ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 339 



As usual, tl.?re was a general motion towards the west. The conclu- 

 sion arrived at by the observers was, that the number of meteors was 

 not greatly beyond the average. 



The meteors, however, of the 10th of August, seem to have ap- 

 peared in their usual numbers. At Canonsburg, Penn., between the 

 hours of 10 P. M. and 12 A. M., 260 meteors were observed in 

 all. They appeared with great regularity, about an equal number in 

 each quarter of the heavens, and each successive half-hour. About 

 nine tenths of all observed moved towards the southwest, the remain- 

 ing tenth traversing the heavens in all directions. There was no cen- 

 tral point of emanation, though a majority, perhaps, of the whole, ap- 

 peared to originate in the directions of Cassiopeia and Ursa Major. On 

 the night of the llth of August, also, meteors were more than usually 

 abundant, but by no means so numerous as on the evening of the 10th. 

 At Mineral Point, Wisconsin, numerous shooting stars were observed 

 on the night of the 9th of August. 



At the Cambridge (Mass.) Observatory, although the sky was clear, 

 very few meteors were observed on the 12th and 13th of November. 



In France, M. Coulvier-Gravier's observations for the August period 

 of shooting stars again this year confirm his views, that the phenomenon 

 is progressive, and not a sudden appearance in great numbers about the 

 10th of the month. It will be seen, by the subjoined table of his ob- 

 servations, that the increase continued from the 10th of July to the 10th 

 of August, diminishing on the night of the llth. 



July 10, 6 shooting stars. July 26, 26 shooting stars. 



11, 8 " 27, 28 



13, 10 " 28, 33 



14, 7 Aug. 6, 50 



15, 10 8, 60 " 

 " 20, 13 " 9, 107 " 

 " 21, 13 10, 120 



" 22, 12 " 11, 70 " 



In November, the maximum number noticed by M. Gravier amounted 

 to only 40, but they lasted for several days. 



The series of observations made by M. Coulvier-Gravier from July, 

 1841. leads to the general result, that, from December 21st to June 

 21st, the number of meteors is much smaller than in the second half 

 of the year. 



AN AMERICAN PRIME MERIDIAN. 



AT the meeting of the American Association, in August, a paper on 

 the subject of an American Prime Meridian was presented by Lieut. 

 Davis, U. S. N., from which the following extracts are taken. 



" It is a question whether, having a National Observatory, and being 

 about, to publish an American Nautical Almanac, we shall still con- 

 tinue to count our longitude from the meridian of Greenwich, or 

 whether it is preferable for convenience, for accuracy, or for other rea- 

 sons, to establish a new prime meridian on this continent. It would 



