THE AUGUST AND NOVEMBER METEORS. 391 



very unequally distributed, is retrograde, or contrary to that of the 

 earth. The inclination of this orbit to that of the earth is only 17 

 44'; its major axis is about 10 times greater than the diameter of the 

 earth's orbit, and the period of revolution for the densest part of the 

 meteorites round the sun S is 33 years 3 months. 



Fra. 2. 



Orbit of the Meteor-Shower of the 10th of August 



From all we have now learned concerning the nature and constitu- 

 tion of comets, nebulae, cosmical clouds, and meteoric swarms, an un- 

 mistakable resemblance will be remarked among these different forms 

 in space. The affinity between comets and meteors had been already 

 recognized by Chladni, but Schiaparelli, of Milan, was the first to take 

 account of all the phenomena exhibited by these mysterious heavenly 

 bodies, and with wonderful acuteness to treat successfully the mass of 

 observations and calculations which had been contributed during the 

 course of the last few years by Oppolzer, Peters, Bruhns, Heis, Le 



