lendidly illuminated aeroplane,
passing over the village." "The machine was apparently traveling at a
tremendous rate, and came from the direction of Bath, and went on toward
Gloucester." The Editor says that it was a large, triple-headed
fireball. "Tremendous indeed!" he says. "But we are prepared for
anything nowadays."

That is satisfactory. We'd not like to creep up stealthily and then jump
out of a corner with our data. This Editor, at least, is prepared to
read--

_Nature_, Oct. 27, 1898:

A correspondent writes that, in the County Wicklow, Ireland, at about 6
o'clock in the evening, he had seen, in the sky, an object that looked
like the moon in its three-quarter aspect. We note the shape which
approximates to triangularity, and we note that in color it is said to
have been golden yellow. It moved slowly, and in about five minutes
disappeared behind a mountain.

The Editor gives his opinion that the object may have been an escaped
balloon.

In _Nature_, Aug. 11, 1898, there is a story, taken from the July number
of the _Canadian Weather Review_, by the meteorologist, F.F. Payne: that
he had seen, in the Canadian sky, a large, pear-shaped object, sailing
rapidly. At first he supposed that the object was a balloon, "its
outline being sharply defined." "But, as no cage was seen, it was
concluded that it must be a mass of cloud." In about six minutes this
object became less definite--whether because of increasing distance or
not--"the mass became less dense, and finally it disappeared." As to
cyclonic formation--"no whirling motion could be seen."

_Nature_, 58-294:

That, upon July 8, 1898, a correspondent had seen, at Kiel, an object in
the sky, colored red by the sun, which had set. It was about as broad as
a rainbow, and about twelve degrees high. "It remained in its original
brightness about five minutes, and then faded rapidly, and then remained
almost stationary again, finally disappearing about eight minutes after
I first saw it."

In an intermediate existence, we quasi-persons have nothing to judge by
because everything is its own opposite. If a hundred dollars a week be a
standard of luxurious living to some persons, it is poverty to others.
We have instances of three objects that were seen in the sky in a space
of three months, and this concurrence seems to me to be something to
judge by. Science has been built upon concurrence: so have been most of
the fallacies and fanaticisms. I feel the posi