ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 377 



their origin there ? Observations, I think, show that there is a constant com- 

 motion within the ring itself; may not the nebulous matter, hah" agglomerated 

 here and there, be shot by these commotions beyond its sphere, and, caught 

 by the attraction of the earth, be drawn down till, striking our atmosphere, 

 they glance in any casual direction, and taking fire become consumed, thus 

 giving us the shooting stars ? And may not this nebulous matter, still further 

 solidified and with a same fate, afford us the aerolites ? For if such matter 

 could have once afforded us our moon, it may easily afford bodies such as 

 aerolites are found to be. "What is nebulous matter ? My observations throw 

 no light upon the subject. It is very transparent, for I had no difficulty in 

 seeing stars of the sixth magnitude through its most effulgent, and therefore 

 densest portions. But transparency does not argue tenacity as a matter of 

 course ; for rock crystal and the diamond are the most transparent, while they 

 are the densest and hardest of all bodies. But of whatever composed, I do 

 not suppose the ring of the zodiacal light to be composite, for its internal dis- 

 turbances are opposed to this. But with our present knowledge, such reason- 

 ings can not satisfy us : they only beckon us on to be searchers and further 

 collectors of facts. 



Professor Peirce fully concurred with Mr. Jones hi his theory, and if this 

 theory had been the first proposed no second would ever have been enter- 

 tamed. His only objection had been that one satellite could never maintain 

 a ring, and he still is of that belief, but is convinced that it has many other 

 satellites too small to be seen, but that these satellites furnish the meteors 

 which fall to the earth. As to their distance, he thinks that some may be 

 within the ring and some beyond it. 



Professor Alexander drew from the fact that the apices of the zodiacal light 

 when both were visible were 35 apart, that the diameter of the earth's ring 

 was 25,000 miles. 



Professor Sillirnan, Sen., recounted the history of the ."Weston meteor. Im- 

 mense masses have fallen. Now all of these must have a common origin, for 

 they have a common chemical character. They must fall every few months 011 

 land or ocean. The height at which the Weston meteor exploded was sup- 

 posed to be about 16 miles and its diameter about 1,300 feet. But little of it 

 was found where has the rest gone ? He concluded that these masses re- 

 volve quite low. 



Professor J. Lawrence Smith was certain that they were fragments of some 

 body belonging to our own terrestrial system, but not to the earth. The 

 questions of velocity and size are of the highest importance. They generally 

 strike with the velocity of a cannon ball, although they have been supposed 

 to enter the atmosphere with a velocity of about eighteen miles per second. 

 As to their size : After the explosion of the "Weston meteor, if any fragment 

 went over it would have been visible many minutes after the explosion. He 

 thinks the diameter over estimated, and that the pieces picked up were all. 

 He made an experiment. He illuminated a little piece of charcoal, so that at 

 the distance of half a mile, it showed an illuminated disk three times as large 

 as the moon. Trigonometry would have made that point of charcoal 800 feet 



