line runs 131 miles to the uorth-east. The display was seen at North Bay, Ont., 186 miles, and at Winchester, Ont., 221 miles, from its trace on the earth. It must be remembered, however, that Pense and the Ontario point, which we took to fix our line, » may be a few miles north or south of the true path, and so the true trace might come somewhat (perhaps 10 miles) nearer to or farther from Bermuda. The angles made with the east-and-west line by this line are:—at Pense, 12° 49'; at the determined Ontario point, 31° 14' ; and when passing the Bermudas, 40° 46'. From Mortlach, Sask., to Bermuda, the extreme points at which the bodies were seen, the distance is 2437 miles ; from the determined Ontario point to Bermuda is 1184 milts. In figure 2 is shown the path from Mortlach to Bermuda. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 153 As the observed path of the meteors was so extraordinarily long I thought it interesting to examine the position beyond Bermuda of the great circle over which they were believed to have passed. I found that it went over the South Atlantic Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope at a distance of about 600 miles from it, through the Indian Ocean, and that the first land to be reached was Western Australia. Of course one cannot say that the bodies ever arrived there, though I would not be surprised to learn that they did. No reports of observa tions of the phenomenon by mariners have come to my notice. THE HEIGHT OF THE BODIES ABOVE THE EARTH Having determined the trace on the earth's surface of the path of the meteors, their height can be easily deduced if their angle of elevation at any place is known. Many estimates of this angle were communicated to me, but as a large portion of them were made without reference to any; object whose elevation could be measured, these have not been of great assistance in fixing the height, A few, however, allow the deduction of definite results and, as we shall see, many of the others when interpreted properly corroborate these results.. In Toronto Mr. Gustave Hahn, to whom I am indebted for the sketch from which Plate IX. has been made, observed the bodies to pass about midway between Rigel and the Belt of Orion ; and Rev. F. Herman, of Caledon East, in his report sketched the Belt and the sword and stated : "The meteors went over, or nearly over, the face of this group." Now a line joining Toronto and Caledou East, (see Fig. 1) is almost parallel to the path of the meteors and these places are only about 27>£ miles apart. Hence at the two places the bodies would appear to take very nearly the same course in the sky. Now at 9.05 p.m. E.S.T., February 9, in Toronto a point midway between Rigel and the Belt had an elevation of about 40° and azimuth 16° west of south. Taking the path of the bodies to make an angle of 31° with the east-and-west line WL 154 C. A. Chant find that if 6 is the elevation of the bodies when nearest to us, that is as seen in a direction at right angles to their path, tan 6 = tan 40° / cos 15°, = tan 41°. That is, the elevation was 41°. Then, measuring on the map* ( see Fig 1 ) the distance of Toronto from the trace of the meteors, we find it to be 30 miles; and if h is the height of the meteors, we have, h = 30 tan 41°, = 26-1 miles. As I have already remarked, the distance to the trace of the meteors may be in error 3 or 4 miles, and so the height is also doubtful almost to this amount. The elevation from Mr. Herman's observations is about 43°, and his distance from the trace is 28^ miles; from which the height comes out to be 26"5 miles. Rev. Dr. Marsh, at Springville, observed the meteors to pass mainly behind the top of a telephone pole, though he states that some were slightly above, some slightly below. Afterwards he found the top of the pole to have an elevation of 14° 58' above the eye, and the line joining the observer to the pole made an angle of 49° with the north-aiid-south line. Hence tan 6 = tan 14° 58' / cos 17° 46', = tan 15° 41'. That is, the elevation of the meteors at the highest part of their path was 15° 41'. The distance of Springville from their trace on the earth is 91 miles, from which we have Height = 91 X tan 15° 41', = 25'5 miles. This agrees very well with the results just obtained. The writer was much interested in the observations made by Mr. E. A. Norman, of Mill Bridge, (Hastings County;. * Measurements were made on a map of Ontario on a scale of 30 miles to the inch, not on the map from which this cut was obtained. An Extraordinary Meteoric Displav 155 Mr. Norman was standing at the south-east corner of his barn when the meteors appeared at the south-west corner, seem ingly just below the eave. A simple measurement of the height of the eave above the eye and the length of the barn gave the elevation of the meteors as 22°, as seen in the west. This leads to a height of 106 miles, an impossible result. At the writer's request Mr. Norman verified his measurements, and the only conclusion is that he was mistaken in thinking them up to the eave, although his statement that the first thought which came to him was that his barn was on fire at the eave is evidence to the contrary. Mr. James G. MacMillan, B.A.Sc., of Toronto, estimated the elevation to be 30°, and afterwards verified it with a clino meter. This leads to a height of 17'4 miles, a result evidently too small. .Mr. MacMillan explains, however, that he could not recover the precise position in which he stood when viewing the display, that he may have been 30 or 40 feet from it, which would explain the lowness of the result. Mr. H. O. Murray, a student in mathematics at the Univers ity, when reporting to the writer first gave the elevation as 55°, but on a closer examination shortly after, he stated that he was confident it was not over 45°. This gives a height of 30 miles. Again, when Mr. John Clark, of Moore Park, Toronto, was recounting to the writer all the circumstances of the displa3% he indicated the elevation above the south-west horizon, which was about 40". This gives a height of 25'2 miles. In TaUe II. are given the values of the height which I have deduced. The first three are the best determinations, and the average of these is 26 "0 miles. In the last four cases the eleva tion appears to have been estimated with care, and the heights deduced are not greatly above the accepted value of 26 miles. C. A. Chant TABLE II. HEIGHT OP THE METEORS ['lace Observer Elevation Distance to Trace Height Best Determinations Toronto Hahn Caledon East Herman Springville | Marsh 43 41' 30 mi. I 26"! mi. 28J " 26-5 " 91 " | 25-5 " Average 2b*o mi. Other Determinations Toronto Toronto Georgetown Edgar | Alu r ray Clark McKay Jamieson 1 45" 40 60 zzi 30 mi. 30 " 17 " 72 " 30-0 ml. 25-2 " 29-4 " 29-8 " As already remarked, the elevation above the horizon is almost invariably estimated too high. Robert Smith, in his " Compleat Optics," published in 1738, explains why this is so. To ordinary observation the sky does not appear to be a complete hemisphere but only a portion of one, the part overhead seeming to be nearer than that at the horizon. From experiment Smith showed that the arc of the sky appears to be shaped as in Figure 3, in which OZ the vertical height of the zenith is 3/io of OB the FIG. 3. — The c;irve A7.B represents approximately the apparent shape of the sky. 3 The distance from O the observer to Z the zenith is 3/10 of the distance from O to the horizon B. distance of the horizon. Further he states, " By the eye we estimate the distance between any two objects in the heavens bv the quantity of sky which appears to lie between them ; as upon earth we estimate it by the quantity of ground which lies between them." Hence any point C will appear half-way between horizon and zenith when the arcs BC, CZ are equal ; but by An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 157 actual measurement the angle BOC is found to he only 23°. When the arc BD is ?-3 of BZ the angle BOD is but 37°. That is, when an observer estimates the elevation of a heavenly body to be 45°, it is probably about 23° ; if the estimate is CO0, the true value is about 37°. Interpreting in this way some of the estimates sent to me I obtained the accompanying table, though the results given in it must not be considered of very high scientific value. TABLE III. OTHER DEDUCED HEIGHTS OF THE MlvTEOKS Station Dutlpn Dresden Rodney Barrie (i) ISarrie (2) Coldwater Estimated Elévation 45° 45 45 50 45 45 Fenelon Falls """ o. t; . *C v T S ^ rt o; ^ l 2 u l g^ --'!§ Ä u * g C O - S B 11 •o -^ OJ QJ •S S C -0 .- ° ri; O >^'S ? ff! f/f ^ à bß '•( 2 f S / « £ H l S ,x « Extraordinary Meteoric Display 173 to 4 minutes Sounds: the first was the loudest, like a horse and rig going over a bridge; the other was not so loud, and both sounds were short. They occurred last of all. The bodies were intact, and each had a tail. Each was in sight, I should think, about 15 seconds. E. P. COISH. Saw the phenomenon and heard a sound like a Wagon passing over a rough road. Brighton (87 miles, E. 18° X.). J, H. MORROW. The first was brighter than Venus, and took perhaps a minute to travel its course, tt had a trail behind it about 10° long. The second and third were not so bright, but m-oved similarly. Think there were over a dozen bodies. The course seemed to be about 30° above the horizon, and the entire duration was from \Vl to 2 minutes. Euttonville (14 miles, N. 8° E.). • MRS. R. B. EI.LIOTT. A few seconds after seeing the first body, the second appeared, ll shot a stream of brilliant stars, which formed a long tail. This body \vas the largest of all. I counted 19 bodies. Two went out before reach ing the place where the others disappeared, and the other 17 were hi sight at one time. Mo sound was heard. Caledon East (20 miles, W. 29° N.). REV. E. HERMAN. Saw two main displays. The first I mistook for a sky-rocket, which, after going some distance, appeared to open towards me. Before it had disappeared the other was well in sight, seeming to have about the same formation, following the same course with the same speed. The Centre meteors seemed to have no tails, being abmil the size of large stars, and having nearly their brilliancy. There may have been a dozen or so within the "tail" of the first. Between the two displays, and after the last one, hundreds of dull- red sparks followed, giving the stars the appearance of being all in rapid motion. A noise like a distant roll of thunder, probably lasting 4 seconds, was heard at least 4 minutes after the first display. From the first appearance to the last of the sparks, probably 4 minutes. Each display 174 C. A. Chant took nearly 45 seconds to complete its course. The middle of the course, which was to the southeast, was about 40° from the zenith. The meteors went over, or nearly over, the Belt of Orion. W. S. JONES. Time, 9.07 or 9.08. The whole lasted about 2 minutes, and the next minute there was a noise like a short crash of thunder, and I ima gined that the ground shook under me. About three-quarters to the end there was a big star with no tail, alone, with a few following. Campbellford (91 miles, E. 30° N.). MRS. WM. HUMBEE. The meteors were low down in the sky, travelling towards the east 1 think I saw at one time about 20. There were three very distinct ones, near together, but yet clearly separate. Others followed, and some disap peared before the three distinct ones I speak of. Think the display lasted 2 minutes. No sound. There were tails to each one, just narrow ones. l J. T. VOSPER. Oives information communicated to him by eye-witnesses. The first meteor was of a bright white color, with a long and distinct tail resem bling a comet. It was attended, or surrounded, by a number of smaller meteors of a bright red color. Following this came a group of red meteors, but unlike the first from the fact that there was no "ball'' of light or comet-tail—simply a group' moving in the same direction. Then came another group, resembling the second, all quite brilliant and dis tinct. A fourth group followed, but it was composed of three meteors; and a fifth group, of only two, yet a bright red. The groups remained about the same distance apart from first to last. Duration, about 3 minutes. A second person says he saw one meteor disappear as if it had exploded. Campbellville (30 miles, W. 20° S.) REV. WUUAM BURT. They passed directly overhead, travelling northwest to southeast. ] did not count them, but should say there were SO or 60. Duration, probably 3 minutes.. The only sound I heard was ;i faint whistling like that of bullets whilst they passed overhead. The bodies -emained intact until they reached half-way to the horizon, when they simply disappeared. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 175 The first appearance was that of a large body, very bright, having a long fiery tail—very much like a comet. Canfield (50 miles,'S. 22° W.). V woman liv-ing near Canfield heard a noise which she compared to the crashing together of two trains, or some terrific explosion in the direction of Hamilton. Cayuga (52 miles, S. 27° W.). T. J. CRAVEN. There were not only a dozen or fifteen meteors, large and small, but I don't think I am exaggerating when I say there were hundreds. The duration was from 2 to 4 minutes, and in color they were reddish, not like ordinary stars. Some of the large ones had long tails. After the meteors had all disappeared we heard a noise like thunder, apparently north of us. Centreton (74 miles, E. 23° N.). JOHN T. ORMISTON. We went to the south end of the house to get a better view, and as far in that direction as we could see there were meteors. There were seven or eight ahead of the larger one shown in sketch (Fig. 6), so we had missed seeing the first. About seven passed after the large one, and we are sure we saw twelve. They were all in view at once and for the space of 2 minutes. When all had passed we looked at the clock and it. said 9.1S. Ceboconk (76 miles, N. 24° E.). J. B. WHITE. ] think they were in view 1% or 2 minutes, and I counted 13 in sight at one time. I think there were 20 in all. They travelled on an exact level with the ground. The tail kept the one size throughout its length, as if drawn through a tube. I believe when the large one was opposite me the tail was one-quarter the length of its flight; or perhaps SO times its own length, supposing it to be a round body. The body looked about three- quarters the size of the full mnon. The course of the meteors was about 20° above the horizon. They were very low. compared with anything I ever saw before. 176 C. A. Chant FIG. 6.—From a sketch made by Mr. J. T. Ormüton, Centreton. The woods in the foreground are about 200 yards wide and the meteors were observed irorn a point X, about 200 yards in front. The woods, therefore, subtended an angle of about 55° and the tail of the longest meteor shown was from 21 to 26P long. Cofcourg (64 miles, E. 19° N.). J. E. SKIDMORË. They glided along so leisurely and did not seem to be falling as meteors usually do, but kept a straight course about 45°, or a little more, above the horizon. Our first impression was that a fleet of illuminated air-ships of monstrous size were passing. The incandescent fragments themselves formed what to us looked like the illuminations, while the tails seemed to make the frame of the machine. Sometimes there would be just a single collection, forming a single ship ; then in a half-minute several collections would pass, looking like ships travelling in company. It took fully 3 minutes to pass. There was no noise; only beauty, beauty) An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 177 Coldwater (71 miles, N. 7° W.). J. L. SHIELDS. Time, about 9.08. Bodies came out of northwest and disappeared in southeast without any perceptible fall. Position in sky, about 45° above horizon. About 20 seen in all, 8 or 10 being visible at one time. Duration of display, about 2 minutes. Brightest meteor was in sight about 45 seconds. No sound. The largest meteor, which came first, proved to be two or three abreast, the sparks from them intermingling and forming one long tail, the whole apparently merging into one body again as it passed farther awajr. The first was .followed by many more, going at the same speed and the same direction, but not all in the same path, some being above the line of flight of the first one while others were below. Consecon (98 miles, E. 15° 2ST.). CECIL CARLEY (a student of Trenton High School). There were about ten groups in all, and each group, as seen through the opera glass, consisted of from twenty to forty smaller meteors. The leader of the group was generally the largest, the smaller ones following closely behind. The first group had the largest number and was led by a large body which was brighter and larger than all the rest. Each separate body had a tail which was from five to fifteen times as long as the main part, which seemed to diminish and go into the tail. Some seemed to break up into smaller bodies. About three or four groups were seen at a time, the three appear ing to the northwest, while the fourth was passing in the middle of its course. Each group was in sight from 15 to 25 seconds, and the duration of the whole phenomenon was about S minutes. Xo sound was heard. Corinth (92 miles, W. 37° S.). WILL BEATTIË. Time : shortly after 9 p.m. Direction : from the north-west to the south-east, and slightly downward. Number: \\:ould judge 15 or more, and seme may have passed before I saw them. Size : The first ones were larger and brighter than the brightest stars and had tails which looked as long as the distance between the " Pointers " of the " Dipper." The last ones were like very faint stars. I believe some of them were visible for as long as 10 seconds, and 178 C. A. Chant the whole thing lasted between 2 and 3 minutes. I did not hear any noise, but was riding in a buggy over frozen roads. Deseronto (120 miles, E. 18° N.). Miss LENA J. WARREN. The first meteor looked like a fiery streak or bar when it came out of the north-west. When it had traversed about a quarter way across the sky it broke into four fiery red stars with long fiery tails, which fell into the position shown. After this group had gone some distance there came behind it a collection of similar stars, some with long tails, some with short tails. They moved in regular form straight across the sky, and disappeared in the south. Dresden (159 Miles, W. 27° S.). JNO. A. McVfiAN. The course was about midway between the horizon and the sky in the north towards the south-east. When I first turned to look there was one that broke into four pieces, each piece having a separate tail. The color was that of fire. This one seemed to be visible for nearly a minute. The four pieces seemed to keep together. There were two others that had tails similar to these, but they remained intact throughout their course. Then seven or eight more followed, having no tails at all, and of a different color, more that of stars—a blue white. The firft four were just passing from sight when the second one (with a tail) was about midway in the sky, and the other with a tail followed at about the same distance, and then the ones without tails came very close to one another, about three times as close as the other. There were three or four of the latter in sight at one time. Duration, about 5 or 6 minutes. No sounds heard. Dunnville (53 miles, S. 13° W.). WM. H. SHARP, B.A., reports that a gentleman gave him the fol lowing particulars : The meteors passed directly overhead, were travelling due east-south-east, were about 100 in number. The display lasted about three minutes, and the sound was heard just after they had disappeared. WM. WINGFHXD. Estimated that the meteors passed about 10° south-west of the zenith. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 170 Dutton (127 miles, W. 32° S.). Miss IsoEEiv O. HALI,Y, B.A., reports that before being called to see the meteors the large first body had evidently passed. She saw a sequence of small, short, meteor-like appearances, moving in the same direction as the larger body—from north to south, perhaps slightly towards south east. When facing slightly north of east the bodies in the middle part of their course appeared to be 45" above the horizon. They moved very slowly, several being visible at a time ; then there was an interval of perhaps less than a second, and about half-a-dozen more appeared. These were short-tailed like the others, but whereas the others had appeared more in a body—two sometimes being parallel—these trailed one behind the other (two or three being visible at once) so slowly that each was easily visible several seconds. No sound was heard. All that was seen passed in about a minute. Edgar (57 miles, N. 8° "W.). GEORGE B. JAMIËSON, M.D. The meteors seemed to come from a point west of northwest and they disappeared nearly at the south point. They travelled in horizontal lines ,and all had the same leisurely rate of motion. Their course was about 22%° or 30° above the horizon. They travelled either singly or in pairs, and when in pairs one was above the other. I think I saw only two with tails, and these two were travelling in a pair. The tails were composed of other distinct meteors, gradually diminishing in size and trailing off as a flare of light at the end. Duration of display, probably not more than \¥» minutes, each meteor being visible 3 to 7 seconds. I heard no noise, but a neighbor saw the display, and he says ho heard a sound like thunder, and counted 14 bodies. Elmvale (65 miles, N. 19° W.). JOSEPH DEYSDALK. * The display lasted four or five minutes. The meteors seemed to go in groups of threes, with tails behind them. They seemed to be mid way between the earth and the sky. [Elevation 45°.] No noise was heard. 18Ü C. A. Chant An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 181 Elora (52 miles, W. 3° X.). WM. FAIRWËATHER. From eyewitnesses the course seemed to be right overhead. There were hundreds of them, throwing off sparks, and several exploding with a loud noise. Many persons heard the noise and thought it thundered. Falkenburg (Muskoka, 9» miles, N. 4e E.). G. S. YËARSLËY. The first meteor came out of the northwest, about as bright as the evening star. It had a tail, and after travelling across he sky, disap peared in the south-southeast. It was visible 2% or 3 minutes. It was foil-owed in about 1 minute by two more, not quite so large, and travel ling faster. After them came about 20 bodies like stars, some of which disappeared before reaching the horizon. [ heard no noise. Night clear; temperature —14° F. Fenelon Falls, 1 mile E. of (68 miles, N. 30° E.) WALTER H. STEVENSON. [ counted seven bright stars surrounded by light. The cluster occupied a space about the size of the sun. A reflection followed, which was about the length of the tail of Urse Major [say 18°]. \bout the distance between the Pointers [say 6°] behind this appeared a bright white star, as clear, but a little smaller than Venus is now [mag.- 4] ; then a few clusters reddish like the first, but not so bright, say five or six clusters. Spread out on a wider track, there might have been eight or nine clusters, but T suddenly found that the whole heavens, from the zenith to the horizon, was full of meteors. They may have extended to the east, but there was such a wonderful display in fronUof me I never thought of turning. (See Fig. 7.1 f The advance meteors, the brightest, passed slightly nearer the hori zon than the zenith [say. élévation 40° 1. The duration, probably three minutes, more or less. They travelled no faster than a crow flies. There was absolute silence. The whole was wonderful, but the most wonderful was the lone star following the first cluster. Half an hour previously (about 8.30, I had been waiting outside with my rig, and when the others came out, 1 remarked to them that there seemed to be meteors " in the air," as I had noticed flashes or point-like sparks at intervals, as from an emery-wheel, single sparks over head, where Auriga and Perseus must have been at that time, but I don't think the display which followed had anything to do with them. D FIG. 7.—From a sketch made by Mr. W. H. Stevenson, Fenelon Falls. In the fore part of A was a cluster of bright white stars ; the rear was a reddish reflection, like glare from fire, ß, a bright white star, of the size of Venus. C, reddish clusters. D, a shower of red meteors. Tonthill (Wellanrl Co., 4fi miles, S. 10° E.). ARTHUR GILBEY. I saw several flashes reflected from the snow and seeming to come from the north. The sky being clouded in that direction, I could not see distinctly, but a few moments afterward I heard a rumbling, short and heavy, which I could not account for. I took no notice of it until a few seconds later 1 heard it again, and then for a third time. This was about 9.-10 p.m. The rumbling was very plain. Port Frances (on Bainy Lake, midway between Ft. William and Winni peg)- ROBERT MOORE, M.D. Dr. Moore did not see the display, but on making his rounds in the Indian village near Fort Frances he obtained the following story from an Indian within 30 minutes after the phenomenon : " I saw them come slowly from the northwest; first, a string like candles, about forty of them; then, after S minutes, another string in the same line and about eight in number. They made the snow red quite a while after they had disappeared in the east. There was no sound, and they were lower than 182 C. A. Chant the stars. They went slow. A big one led the first string. I am sure you will hear something. It must be the end of the world. It was about 9 p.m. They did not pass overhead, but north of us." (I think the time should be 8 p.m., C.S.T., and the Indian must have confused his direc tions. The course must have been south of the zenith—C.A.C.). Fort William (W. end of Lake Superior). JAS. A. UNDERBILL. From observations made by Mr. Williamson, Gen. Sec. of the Y.M.C.A., and a young man who, with a party of snowshoers, was out in the open, the following information was obtained. Duration: quite a few minutes, S or 6, until it stopped. Direction : from N.W. by W. to S.E. by E. Middle of path about 30° S.W. of zenith. No sound heard. Number: perhaps 50, and many of them in sight at once. "A very amazing appearance." Fox Point (Muskoka, 117 miles, N. 6° E.). EDWARD A. BOOTHBY. The meteors seemed to travel about 5° east of southeast, and the path appeared to be about 40° from the zenith. Fullarton (91 miles, W. 8° S.). FEED M. HAYNES. The sky was somewhat clouded, but I saw the display coming from the nnrth-west, but it disappeared under a cloud before half-way to the horizon. Probably the number would be from twelve to twenty, quite close together, without tails at all. Lasted not more than two or three minutes. Owing to small clouds in the sky, bodies were visible only when out from them. No noise whatever; bodies did not break up. Georgetown (27 miles, W. 1° N.). W. N. McKAY. The meteors travelled a little to the west of overhead, perhaps 60° from the horizon. The}' seemed to rise a little to the north of north-west. The first or leading meteor broke into pieces much like a Roman candle: of the others, some went right across the sky, and some disappeared while in flight. Mr. McKay sent a clipping from the Acton Free Press, which, he thinks, describes very well their appearance. It says : " The phenomenon An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 183 witnessed was an irregular procession of luminous meteors as they tra versed the sky from northwest to southeast. There were perhaps 15 or 20 meteors visible here. They were brilliant, fiery, luminous bodies, cacll bearing a tail after it, which disappeared in scintillations. A few seconds after the passing of the last meteor a series of explosions were distinctly heard, resembling peals of thunder." Guelph (45 miles, W. 10° S.). H. WËSTOBY. Though not fortunate enough to see the display himself, friends reported it to him at once. One gives the following: "About 20 or 30 lights appeared coming from the northwest by west, and shot across the sky, disappearing in the southeast. After the first lot had gone, some smaller ones appeared, following in apparently the same path and also disappearing in the southeast." From a sketch which he was able to make, the path of the meteors appears to have been in the direction N. 57° W., and to have passed slightly to the northeast of the zenith. Hepworth (109 miles, W. 38° N.). EDITOR 0. M. SËIM, "Hepworth Progress." A cluster of brilliant meteors, somewhat resembling the fireworks of the Toronto Exhibition, passed through the sky from northwest to southeast, going at perhaps half the speed at which single meteors usually travel. This bunch of meteors was followed by innumerable stars, going in the same direction. This kept up for nearly five minutes. We woul 1 judge about 100 stars went through the air in that short time. Hespeler (50 miles, "W. 18° S.). WILLIAM FOSTER. The meteor started in the northwest, and when first noticed looked like a very high sky-rocket which was still going up. It travelled very fast towards us, and seemed to go right over our heads, or a little to the north. In the display were many stars which seemed to start off with a jerk, and left a trail of light behind them. All travelled in the same direction, but some did not follow all the way. We noticed about two dozen or more. • A noise like a low rumble of thunder was heard after the display. 184 C. A. Chant The following times were made out by going over the ground again, watch in hand. Time meteor was in view. 85 seconds ; time stars were seen moving, 135 seconds; or total duration, 3 minutes 40 seconds. Time after end of display to noise of thunder, 50 seconds. Hydro Glen (Muskoka, 85 miles, N. 2° W.) NËAI, McLEAN. A large meteor appeared in the northwest, at an elevation of about 30°, with a long tail. When it was due south a second one appeared, not quite as large, and a trifle lower. They did not appear to come any nearer the earth, and the fragments thrown off seemed to continue after the main body. There was no sound, and the display lasted about 3 minutes. Islington (11 miles, W. 15° S.). MRS. D. D. FRANKS. In the northwest [ noticed a luminous streak of light, much like the flame of a common oil lamp, interspersed with what appeared to be many stars. Its length seemed about twenty times its width. It moved compactly and comparatively slowly across the sky. A few seconds later another meteor came into view, similar to the first, but shorter. Then a third appeared, still shorter, but just as bright and beautiful as the first, and followed in the path of the others. Smaller ones appeared; these shot up the sky for a short distance and disappeared. They were paler and more rapid in motion than the larger ones. The display lasted perhaps 3 minutes. I did not hear any report. The large meteors were the most magnificent sight I have ever seen. Jarvis (05 miles, S. 36° W.) THOS. J. HICKS, B.A. Beginning of display, 9.08 p.m. (watch usually accurate, but may have been 50 seconds fast). The bodies followed in such rapid succession that one could not count them. They followed one another in fives; ihen a pause, and five more shot across the sky. I counted some 40 in a space of perhaps 24 seconds. They continued passing for about 2 minutes. No noise. Tails not noticeable, and bodies seemed to remain whole. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 185 Jackson (103 miles, TV. 38° N.). JOHN HËWITSON. It was a cold, calm, starlit night. Suddenly, from the northwestern sky there appeared what looked like an immense ball of red fire coming " towards us at a tremendous rate, with a long tail streaming behind it at what seemed not a very great height from the earth, in comparison to the height of the stars. The head seemed much larger than the full moon, very red, and the tails extended a considerable distance behind, with pieces of the tails dropping off from the head every little while, but following on behind in the mad race. It passed nearly over our heads, but a litle to the southeast, and finally, instead of dipping below the horizon, it kept on its course in the sky towards the southeast at what seemed the same height from the earth, until it was lost in the distance. We gazed afer it for some time, fairly spellbound, even after it was lost to view, and in a minute or two we saw some smaller ones coming from the same direction, one by one rushing after the big one in the same track, as if a mighty current were drawing them along. These last did not seem to have any tails. We waited around a few minutes, but saw no more, but what seemed like heavy rolls of distant thunder sounded. We heard no noise until after the meteors had disappeared. Keldon (54 miles, W. 35° N.). WM. ANDERSON. I felt a slight tremor in the floor, and shortly afterwards went out side, and after shutting the door, which faces north, I heard a rumbling noise, which reminded me of a slight earthquake shock that 1 once fell in Scotland. If the building had not intervened I should probably have seen the meteors passing southward. I find that residents here heard three distinct reports at different times. Kinmount (83 miles, N. 26° E.). JAMES At times there were only 2 or 3 in sight; then there were 8 or 10; and at one time as many as 12. Duration, 5 minutes. Some two or three had tails, and others sparkled. 186 C. A. Chant London (105 miles, W. 25° S.). F. C. W. BAH and F. E. WEIR (students in Engineering, University of Toronto). The meteors appeared at intervals of 15 to 20 seconds. Color, reddish yellow. Their path passed about 15° east of the zenith. The first bodies were single, but the last four appeared in pairs, of which the last pair were fainter than the others. No noise was heard, either during or after the display. REV. R. J. BOWËN. Observed the meteors from a point four miles east of London. At 9.12 p.m. I noticed a glare of light in the sky, moving slowly in a southeasterly direction. It then exploded like a sky-rocket and broke into about thirty or more meteors, each having a tail one-third to one- thirtieth as long as the tail of the original body. I heard no noise what ever, and this large display was visible to me for two or three minutes. Tt moved very slowly, and was well overhead. Had to put down the top of the buggy to get a better view. While this large group of meteors were in view, the phenomenon developed and assumed great dimensions, for dozens of meteors came into vision. They were quite plain, but not nearly so brilliant, and had tails which seemed to be drawn after them and in the same direction as the large bunch of meteors seen first. By this time we had turned the horse and we were scanning the heavens to the northward, and sud denly a movement commenced, and I am not exaggerating when I say hundreds of tailless meteors moved slowly across the sky. These were not nearly so bright as the former ones mentioned. The impression it left upon me was the instability of the whole. I have seen meteoric displays and phenomena in the Arctic regions and all over Western Canada, but never have I been so privi leged to see so many heavenly bodies moving at one time, or any moving so slowly or in so low an altitude. Mr. Bowen states further that his watch is usually pretty accurate and is never allowed to get more than two or three minutes fast. Magnetawan (Parry Sound, 139 miles, N. 4° W.). DONALD Ross. The meteors travelled from northwest in a direction south by east, and about 20° above the horizon. I saw about 20. Their motion An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 187 was not like that of shooting stars; much slower, four or five being seen at a time, and each being in sight about 30 seconds. The duration of the entire phenomenon would be close to 3 minutes. They were round, with a tail to each, a fraction of a degree long; and appeared to emit sparks from each side as they sped along. About 30 seconds after the smaller ones (which were all of a size) had passed, a much larger ball of light apeared, white like the others, and with the same and in the same direction, but without any tail. When about midway horizon to horizon it burst and sent forth a shower of sparks, much like a rocket, and for a second it brightened the sky. I did not hear any sound. Marshall, Mich. (100 miles W. of Detroit). FRED. CAVANAGH, of Oakville, sent a clipping from the Marshall Chronicle of February 10, 1913, containing the following: "Miss Vera Murray and Carl Schnaitman spsnt Sunday at Warren Clark's, in Fre- donia, and when returning to the city last evening they saw two enor mous meteors, with tails many miles in length. This happened shortly after 8.00 o'clock, and when Miss Murray and Mr. Schnaitman reached the city they reported that they had seen an airship going east. The heavens were brilliantly illuminated, and with the passage of the meteors a shower of stones was seen to fall. The display lasted for many minutes." Melrose (Hastings Co., 113 miles', E. 20° N.). H. O. LAUFËAR. The meteors seemed to come from a point almost due west, or slightly north of west, and not far above the horizon. The first one had a short tail, which looked dull to me, and it was quickly followed by 8 or 10 others, most of which had no tails at all. Duration, probably not more than 15 to 30 seconds; all in sight at one time. The middle one apparently burst into a number of pieces, but I heard no sound. Midland (77 miles, 1ST. 16° W.). REV. J. J. EiXioTT, B.A. Did not see the display himself, but from eyewitnesses he learns the following: The brightest part of the spectacle was the leading group of four or five, travelling close together, and each leaving a trail of light of considerable length. About a minute afterwards there was another 188 C. A. Chant and then others, until about fifteen in all were seen. No sound was heard. The direction was from northwest to southeast. The altitude was not high, and the meteors moved at a comparatively low speed. Midhurst (58 miles, N. 13° W.). R. D. COUTTS. So far as 1 remember, a large meteor was in the lead, although I think the largest of all led a group some distance behind the first. Both those and a few others had tails, although the most of them had not. Those were followed by still others, growing fewer and dimmer, the last I saw being scarcely visible. They appeared to be going at the same speed, the paths being nearly level, as if unaffected by gravity, and they were travelling south by cast. Duration, about 5 minutes. Number of bodies, possibly 15 or 20 large ones, and quite as many or more small ones. Mill Bridge (Hastings (Jo., 115 miles, E. 37° N.;. E. A. NORMAN. [ had just gone to feed my horse for the night, and as I opened a stable door at the southeast corner of the barn the first meteor flashed past the eave of the roof at the far end, or southwest corner of the barn. I went over this evening and took measurements. The barn is SO feet long, and from my head to the eave of the roof is 20 feet; therefore the first meteor would be on an incline of 20 feet in SO, or 22° above the horizon. Some of the meteors were higher and some lower. Two in par ticular, which travelled together, were one about three times the diameter of the moon above the other. 1 think there were about 12 or 14 in all. T think the leader was the largest, and was about half the diameter of the moon. They appeared to move quite slowly. They were about west when I first saw them, and about south when they got out of my range of vision. The new moon had set, and the large evening star was within 15 minutes of setting. I heard no noises whatever. Sparks seemed to fly out from them, especially the leader, and smaller things like ordinary stars seemed to be darting about in their train. The leader was like a red ball of fire seen through a mist. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 189 Milliken (12 miles, N. 17° E.). AI.ËX. MACKXIN. I had just gone out to view the heavens, as I often do on a clear night, when my eye was attracted by a gleam of light, followed by a group of about 7 of the fire-balls. They went from north-northwest to south-southeast, and the elevation was about 50°. These were quickly followed by several very bright ones, and numerous small ones, all fol lowing in the same plane. I should judge 15 or 20 in all, and not appear ing to move swiftly as meteors generally do. The largest of the fire-balls appeared almost white on the front, and seemed to be giving off sparks which quickly faded out, but a lum inous tail was left to trace their path. They all had long, tapering tails. Duration, probably 3. or 4 minutes. Two or 3 minutes after a rumbling noise like distant thunder was heard, repeated three or four times. What struck me most was their comparative closeness, and when the sound was heard I could not but associate it with the display. All was over by 9.12, noted on an accurate clock. Mortlach, Sask. (65 miles W. of Eegina). JNO. R. SMITH. The time was somewhere between 7,06 and 7.15 p.m. (Mountain Time). I did not attempt to count them, but I imagine there must have been hundreds of them. They did not appear to me to be on a down ward course, but on more of a straight line from west to east. I could not say how long they were visible, as I probably did not see the first of them. What impressed me more than anything else was that very few resembled shooting stars, only some of them having the tail or streamer behind them. Mt. Charles (13 miles, W. 12° ST.)- MRS. T. AIKINS. Meteors passed directly overhead. The heads were large and lum inous, tinged with red and supplied with tails which seemed to have from four to seven glittering particles behind them, a short distance apart. The space between was bright and white-looking. They came into sight and went out of sight like a flock of birds. They lasted for 5 minutes or more, and were followed by a rumbling noise like an explosion; and a second or two later was another not quite so loud. 190 C. A, Chant Mount Forest (69 miles, W. 18° N.). The Mount Forest Coirfederate says: A loud noise like that of thunder was heard here on Sunday evening, shortly after 9.00 o'clock. Some who were out walking at the time thought it was thunder; others thought it was ice cracking in the river; still others, that horses were kicking in a stable. Muncey (116 miles, W. 28° S.). JOHN STEW ART. The writer had a splendid view of the display. Position in sky, about 50° from point overhead. They were going about directly east and did not appear to be getting any nearer the earth. There were probably about 18 or 20 in all, about 6 or 7 being visible at once. Lasted about 2 minutes altogether. Heard no sound of any kind. Two had tails. About one-half remained intact; the others broke up—some more, some less. Each body remained in sight perhaps 30 or 40 seconds. New York City. MRS. MARGARET GRIFFITHS, of Watchung, K.J., 22 miles West of New York City. I was returning from church with a party of friends, and was walking northwards; and the meteors passed directly over my head. We all had to hold our heads away back to see them. There were seven distinct meteors, or balls of fire, as they appeared to us, and two of them burst just as a sky-rocket does. Niagara-on-the-Lake (31 miles, S. 30° E.). A correspondent writes : "As we saw nothing of the display, I can only tell you of the sound, which was similar to the starting of a heavy wagon, and gradually dying away. There was also a slight vibration, which made the windows rattle. It lasted 2 or 3 seconds. Oakville, 7 miles N. of (17 miles, W. 26° S.). FRED CAVANAGH. I distinctly heard the noise, like the rumble of thunder, coming from the north, and in a few seconds another less distinct. Orangeville (40 miles, W. 29° N.). ME. ALEX. STËËEË, B.A., Principal of the High School, at the writer's request, made inquiries in Orangeville, and found two who saw An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 191 the meteors, but several who heard sounds which were pretty evidently produced by the meteors. These were compared to the rumbling caused on taking a carriage out of a stable. Orillia (64 miles, N. 3° E.). Miss ADELAIDE KING. First seen in northwest about half-way between horizon and zenith. There were about 30 stars in all, divided into four groups. In the first group were about a dozen very large, bright stars, with a long tail resembling a large sky-rocket. Following this were three smaller groups (three stars in each) less bright, with no tails ; and ending up were a . few single stars. Duration, about 5 minutes ; largest body seen for 2 or 3 minutes. No sound. MRS. C. E. GRANT. I noticed a bright object suddenly appear in the western sky. It seemed at first like a shooting star, but instead of descending, or growing fainter, it appeared to move towards me and grow brighter, until it seemed to be quite close and not very high. It resembled a very large sky-rocket in brilliancy, shape and length, but instead of the bright balls at the head scattering and disappearing, the whole body retained the same form as it moved along in a stately way, going in a southeasterly direction and becoming less bright. But before this one was out of sight another one appeared from the same direction, quite as brilliant and as large as the first one, but the bright balls at the head seemed larger and not so num erous. It followed in the same direction, but had only passed when a group of three appeared, one above the other, not nearly as large or bright, with the tails rather separated. Then followed quickly another grcup of three, and immediately after two, then two more, then one, becoming less brilliant, much smaller and more detached, more like single bright stars, moving in the same direction, keeping the same position and form until lost in the distance. No sound was heard. Duration less than five minutes. Paiiiswick (48 miles, N. 15° W.). S. BLACKMORË. There were about 12 meteors, and I watched them about five minutes. The first five or six were quite close together, the rest follow- 192 C. A. Chant ing like a flock of wild geese and with about the same speed. Some left tails almost like a sky-rocket, others were like moving stars. The course seemed to be about 30° above the horizon. Parry Sound (320 miles, 1ST. 12° W.). WALTER L. HAIGHT. On the evening in question I happened to be returning from a snowshoe tramp, and was in the act of tightening up the straps on my foot when my companion called out : " Look ! Look ! " and I immediately threw my head up and caught sight of the large meteor, which appeared to be travelling very slowly—so slowly that the stateliness of its motion excited my liveliest surprise and wonderment. [ have seen many meteors while out boating and walking at night, and many larger and more brilliant than the one in question; but this was markedly different from the rest in two main features, viz., that it was not so luminous, being of a distinctly reddish color, and that it moved with unprecedented slow ness on a level plane. As will be seen and noted on the rough sketch (Fig. 8), it moved at an elevation of from 35° to 38°, fixed by my companion and myself after goirg back and determining its position from our point of view. The meteor was in two distinct portions, the head being round, Flu. 8—Frjm a sketch by Mr. Walter L. Haight, Parry Sound. The observerais seen in the left fore-ground and the hill is shown behind which the large meteor dis appeared. In the rear are shown meteors,—a group of four or possibly five; and, separated by a larger interval, another group of four or Eve; followed by a few scattered ones, bringing the number up to perhaps 14. A is the horizon, S the zjnilh and C is midway between A and B. The separate drawing below roughly shows the appearance of the large meteor. It is given mainly to riustrate the split between the hetd and ths tail. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 193 with fragments grouped about it and separated from the other portion by a short distance, and my somewhat dimmer recollection is that the rear portion was composed of globular masses, smaller and fainter than the head, and fading into a streak of dull reddish fire. While my gaze was riveted on the large body, and just when it was about passing out of sight, my companion again called out, "Look! There and there!" and I looked up and saw the first group of following meteoric bodies, some five in number, I believe, loking like spent rocket- sticks when they first begin to move downwards—like them in the dull red of their glow and the slowness of their motion. They all appeared to be moving on a level plane and grouped approximately as in sketch. Before I could recover from my astonishment, a new group of smaller ones, computed at four or five, came sailing along, followed by others more widely separated, and making a 'total of from ten to fourteen. Possibly the flight occupied one and a half to two minutes. They moved from about west by north to east by south. I took out my watch when the flight passed, and it was 9.10. I likened them at the time, and the resemblance seems yet apt and appropriate, to a large battleship moving ahead with attendant squadrons of torpedo-destroyers and torpedo boats. Never have I seen bodies in the heavens move at such a slow, stately and measured pace. That remains the most outstanding and remarkable feature -of a most entran cing spectacle. Ton my word, I don't think T would have been more surprised had they swung about and sailed back into the west from which they sprung. ASAHEL WRIGHT. The series of lights travelled in unison and so horizontal that I could think only of a gigantic flying machine. The lights were at dif ferent points, one in front, one farther back, and a rear light, then a succession of small lights in the tail. Pefferlaw (47 miles, N. 10° E.). W. J. BOYNTON, M.D. First, was a cluster of bodies moving rapidly to the southeast. These soon disappeared, but others followed in quick succession. They all came into sight from the northwest at about 45° from the horizon and disappeared about the same elevation in the southeast. Each body 194 C. A. Chant took about 20 seconds to travel this distance, that is, half-way across the sky. Probably 20 were visible at one time at the beginning. They were more numerous then, and became fewer at last until the last one was a considerable distance behind. The display as a whole might be compared to an arrow, one bar ahead and many others following, and extending a considerable distance out at each side. I should judge there were between SO and 100 bodies in all. The time of the display was close to 2% minutes, estimated from the distance travelled, and my rate, which I know pretty well. The bodies themselves were like red-hot missiles or shafts flying through the air. There was no luminous stream or tail like the tail of a comet, but they were both surrounded and followed by myriads of sparks resembling the 'fixed stars. These extended out a considerable distance from the sides, completely filled i:p the spaces between the different shafts, and followed the last one for some distance. There was no sound. The bodies passed nearly overhead—10° or IS" to the west of the zenith. Pense, Sask. (17 miles W. of Kegina). MESSRS. G. and B. SPRING RICE, when sending a report to the Agent of the Meteorological Service at Moose Jaw, make reference to the meteors, as follows : I would call your attention to a curious phenomenon observed on the night of February 9th (Sunday). It was observed at about 7 o'clock (Mountain Time) in the evening, and I have called it a procession of ftars. The first two stars were followed by a long tail, much like a falling star, but moved comparatively slowly in the sky, directly over head, in a direction from west to east. These were followed by a number of other stars, sometimes singly and sometimes in groups, all of which moved across the sky at the same deliberate pace and in the same course. The procession must have lasted about two minutes. I have never seen anything like it before. Peterborough (69 miles, E. 41° N.). REV. W. E. HASSARD, B.A., B.D. The appearance was like that of an express train lighted up at night. The elevation was about 25°. Movement was slow and the dura tion about 3 minutes. In the first section there seemed to be from six to nine lights, with slightly spreading ends. Then, in succession, some An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 195 three or four, not so brilliant sections passed. The most striking feature to me was the regular movement in an even plane. There appeared to be no curve whatever. No noise was heard. It was the grandest displa) I have ever seen. Picton (114 miles, E. 12° N.). E. M. BIGG, M.A. A pupil of the Picton High School states that he saw the meteors nearly due west. About 20 in number and about 25° above the horizon Port Hope (57 miles, E. 20° N.). MRS. MARGARET KETCHUM. We stood under a west verandah and the procession of fire-colored globular stars seemed to come from the north-northwest, sailing over to south-southeast. The elevation was about 40°. We thought there were at least 25 stars. All had tails of the color of fire, a dull red. Port Sydney (Muskoka, 105 miles, N. 2° W.). A correspondent writes : The first meteor resembled a kite with a remarkably long tail. They were decidedly low down and rather to the west. At least 10 or 12 bodies were seen, each one following close to the tail of the one before. Duration, not more than 3 minutes ; no sound heard. Eichard's Landing (St. Joseph's I, Algoma, 287 miles, W. 40° N.). J. H. ALLAN. The meteors travelled from a little north of west, ending up a little south of east. When first seen their elevation was about 45°, and they did not appear to pass directly overhead, but about 22%° o the south of the zenith. In all, there must have been between 50 and 60, as many as 10 or 12 being seen at once. Duration of display, about 2 minutes. No sound was heard. The bodies remained intact. One was considerably larger than the rest. Two or three had tails. Several remained in sight from 6 to 8 seconds. The color was that of a bright fire, not the clear white color of the average- meteor. Eidgeway (55 miles, S. 17° E.). REV. S. A. LAIDMAN, M.A., Ph.D. Three members of a troop of "Scouts" reported having seen the meteors. One large ball was seen first, about the size of the full moon, 19G C. A. Chant and it was followed by about one hundred of the size of the brightest stars. These last all appeared at about the same time, and were not widely scattered. No tails noticed, but larger one was elongated. There was a noise like rumbling thunder, which gradually increased in volume, then decreased again. Eodney (139 miles, W. 32° S.). JOHN A. CUNNINCHAM. The meteors appeared in the northeastern part of the sky, half way between the horizon and the point directly overhead. They travelled slowly from northwest to southeast. There were about thirty in all, and the largest number I saw at one time was five. The bodies remained intact and the majority of them had tails more or less brilliant. One meteor at the close of the display was very bright and had a long tail. The phenomenon lasted three or four minutes, and the longest one body was in sight would be about ten seconds. I did not hear any sound ; if there was any I think I would have heard it, for I was in the country, where all was quiet. Kothsay (65 miles, W. 9° N.). The correspondent from Rothsay to the Drayton Advocate : We did not -witness the meteors last Sunday night, but we heard a noise like thunder, and felt a distinct shock as if an earthquake had taken place. Kydal Bank (Algoma, 292 mües, W. 44° N.). Jos. E. ASAM. The first meteor at first appeared to be of the size and color of a large star, growing as it advanced. There was a tail of a red, shadowy appearance, which also grew in size and deepened in color. A little further on to the east it seemed to explode, much like a sky-rocket, throwing out à dozen or more balls. This was followed by a second meteor somewhat smaller, travel ling slightly higher. Then came a group of 15 to 20 travelling together and rather higher than the two preceding. Then followed a group, still higher, but travelling in the same course, and after this followed & group in the same course, only still higher. Tn all, T would say there were about 40. They looked to pass about An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 197 one mile south and at an elevation of about 300 feet. (That would be 3° 16' above the horizon.—C. A. C.) The bodies appeared to travel almost east, with a downward ten dency. The first was in sight about IVâ minutes, and T think it had disappeared when the last group came in sight. St. Davids (36 miles, S. 20° E.). Rev. G. MUNRO. I saw no display. . . I was somewhat startled by a thunder-like sound. It seemed to come from almost directly overhead, or a little to the west. The sound was of the deep tone of distant thunder, but explo sive rather than rolling. There was a rapid succession of distinctly explosive sounds, such as one hears in a quarry sometimes when a whole series of deep charges are exploded. I gazed intently into the heavens all the while, hut saw nothing. The time was approximately 9.1S, and the duration of the sound perhaps somewhat more than half a minute. Others in the neighhorhod heard the sound, but none saw the display. Some of them estimate the dura tion of the sound as much as 2 minutes. St. Thomas (109 miles, W. 32° S.). HARRY WII.KINSON (age 12 years). F saw about fifty meteors. At first there came about three, then about seven, and then they kept on coming in large clusers till they all passed. Some had sparks shooting from them, and same had tails morc like comets. They were travelling from northwest to southeast. They looked like sky-rockets, only they did not fall. Sand Hill (26 miles, W. 33° N.). MRS. D. TIGHË. Some had tails and some seemed to shoot a red vapor which threw a beautiful red glow. They came in bunches or groups. I counted ten in one group and I think there were 20 groups. As they disappeared in the east there was a loud report like rolling thunder, and then another sound like thunder, and a tremor of the earth. Shelburne (49 miles, W. 37° N.)- R. A. RIKY states that a man who lives four miles cast of Shel burne reported to him on Monday morning that there must have been 198 C. A. Chant an earthquake the night before, that the vibration was quite perceptible, and the noise was like a series of blasts going off. In the Shelburne Economist it is stated that a man living 12 miles west of the town was awakened frcm sleep and thought that his horses were wrecking the stable. On investigating, however, he found the horses perfectly quiet. Sheridan (17 miles, W. 36° B.). H. A. LCAMON. The path of the meteors passed about 15° southwest of the zenith. As the first meteor got higher in the sky and nearer me, I saw it had an immense tail which seemed to have very bright litle sparks in it from one end to the other. Those at the head were larger than the others, but not a bit brighter. As it got nearer the ball of fire seemed to break up, and as nearly as I could count there were 17 more with little tails. Then again, somewhere between SO and 100 individual sparks appeared, as if they shot oft" the main body when it broke, or seemed to break. Long after the main body had passed and was fast disappearing in the southeast. I saw tiny sparks just whizz by, seemingly endeavoring to catch up with the big fellow which had left them behind. The whole display must have lasted 4 minutes, and just after the first disappeared in the southeast I heard a rumbling. The main body must have been in sight 2 to 2V> minutes. Epringbrooke, 3 miles west of Bramjrton (19 miles, W. 7° N.). J. P. HEN SHAW. Commencement of display. 9.05, taken on a watch correct to a few seconds. The bodies had tails. The first was the biggest, and it looked as if the others all came from it and naturally had shorter tails. There must have been at least 60 bodies. Sound was heard in the midst of the occurrence, like a rig going over a bridge. gpringville (65 miles, E. 42° N.). REV. D. B. MARSH, F.R.A.S. As the congregation was leaving the church after the Young People's meeting, Mr. F. E. Wilson called me to the door, which faces west. I immediately saw a large red meteor, followed by others, coming from the northwest. I looked at my watch; the time was 9.04%. The forward meteor was very large and very red, with the tail several de- An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 199 grecs in length. Those following were irregular in size, some in pairs and others following lazily along the sky. The head of the large meteor was eclipsed for a moment by the top of a telephone pole, so placed that the line adjoining it to the observer made an angle of 49° with the meri dian. Afterwards I set up a transit instrument to represent my position, and sighted the top of the telephone pole, which gave me an elevation of 14° 58' above the horizon. After looking upon the grand spectacle for (say) 2 minutes, I counted 10 meteors in all. (Some of the people say they counted more.) T then ran into my house adjoining the church and got out a 3-inch telescope, but the last body had vanished. Some of these meteors passed on to the southeastward out of view, while some burned out and vanished before our vision. I believe there was no noise heard by anyone. Their duration was about 3% to 4 minutes. Stouffville (23 miles, N. 16° E.). Miss GERTRUDE KËNDRICK. The first meteor was funnel-shaped ; it was small at first, but grew larger as it passed from about half-way up from the horizon in the northwest to about half-way down to the horizon in the southeast. 1 saw about 8 meteors, the first being the largest, and the ones following being each a little smaller than its predecessor. The bodies did not break up, :and each had a tail. Duration, about 2 minutes; and the first one was in sight almost the entire time. It had just nicely disappeared before the last one came to view. Sturgeon Falls (186 miles, N. 6° W.). The North Bay Times states that there was a mysterious visitor to Sturgeon Falls on Sunday night, when several citizens were surprised to see a slow-moving object in the air a short distance from the earth. The meteor resembled a large aeroplane or dirigible, with two tiers of lights strung along the sides, and moved slowly toward Lake Nipissing. Eudbury (Nipissing, 214 miles, N. 9° W.). W. J. BELL. The meteors were seen close to the southern horizon, and the dura tion was about 30 seconds. The number of meteors counted in the first place was 5, all of which exploded into parts of two to six each, and all had tails. These were observed from the street, and the view to the south was somewhat obstructed by a hill, which may possibly have hidden some of the meteors. 200 C. A. Chant Sunderland (45 miles, N. 23° E.). JOSEPH PURVIS. In the first lot there were about ten, and two of them, which were quite close together, were much larger than the rest. The whole cluster was as wide as the distance between the points of the moon on Sunday night. There was a bright red light all around them, with a more distinct light behind as they travelled along. There were four distinct clusters. The first, of about ten; the second, of about three; the next, two; the fourth, one—this one having the size of a bright star. All visible at one time. First cluster visible to me about 1% to 2 minutes; it disappeared behind a building. No sound heard. Thamesville (151 miles, W. 29° S.)- Miss CATHARINE MACVICAR DUNCAN. The sky was not EO bright as on the evening before; large areas of the sky were in misty darkness. Suddenly, right under Cassiopeia, travelling from northwest to southeast in a horizontal plane and very slowly, almost as if it were stopping or just going to dissolve in air (not drop), appeared the Head Light. It glowed now brighter, now duller, and it looked like a parallel trail of dozens or perhaps hundreds of dis tinct stars or sparks, that either went out or fell behind (not down). My brother shouted to me, "An air-ship ! " And I said, " Mrs. M——'s chim ney is on fire." It loooked that near. (This house was about 70 feet away, and obscured behind spruce trees.) The big leader seemed to curve a little to the south, but those that almost immediately appeared, one at a time, seemed to follow exactly in his path. It was a slow procession, not more than three or four being seen at one time. It reminded me of a dozen fish swimming at intervals, and one after the other. Tu the eye they were little above the housetops. There might have FIG. 9.—From a sketch by Miss Catharine MacVicar Duncan, Thamesville. There were hundreds of sparks in group No. I, dozens in No. 2, fewer in the followers. No. 5 was a big one floating along by himself. Each group was distinct and separated from the others. There might have been 12 of them, but no more. The last ones were very dim, like luminous gas. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 201 been 12 groups of bodies, but no more. I am sure of 8. In the first there were hundreds of following sparks; dozens in the second; fewer in the rest. One big body floated along by himself after about the fourth group. Each group was distinct and separated from the others. The last ones were very dim, like luminous gas, fluttering now brighter, nuw dimmer. (Fig. 9.) The phenomenon lasted three or four minutes, perhaps longer. We had to get to the south side of the street the better to see them. No sounds were heard. The big leader was in sight longest, over a minute, I should say. TORONTO Sydenham and Parliament Sts. H. D. ASHLEY, of the Toronto Police Force. The meteors were observed in company with Sergt. Lydiatt. The first meteor was by far the most brilliant of all. had the general appear ance of a chain of fire-balls decreasing in size and followed by a pale beam of light not unlike that of a large searchlight. It was followed by five others, not nearly so luminous. I counted 16 in all, the last 4 being extremely dim. [ndeed two of these were seen to rise in the northwest, but became entirely invisible before passing over. Duration of entire display, 340 seconds. Cecil and Bathurst Sts. W. A. BARBAR (University Student in Mathematics.') There were 17 or 18 meteors, and the culor was reddish. The course was about 60° above the horizon. All had long tails, perhaps 30° long. The head of the meteors seemed to break up. Diameter not greater than 2'. Heard sound like thunder about 1 minute after last had gone. St. Clair Ave., near Oakwood School. W. BETTS. There were about as many as shown in the diagram (Fig. 10), and the display lasted from 5 to 8 minutes. The bodies remained as shown in the diagram. Any one body was in sight about 30 seconds. 202 C. A. Chant FIG. ID. — From a sketch by Mr. W. Betts, Toronto. The front meteors were very brilliant and appeared to be like fireworks on the point of exploding, the beads appearing like golden balls. Those next following were less brilliant although very bright. They gradually diminished but looked like remnants of fireworks or like stars flying through space — all at the 'same speed. The meteors appeared far more scattered than represented above. (See note to Fig. 5). Parkdale. JOHN We heard a heavy rumbling noise, but the sky was clear. There was a short interval of silence, and then a rumbling and a noise like thunder. The time was observed on a watch afterwards tested and found to be correct, and was 9.12. It reminded me of an earthquake I heard in September, 1910, near Cobalt, Ont. Bedford Ed., near Lowther Ave. MlSS BOYD. The bodies went in regular procession, travelling quite slowly. After all the rest had gone a single one appeared. Sounds like cannon were heard as the lights disappeared, four or five rumbling sounds, very dis tinct, but not continuous. They were heard by Mrs. Boyd in the house. Koxborough St., near Yonge St. HERBERT E. BROWN. One meteor appeared first, then another of about the same size (the first leading by a short distance), then closely following the second were six somewhat smaller ones, travelling two-by-two, and the rest came close behind these in irregular order, about fifteen in all. I tried to count them, but owing to questions from my companions and the awful majesty of it all, 1 lost the count. The first two broke ino many- pieces and left a trail of fire in their wake. Duration of display, about An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 203 3 minutes. From the time the first one struck the atmosphere until it passed out it was about a half-minute. A noise like distant thunder was heard. Kenilworth Ores. E. CHEETHAM. There were 21 meteors. The first was a very large one; then came three more, nearly as large and very bright. Then came two more, hut smaller; then four and three and two, until they got like sparks in the sky. After the last meteor had passed there was a rumble like thun der, which I spoke of at the time, as the night was very cold. Moore Park. JOHN CLARK. In the first group were three bodies, two abreast and the third below the others. Each of these three had a long tail. Then came a pair, and then other bodies not so bright and without tails. One of these in par ticular was very noticeable, having a kind of quivering motion. After this were two more bright ones, like the first pair of bright ones, and then after this a shower of sparks was seen in the northwest where the meteors had come from. These were much like sparks blown from a chimney. They did not pass over like the meteors, or if they did come they were not visible to us. The whole lasted about 4 minutes, and the path was about 40° above the horizon. Heard no sound. Bobert St., near Russell St. WM. R. EVANS. In the first lot there were two, side by side: Then four or five followed singly, and then two came close together. The rest followed singly. The time between successive ones varied from 10 to 20 seconds, or not more than 3 minutes in all. Deleware Ave., near Bloor St. FRED M. FISHER. The total number I counted was 22, and the entire flight, I judge, occupied about 1% minutes. At one time possibly 10 were in view. The course passed about 30° southwest of the zenith. 204 C. A. Chant Broadview Ave., near Bain Ave. CHARLES FULLER. The meteors came into sight right over the Swiss Cottage. (.As seen from the corner of Broadview and Bain Avenues, this building is 27° N. of W.—C. A. C.) I did not count them, but thought there were about 2U, appearing like this :— 1—3—2—6—4—2—1—1. The six in the middle formed a grand group, and they all kept regular formation all the time. No noise was heard, and the duration of the entire display was about 4 minutes. Gerrard St., near General Hospital. W. H. GREGORY (University Student). The shower, which consisted of some 18 meteors, seemed to appear in the north, a little to the west, and travelled across the sky to the south east. They seemed to pass nearly overhead, about 5° from the zenith. Most of the meteors had streaming tails, and the first one broke up. The bodies travelled in groups of three, and the first were considerably brighter than the later ones. Earlscourt, N. W. of the City. EDWARD GURNËY. The meteors came from a point about 5° west of Cassiopeia, and appeared tn be about 45° above the western horizon. Windermere Ave., Swansea. Miss IDA HOWARD. The path was about 60° above the horizon. The first group con sisted of -one large one leading two abreast. These were of about the same size and had tails, which appeared to be parts of the main body, breaking off like a rocket. These were followed by about ten others, not quite so large and with smaller tails. Then after a few seconds there appeared a great number of small bodies following in the same direction as the first. They were all of a bright red color. Duration, from 3 to 5 minutes. After the display had passed my two companions and I all heard a sound like two rolls of thunder. An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 205 Hepbotirne St. and Dovercotirt Ed. E. C. HUNT. The first meteor was the most brilliant of all; it was like a ball of fire, with a long tail. During its flight other bodies left it and followed in its tail. Then two more followed, but not quite so brilliant; these travelled abreast. Three other's followed, just behind each other, two of which had tails breaking up in the flight, the third remaining intact. These were followed by a cluster of eight, not nearly so brilliant, only one having a tail. Nine more followed, remaining intact and being very dull. Altogether I counted 6 with tails and 17 without, 23 in all. They all passed in 4 minutes > no sound was heard. Yonge St., near St. Michael's Cemetery. E. KlREY. There were from 12 to 15 bodies, and they appeared to be travelling from west towards the east. They had the appearance of rockets, on account of the fiery tail. Duration, 2 or 3 minutes ; after which there seemed to be two peals nf thunder. Balmoral Ave., near Avenue Ed. A. T. LATNG, B.A.Sc. The bodies had streamers behind them which looked like ribbons of light, and they moved sli wly and uniformly, as if all were drawn along by a cord. The course was horizontal, with no apparent downward tendency. The width of their path was about 4° or 5° and they passed about 20° southwest of the zenith. The path, from the point where they were FIG. it.— From a sketch by Mr. A. T. Laing, B.A.Sc., Toronto. This represents about go" of the flight. first seen to that where they disappeared, subtended an angle to the eye of about 120°. The brightest bodies were visible about 30 seconds. On the following Saturday, with the assistance of Prof. L. B. Stewart and a prismatic compass, an attempt was made to determine the direction of the course. By sighting on the beginning and the ending oi the path it was found to bs from about 26° north of west to the sains distance south of east. 206 C. A. Chant Don Valley, y4 Mile N. of Bloor St. J. G. MACARTHUR. There were probably 30 or 32 bodies, and the peculiar thing about them was their moving in fours, threes and twos, abreast of one another, and so perfect was the lining up you would have thought it was an aerial fleet manoeuvring after rigid drilling. About half of them had passed when an unusually large one hove in sight, fully ten times as large as the others. Five or six would appear in two detachments, probably 5 seconds apart ; then another wait of 5 or 10 seconds and another detachment would come into view. We could see each detachment for probably 20 or 25 seconds. The display lasted about 3 minutes. As the last detachment vanished the booming as of thunder was heard—about 5 or 6 very pronounced reports. It sounded in the valley as if some of the balls of fire had dashed into Humber Bay. The bodies vanished in the southeast, but the booming appeared to come from the west or northwest, and the time it was heard was close to 9.12 p.m. Pape Avenue. E. McGiix. There would be a number of the bodies in a line with a light streak between them; and the last was one large ball by itself. The display lasted fully 3 minutes. While we were gazing with awe on the brilliant display far above us in the clear sky a voice from a group of men was heard to say: "Oh, boys, I'll tell you what it is—an aeroplane race." It was 9.10 by my watch. About 3 minutes later we heard three reports like thunder, which seemed to come from the west. Indian Kd. and Geoffrey St. JAMES G. McMitWN, B.A.Sc. The path of the meteors when passing appeared to have an eleva tion of about 30° above the horizon. The tail of the first and those of some of the following ones ex tended to a considerable length, and looked not unlike the sheaf effect produced by certain rockets, except for the differences of direction. They would subtend an angle of perhaps 5°. At the end of the display several luminous balls appeared, travelling with a somewhat wavy motion and not in so direct a line as the larger meteors. I followed one of these, and An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 207 think 1 counted three others, which, except for their motion, were no1 readily distinguished from stars of a red color. A sound was heard by some of our party after I had left them, which must have been about 1% minutes after the last bodies had passed and nearly 4 minutes after the appearance of the first ones. Bathurst and. Dupont Sts. CYRIL A. Moss. There were about 15 meteors, and all had long tails except the last, which was just like a star and came some time after the others. The first meteor broke into three parts, which all travelled together. Then there were two pairs and the rest were single ones. Two sounds were heard, not just like thunder, but like immense upheavals in the earth some miles away. The first was louder than the second, and in the interval between11 had walked two (short) blocks. Brunswick and College Sts. H. G. MURRAY (University Student in Mathematics). Course from NT. W. by N. (34° W. of K.), but could not see the beginning for houses; centre of path, about 45° above western horizon; width of stream, about 3° ; color, golden yellow, like a sky-rocket but not so bright : a single body visible about 30 seconds. All had tails, which seemed to be lost as the bodies moved away, due to foreshortening. Duration, not greater than 5 minutes; no sound heard. Queen's Park. JOHN H. PARKER. The first group seemed to number five. Then followed a group of three and after that four or five single ones. Heard a sound like distant thunder. The path seemed to be about 20° from the zenith. Bloor St., near McMaster University. N. S. ROBERTSON (University Student in Mathematics). Beginning of display, 9.05 by watch. Duration, 1 minute or more. Saw small ones break off from larger ones. There were about 17 or 18 of them, 3 or 4 being seen at one time. There was usually a large mass followed by smaller ones. The path in the sky subtended about 1% right angles. The elevation of the course of the meteors was about 55° above the southwest horizon, and on tracing the course on a city map it appeared to be from a point about 47° west of north. 208 C. A. Chant Walter St. and Kingston Ed. KENNETH SNYDER (age 12 years). The meteors appeared to be a little west of overhead, travelling from northwest to southeast. I did not count them, but I judge there were twenty or more. They usually went in pairs, each pair being quite a distance behind the one next ahead of it. The whole phenomenon lasted about 3 minutes, each body being visible from 15 to 25 seconds. After the last ones had gone a dull sound like distant thunder was heard. Near King and Jarvis Sts. H. A. VAN WINCKËE. The position in the sky of the first one seemed very low, so low that at first I thought it was a rocket. The succeeding ones seemed much higher. I should judge there were 15 bodies, or a few more. Some were single and some went in twos and threes. The first appeared to be the largest and most brilliant of all ; and the phenomenon lasted, I would say- between 3 and 5 minutes. The bodies broke up without exception and left a tail behind as they went through the sky. I would not consider that any of them were visible for more than 30 seconds, with a possible exception of the first, which seemed larger and brighter than the others. Queen's Park. DR. W. M. WUNDER. There were about 25 bodies in all, and the centre of the path was about 25° southwest from the zenith. Bloor St., near Robert St. A CORRESPONDENT. The meteors were fairly high up in the sky, but at no time over head. About 15 or 20 bodies seen ; duration, 3 or 4 minutes. About 3 minutes after the display was over a noise like thunder was heard—not very loud, but decidedly like thunder. The bodies remained intact. They had long tails and moved quite slowly. Some would be seen coming in the distance while others were disappearing. When all were gone two large stars with tails remained. Poplar Plains Ed. Mrs. Davis and Miss Florence Davis clearly observed the trembling An Extraordinary Meteoric Display 209 of the house and heard the noise, being especially impressed by the trem bling. Mr. J. C. Dempster (University student.) and Rev. Professor Bowles of Victoria College also heard the sound and remarked it at the time. Trenton (94 miles, E. 18°