SKETCH OF PROFESSOR H. A. NEWTON. 84 1 



their significance, were first carefully observed by Professor Denison 

 Olmsted in 1833, who gave much attention to the question of their 

 nature and origin. But, as Professor C. S. Lyman states in his biogra- 

 phy of Professor Olmsted, it was not till thirty years after his and 

 Professor Twining's studies of the subject "that the labors of Pro- 

 fessor Newton in this country, and of Professor Adams and others 

 abroad, made it possible to designate the precise orbit of the Novem- 

 ber stream, and to identify it with that of a comet having a period of 

 thirty -three and one fourth years." The phenomena continued to have 

 diligent observers at New Haven, prominent among whom was Mr. 

 Herrick, the librarian, and afterward, till 1862, the treasurer of the col- 

 lege. At the time of his death, the biographer in the " History of 

 Yale College " records, " Professor Newton was already engaged in 

 organizing combined and methodical observations on shooting-stars, 

 and in collecting and publishing in the ' Journal of Science ' the re- 

 sults of independent observers. Under his supervision a map of the 

 heavens was prepared, which was published by the Connecticut 

 Academy, and could be used by observers to mark down the appar- 

 ent paths of the meteors. A rich harvest of observations was thus 

 obtained by zealous laborers in various parts of the country, many of 

 whom had been interested and trained in the work by Professor New- 

 ton. The separation of the precious grains of truth from the chaff 

 the perception of the constant amid the accidental, of fixed laws dis- 

 guised by the errors of observations made under circumstances which 

 precluded the use of instruments of precision is, however, the more 

 difficult part of such investigations. The published results of Pro- 

 fessor Newton's studies in this direction are mostly to be found in the 

 ' Journal of Science ' and in the ' Memoirs ' of the National Academy. 

 The memoir read to this Academy a few years ago is an almost ex- 

 haustive discussion of the phenomena exhibited by the sporadic shoot- 

 ing-stars. He has also contributed admirable summaries of what is 

 known in respect to the laws of meteors to the new edition of the 

 " Encyclopaedia Britannica " and to " Johnston's Cyclopaedia." 



"But the investigation which has been followed by the most remark- 

 able results relates to the November meteoroids, and was based upon 

 researches into early records of remarkable star-showers. From such 

 records, Professor Newton showed that the period of revolution of 

 these bodies must have one of five accurately determined values. 

 From the same sources he determined the secular motion of the node 

 of their mean orbit. The five values of the period, with the position 

 of the radiant point, which had also been determined, would give five 

 possible orbits. The real orbit could be distinguished from the others, 

 as Professor Newton remarked, by the calculation of the secular mo- 

 tion of the node due to the disturbing influence of the planets for each 

 of the five orbits. This calculation was subsequently undertaken by 

 Professor Adams, of Cambridge, England, and the real orbit was ap- 



