prevalent Disorders, fyc, with Volcanic Emanations, 423 



it so happens, that there is, perhaps, sufficient evidence to 

 conclude that the direction of the course of these meteors (if 

 the same) in different years, connected with the electrical and 

 volcanic phenomena which I have attributed as explanatory 

 of their origin, does actually conform to geodesic lines, or 

 rather, to curves, corresponding to circles of latitude con- 

 centric with the surface of the earth. Should the doctrine 

 of magnetic curves, or electrical currents (see R. Were Fox 

 on Irregularities of Magnetic Needle, Phil. Mag., 3d series, 

 i. 310.), turn out to be true, will not the facts connected with 

 these meteors give and receive mutual illustration ? The 

 eastward or westward motion of the meteors must be under- 

 stood only as referable to Professor Olmsted's hypothesis of 

 a comet; because it is well known that meteors have been 

 seen moving in either direction in their proper course. In 

 Silliman's Journal for 1835 (xxviii. 95.), Mr. Loomis of 

 Yale College has a paper on " Shooting Stars," in which 

 he repeats the observations of Professor Brandes of Leipzig 

 ( Unterhaltungenfiir Frucnde der Physik und Astronomie), upon 

 the shooting stars seen from April to October, 1823, in 

 various parts of Germany. These observations bear on 

 our argument, since on Aug. 8. 65 meteors were seen at 

 Breslau, and on Aug. 10. 140 were seen in less than two 

 hours. The result is given in a "Table of the calculated 

 Meteors," proved identical, as observed from different locali- 

 ties. It appears that of sixty-three observations during six- 

 teen nights, thirty-four displays had a height under 50 miles, 

 and only seven above 100, of which two were above 200, and 

 one at 500 miles high. The greatest length run by any me- 

 teor was 180 miles, on Oct. 7. It is considered that, though 

 one meteor on October 8. (No. 56. in the table) had a ver- 

 tical downward course of 96 miles on the shores of the 

 Baltic, that the direction of these meteors had an impelling 

 power, independent of gravity. The prevalent direction in 

 azimuth was 55° west from south. Professor Brandes calcu- 

 lated, also, that the point to which the earth's motion was 

 directly opposed was 48° 10' w. azimuth; and, subjecting all 

 the observations recorded to this comparison, he found that 

 so far as these observations go, it is perfectly clear that the 

 prevalent direction of the meteors is owing to the motion of the 

 earth. 



In 1 799, Cumana was within the field of observation ; in 

 1832, Mocha, on the Red Sea. Now, the difference in latitude 

 between these places is but 2° or 3° : the corresponding dis- 

 turbances of the earth at that time lay also in the line of con- 

 nection and continuation. So, in 1834, a line drawn from 



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