A History of Science, vol 3 | Page 7

it was seen at London moving
horizontally from east by north to east by south at least fifty degrees
high, and at Redgrove, in Suffolk, on the Yarmouth road, about twenty
miles from the east coast of England, and at least forty miles to the
eastward of London, it appeared a little to the westward of the south,
suppose south by west, and was seen about thirty degrees high, sliding
obliquely downward. I was shown in both places the situation thereof,
which was as described, but could wish some person skilled in
astronomical matters bad seen it, that we might pronounce concerning
its height with more certainty. Yet, as it is, we may securely conclude
that it was not many more miles westerly than Redgrove, which, as I
said before, is about forty miles more easterly than London. Suppose it,
therefore, where perpendicular, to have been thirty-five miles east from
London, and by the altitude it appeared at in London-- viz., fifty
degrees, its tangent will be forty-two miles, for the height of the meteor
above the surface of the earth; which also is rather of the least, because
the altitude of the place shown me is rather more than less than fifty
degrees; and the like may be concluded from the altitude it appeared in
at Redgrove, near seventy miles distant. Though at this very great
distance, it appeared to move with an incredible velocity, darting, in a
very few seconds of time, for about twelve degrees of a great circle
from north to south, being very bright at its first appearance; and it died

away at the east of its course, leaving for some time a pale whiteness in
the place, with some remains of it in the track where it had gone; but no
hissing sound as it passed, or bounce of an explosion were heard.
"It may deserve the honorable society's thoughts, how so great a
quantity of vapor should be raised to the top of the atmosphere, and
there collected, so as upon its ascension or otherwise illumination, to
give a light to a circle of above one hundred miles diameter, not much
inferior to the light of the moon; so as one might see to take a pin from
the ground in the otherwise dark night. 'Tis hard to conceive what sort
of exhalations should rise from the earth, either by the action of the sun
or subterranean heat, so as to surmount the extreme cold and rareness
of the air in those upper regions: but the fact is indisputable, and
therefore requires a solution."
From this much of the paper it appears that there was a general belief
that this burning mass was heated vapor thrown off from the earth in
some mysterious manner, yet this is unsatisfactory to Halley, for after
citing various other meteors that have appeared within his knowledge,
he goes on to say:
"What sort of substance it must be, that could be so impelled and
ignited at the same time; there being no Vulcano or other Spiraculum of
subterraneous fire in the northeast parts of the world, that we ever yet
heard of, from whence it might be projected.
"I have much considered this appearance, and think it one of the
hardest things to account for that I have yet met with in the phenomena
of meteors, and I am induced to think that it must be some collection of
matter formed in the aether, as it were, by some fortuitous concourse of
atoms, and that the earth met with it as it passed along in its orb, then
but newly formed, and before it had conceived any great impetus of
descent towards the sun. For the direction of it was exactly opposite to
that of the earth, which made an angle with the meridian at that time of
sixty-seven gr., that is, its course was from west southwest to east
northeast, wherefore the meteor seemed to move the contrary way. And
besides falling into the power of the earth's gravity, and losing its
motion from the opposition of the medium, it seems that it descended
towards the earth, and was extinguished in the Tyrrhene Sea, to the
west southwest of Leghorn. The great blow being heard upon its first
immersion into the water, and the rattling like the driving of a cart over

stones being what succeeded upon its quenching; something like this is
always heard upon quenching a very hot iron in water. These facts
being past dispute, I would be glad to have the opinion of the learned
thereon, and what objection can be reasonably made against the above
hypothesis, which I humbly submit to their censure."[1]
These few paragraphs, coming as they do from a leading
eighteenth-century astronomer, convey more clearly than any comment
the actual