The Cincinnati Commercial has the following account of a brilliant meteor seen in that city on the 2nd inst.:?
A few minutes after ten o'clock, Thursday night, a magnificient meteor darted across the Southern sky, glowing for a few seconds with a light far more brilliant than the moon. We were standing at the moment on the sidewalk in front of the Commercial Office Building, observing the light of a balloon that had floated to the Nord and was moving steadily on its way. There was suddenly an intense light in the South, and running we saw directly over Covington, moving from the southeast to the Northwest, not more that twenty degrees above the horizon, a great ball of flame. The light was, as a correspondent well describes it, like that from the balls shot from a Roman candle. Before its marvelous radiance the moon was paled, and while it passed, the black shadows of the lofty buildings of the city wheeled around as the wild luminary sped; and when it was gone, there was a sensation of dimness of sight, as after a resplendent flash of lightning. The luminous object disapeared from our eyes behind the buildings on the west side of Race street, and seemed to have fallen into the river, or to have vanished in the vicinity of the Fifth-street Ferry.
The Louisville Journal, of the 3d, gives the following account of it :
A few minutes after 10 o'clock last night we were passing the United States Hotel, between Green and Jefferson streets, the moon shining very bright at the time when the Southeastern sky was suddenly illuminated with an intense brilliancy. It was so vivid that it added to the brilliancy of the full moon's illumination, and for the space of several seconds, with variable effulgence, lighting up the scene. We were "under the dee" of an immense building and had no opportunity of looking at the sky, but we deem it a duty to selenne to state our grave suspicion that we had a Southern meteor last night to countervall the prophetic effects of the one recently seen in the North.
The meteor was also seen at Chillicothe at the same hour.
Mr. PRESTON, of Yellow Springs, saw the meteor, under very favorable circumstances for observation. He gives the following description :
Between 19 and 20 minutes past 10 o'clock on the evening of the 2d inst., while sitting on the step of the entrance of the south wing of the college, engaged in conversation with one of the students, there appeared in the southern heavens, about one-third of the distance between the horizon and the zenith, a bright ball of fire, resembling the moon to size and color. I at one recognized it as a meteor, and collected my thoughts for observation. At its first point it remained stationary for several seconds, increasing in brilliancy from a pale red to a silvery white, encircled by a ring of green. It then shot through the heavens in a horizontal wavering line from east to west, with immence velocity. At first, soarks of fire were emitted, which changed as the fiery ball increased in speed, to streams of light of the most beautiful colors, add of such brilliancy as to dazzle the eyes, and left in its train a very large luminous band, equal to one half of its own diameter, in which several of the colors of the rainbow were distinctly exhibited. Unlike the meteoric display of the 20th July, there appeared but one ball of fire. As it entered the western horizon its course was more irregular, and the flame again changed to a cerp crimson. The bail contunued its antics until it was lost behind the clouds, leaving a trace of its path until it quite vanished from sight. During the last few seconds of its existence, the appearance of the southern and western heavens was perfectly gorgeous, presenting a grand pyrotechnic display, in which the meteor was the centre-piece. During this phenomena, the moon was wholly obscured by a heavy cloud, which rendered the spectacle more brilliant. The duration of the display I do not think was more than ten seconds. There was no report, but a faint hissing sound, as if produced by the concussion of air, was distinctly heard. Although of shorter duration and more limited in its range than that of the 20th inst., it was certainly as brilliant and worderful.