ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 335 



The theory generally accepted is thus set forth by Prof. H. A. Newton, 

 of New Haven, Conn. : which is, tlv.it there is a ring, or anuulus of small 

 bodies revolving with planetary velocity about, the sun ; that the bodies in 

 question are distributed very unevenly in the ring, there being a small 

 section of the ring where the bodies are numerous, with a few stragglers 

 scattered along the rest of its circuit ; that the earth passes through the 

 ring every year, and each year in a new phce ; and that it passes through 

 that part of the ring in which the planets are most numerous once in 

 about 33 years. He further concludes that the period of the revolution 

 of this ring of planets around the sun may be calculated with very great 

 accuracy, and that it is 354'621 days, a little less than a year. 



When the bodies, composing this assumed ring, come within the limits 

 of our atmosphere, they are rendered visible to us as shooting-stars, or 

 fire-balls. Prof. Newton, and Mr. Alexander Herschel, have concluded 

 independently, that shooting-stars commence at 70 miles and disappear at 

 50 miles above the surface of the earth. At 60 miles above the earth 

 shooting-stars are far more frequent than at any other altitude, and they 

 are considerably more between 40 and 80 miles above the earth than in 

 all other elevations put together. Examples of suddenly collapsing and 

 rekindling meteors appear to favor an hypothesis that chemical affinities, 

 unknown at ordinary temperatures, produce in similar meteors a consid- 

 erable portion of their unaccountable excess of light and heat. Prof. 

 Newton estimates the velocity with which the November meteors arrive 

 on the atmosphere of this earth at 20*17 miles per second, allowing for 

 the attraction by the earth. The velocity of their passage through the 

 air is 38*7 miles, or nearly 40 miles per second. 



The periodicity and parallel divergence of all the shooting-stars from 

 the same apex or point in the celestial sphere, can only be accounted for 

 by the supposition of a ring, or elliptical annulus of meteors. Supposing 

 this ellipse is crossed by the earth twice in her annual course, and that 

 the traversing of each node occupies a day or two, we may at once ac- 

 count for the periodic profusion of meteors. And the parallel divergence 

 of the stars from the same place in the heavens at each period, is exactly 

 what would occur if the orbits of the earth and the meteoric ring inter- 

 sected. In the November period, all the stars emerge from the region 

 of Leonis ; in August, from Camelopardali ; the latitude of the apex 

 is chlliged, but not the geometrical fact of divergence from a common 

 source. 



Father Secchi, the Roman astronomer, in a recent publication, calls 

 attention to the small horizontal distance to which meteor appear- 

 ances are limited. The cases in which this exceeds 220 kilometers are 

 rare. The consequence of this is a curious one. At places double 

 that distance apart it is scarcely possible that the same shooting-stars 

 can be seen ; and if we suppose the celestial vault represented by a 

 globe 50 centimeters in diameter, we may say that the part of the sky- 

 whence the meteors proceed does not exceed the space that might be 

 covered by a shilling. 



Dr. Schmidt of the Observatory of Athens, has recently been fortu- 

 nate enough to observe the explosion of a meteor by means of one of 

 the powerful telescopes of the Athens Observatory, and the appearance 

 which he witnessed an incandescent shower is entirely what would 

 have been expected. 



