At Lewistown, Del., the meteor was seen to fall in the N.E. The report was heard five minutes later-loud but distant.

If we mark upon a map all the preceding directions, we find that the lines do not intersect at one point, but they indicate the most probable point of the meteor's disappearance to have been near lat. 39° 10′ and long. 75° 5'.

At New Haven, the path of the meteor was estimated to make an angle of from 25° to 35° with the vertical. Mr. Wilder Smith, near Waterbury, Ct., estimated the inclination to the vertical at about 30°.

At New York, Mr. Tatham estimated the angle with the vertical at 20°, Mr. Gould 10°, Mr. Pirsson 35°, and Mr. Bradley 45°. The mean of these four estimates is 27°.

At Washington, the path was pronounced exactly vertical. The actual path of the meteor was therefore such as, if continued, must undoubtedly have struck the earth. It must have passed vertically over the extreme southern part of New Jersey, and must have struck the earth in Delaware Bay, or near its shore.

That this conclusion is a near approximation to the truth, is confirmed by observations from the southern part of New Jersey.

Mr. Mills was surveying in the forest four miles west of Stephens Creek in Atlantic county, and heard a noise nearly overhead. He looked up and saw a cloud of a rounded form like a puff of smoke about 15 degrees south of the zenith.

At Millville, Cumberland county, a strange rumbling noise was heard somewhat resembling thunder, and one or more clouds of smoke were seen in a southeast direction at an elevation very roughly estimated at 45°. At Newport, Cumberland county, a rumbling noise, which lasted two minutes, was heard in an east or southeast direction.

At Maurice River Cove, Cumberland county, the captains of the oyster boats saw a flash and smoke in an easterly direction.

At Dias Creek, Cape May county, Mr. Smith states that the noise was great and lasted two or three minutes. The flash was brilliant, and the smoke was seen in a northeast direction at an elevation of 75° or 80° above the horizon.

At Goshen, Cape May county, a noise was heard in a northeast direction, and a cloud of a rounded form was seen in the northeast.

At Dennisville, Cape May county, the noise appeared directly overhead. There was a small cloud or belt of white smoke left in the train of the meteor, about five degrees northwest of the zenith, the atmosphere being perfectly clear at the time. The detonations lasted somewhat over a minute.

The directions indicated in the preceding notices have a decided convergence towards a point near lat. 39° 13', and long. 74° 52'. This result accords so nearly with that derived from observations made at a distance of a hundred miles and upwards, as to show that the observations are in the main reliable, but subject to that uncertainty which attends all estimates made without instruments, and not reduced immediately to writing. We must then conclude that this meteor passed vertically over the southern part of New Jersey, nearly on the parallel of 39° 13', and that it struck the earth near the eastern shore of Delaware Bay, probably between Dennis Creek and Maurice River.

I assume that this meteor was a solid body. We are acquainted with two classes of meteors quite distinct from each other and differing greatly in density. Ordinary shooting stars have never been known to reach the earth's surface, or to produce any audible noise. Another class of meteors like that of Agram in 1751 is composed chiefly of iron, and another like that of Weston, Ct. (1807), partly of iron and partly of silicates. They frequently strike the earth, or at least let fall fragments to the earth, and are attended not only by a brilliant flash of light, but by a tremendous noise. The New Jersey meteor bore a striking resemblance to the Weston meteor, not only in the brilliancy of its light, but in the noise which attended it. We cannot doubt that it was a body of considerable density; and the direction of its motion was such that the entire mass must have struck the earth. It may have sunk into Delaware Bay and not a single fragment have fallen upon dry land; but there is reason to hope that at least some fragments of it may yet be discovered. Such fragments, if they exist, are probably scattered along an east and west line coinciding nearly with the parallel of 39° 13', and the entire mass probably lies near the meridian of 75°.

5. Sandwich Island Meteor of Nov. 14, 1859.-A meteor of remarkable size and brilliancy was seen from the slope of Mauna Kea north of the great volcanoe of Kilauea, S. I., soon after dark of the 14th November last, shaped like a cross, having the light of the moon at full, moving vertically south from a point a little below the zenith and disappearing near the crater.-Pacific Com. Advertiser, Dec. 15.

6. Der Meteoreisenfall von Hraschina bei Agram am 26 Mai 1751; von W. HAIDINGER. Wien, 1859.-Prof. Haidinger has here revised all the contemporary evidence respecting the fall of this remarkable meteoric iron mass, the details of which are fortunately well authenticated. This history is of great interest at the present moment when the late meteors of August and November last have called up anew the discussion of this subject.

V. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. Monthly varying level of Lake Ontario, measured, in inches, from a fixed point above the surface downwards, for fourteen years, at Charlotte, mouth of Genesee River, N. Y.:

Year. Jan. Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1846 51 54 48 45 42 39 39 42 45 45 48 45 1847 48 42 36 36 29 25 25 25 36 39 43 46 1848 29 34 43 38 38 37 38 39 44 49 54 53 1849 50 50 52 46 36 33 44 39 45 38 38 41 1850 45 40 40 40 32 29 34 46 47 52 55 43 1851 44 54 48 47 44 38 35 38 42 47 53 51 1852 50 51 48 44 26 26 22 24 30 23 38 34 1853 35 32 32 25 20 14 27 20 24 28 38 39 1854 39 39 38 38 27 24 25 27 36 44 48 50 1855 52 53 36 40 40 36 34 36 36 34 33 33 1856 35 35 33 31 23 18 23 30 37 46 53 53 1857 54 56 46 44 35 24 19 12 14 92422 1858 19 13 13 18 4 6 4 2 8 12 14 16 1859 20 24 16 10 6 2 811 17 22 28 25

Mean Range.)

45.2 15 Low.
35.8 23

41.8 25

Higher.
Lower.

42.7

19

do.

41.9

26

do.

45.0

19

Low.

34.7

29

Higher.

27.8 25

Mean.

36.2

26

Lower.

1. As more water falls usually in the warmer months, the Lake is higher in those months generally than in the colder months.

2. The range has been only 54 inches, the lowest being in February, 1857, and the highest in August, 1858, and in June, 1359; the mean of the two is 27 inches.

3. In 1846 and 1857 the mean level lowest, and in 1858 and 1859 highest.

4. In 1853 the Lake was near the mean level, and in 1857 only a little less, though the first half of the year gave low water and the last half high. 5. The Lake was near the highest, or within four inches of it, in May, June, July and August, 1858, and in May and June, 1859, and of course the average of both years was high.

6. The Lake down to 50 inches or more in January and February, 1846; in November and December, 1848; in January, February and March, 1849; in October and November, 1850; in February, November and December, 1851; in January and February, 1852; in December, 1854; in January and February, 1855; in November and December, 1856; and in January and February, 1857.

These statements show that the changes of the level must be owing to the ordinary causes of supply or diminution of water over this great watershed, and disprove any notion of periodic rise and fall under any but meteoric laws. As the water was high in the Lake through 1858, it was suggested that the average fall of water must continue it high in 1859, as the measures now prove. In November, 1859, the water fell to the mean, and rose afterwards from the great autumnal rains at the west which had flowed into Lake Ontario.

C. D.

2. Eruption of Mauna Loa, Sandwich Islands, (in a letter to Prof. DANA from Prof. R. C. HASKELL, Oahu College, dated Honolulu, Nov. 5, 1859). Since my last dates (June 22d)* the lava continues to flow from the place of the recent eruption. With scarcely any cessation since the middle of June it has been flowing into the sea. Hawaii has been increased in area by many acres at least, by several hundred acres it is said.

After writing you from Kona in June, I visited Kilauea, which I found very quiet. There has, however, been considerable action since you were there in 1840, for the crater is now filled up even with the "black ledge" of which Wilkes speaks.

From Kilauea, passing through Hilo, I went to Waimeu, intending to ascend Mauna Kea, but the weather proved so rainy and foggy that I was unable to do so. From Waimeu I went direct to Kona, crossing the lava stream without difficulty on a mule, between the three mountains. The stream was fully three miles wide where I crossed, and at some points above appeared to be five or six miles wide. At this time the lava was flowing into the sea, and of course running under me as I crossed, yet the lava on the surface was in no place so hot as to burn the hoofs of the mule, or even to be noticed by myself, unless I touched my hand to it. After arriving at Koua I went by canoe to visit the place where the lava was then and is still flowing into the sea. Without attempting to give an adequate description of the sight presented as I passed, by night, a few rods in front of the stream, which was more than a mile wide, I will only mention one fact.

* Vol. xxviii, [2], 284.

The lava was at a light-red heat, and flowed into the sea with a velocity of two or three miles per hour. And yet this point is forty miles from the source of the stream, and at least twenty-five miles from the lowest point to which the "fissure" in Mauna Loa can possibly extend. Therefore the lava flows twenty-five miles at least, without receiving any heat from the interior of the earth, and yet is still of a light-red heat. It will be remembered, of course, that the stream is covered over with solid lava all the way from the source to within a few feet of the sea, with the exception of a small opening here and there, once in a mile perhaps.

Rev. T. COAN adds, under date of Hilo, Hawaii, Nov. 25, 1859.-"The old lake of fusion in Kilauea is slowly enlarging, and the area around it is subsiding. Probably it may in time resume its old size of half a mile in diameter. Recent visitors have found it active. On one occasion it was thought to throw up jets to the height of, 70 feet.

The present eruption has now been in progress ten months, and our last advices report it still active. Several streams have fallen into the ocean along the coast of Kona. These are of different widths, and some of them are separated miles from each other. A small village, Kibele, has been covered of late with the lava, and a large and valuable fish-pond filled up. The people in Kibele pulled down their houses, and also the church, on the approach of the lava stream, and carried off the materials. Just above the church the fiery stream parted, flowed along on each side of the ground where the church had stood, reunited below it, and continued in one stream to the sea. This fact struck the Hawaiians as marvellous, and they regretted having removed their house of worship.

During the early stages of this eruption there were many splendid exhibitions along the line of flow. Canals, cataracts, lakes, fountains and jets of fusion were seen along the slope of the mountain. Forests were consumed, rocks were rent, loud and startling detonations were heard, and the heavens were shrouded with a pall of darkness. Now, and for a long season past, little or no fire is seen, except where the red lava pours into the sea. Here a broken line of fusion is seen coming out from under its self-made counterpane of hardened lava, and pouring down the face of a low and cragged precipice into the ocean, keeping up a constant boiling and sending up clouds of vapor into the air.

The central parts of Kilauea are more quiet than any other part of the crater. We have occasional earthquakes. Two shocks occurred in February, one in July, and two in November of the current year."

BOOK NOTICES.

1. Trübner's Bibliographical Guide to American Literature: a classed list of books, published in the United States of America during the last forty years. With Bibliographical Introduction, Notes and Alphabetical Index. Compiled and edited by NICHOLAS TRÜBNER. London, 1859. 8vo, 554 pp.-This work is beyond all question the best guide which we have to recent American literature and science. Not only is it better than all other bibliographical works of a similar scope but it is excellent in itself. Our limits permit us to mention only one of its most valuable features. Special attention has been bestowed on works in natural science, not only those which appear with an author's name, and are accordingly easy to trace, but more particularly on serial works, such as scientific journals, the transactions of learned societies, and reports of the

state and national legislatures, which are often very difficult to discover by the ordinary apparatus of the trade. Mr. Trübner not only mentions what constitute complete sets of such works; but he enumerates the contents of the several volumes, so that by means of his excellent index a multitude of articles and essays, often overlooked, are brought to the knowledge of every student. This book should be owned by every bookbuyer.

D. C. G.

2. Manual of Public Libraries, Institutions and Societies in the United States and British Provinces of North America; by WILLIAM J. RHEES, chief clerk of the Smithsonian Institution. 8vo, pp. 687. Lippincott. Philadelphia, 1859.-This volume contains a great amount of useful information on Public Libraries, and gives evidence of much labor in its compilation. The list of libraries in the various States extends to over three thousand titles. In a second edition the Author will be able to supply some obvious deficiencies which are inseparable from the first cast of such a work.

3. The New American Cyclopedia: a popular Dictionary of general Knowledge; edited by GEO. RIPLEY and CHAS. A. DANA. Vol. I-VIII. 8vo. New York and London: D. Appleton & Co.-Since our former notice of this Cyclopedia it has advanced rapidly, until now we have before us eight volumes of eight hundred pages each, the last article being on the too famous HAYNAU. Such promptness in issuing so large a mass of elaborately prepared matter speaks well not only for the energy of the publishers and the industry of its editors, but also of the public appreciation of the work. Like its predecessor, the "Encyclopedia Americana," 1829-47, by Dr. LIEBER and others, it gives a satisfactory response to almost all questions coming within the range of its plan. The New Cyclopedia, however, besides its greater range of topics, has the advantage derived from a vast progress in many departments of knowledge, developed by a numerous corps of contributors skilled each in his own speciality.

In looking over its articles with a peculiar reference to our own departments, we are often tempted to linger among its miscellaneous topics, so rich in various and interesting information. The fine arts, religion, law, politics and war, share our attention with history and biography, ancient and modern, foreign and American, including persons still living, with sketches of events within their respective eras; geography, with the physical and picturesque features and the mineral treasures of particular countries; common and useful arts, agriculture, mechanics, and their various productions; gas lighting, gun-powder, its history, manufacture and uses; caoutchouc, gutta percha, and kindred topics of technical chemistry, with their diversified applications, and a multitude of other subjects, more or less practical and interesting to society at large.

In the American Cyclopedia the articles on science are numerous and valuable, and elevate the work to the character of a compendium of modern science. These articles are in most cases written with decided ability, and evidently by persons who are familiar with the topics which they discuss. While many of the less important subjects are presented with luminous brevity, others are more fully expanded. Among these are many topics of natural history; Chemistry is presented with its equivalents and laws of combination illustrated by many of its modern discoveries and practical applications; of the latter an example is found in the full account of the manufacture of gelatine, of beer and bricks, and