Zodiacal Light. 161 



ber. At the conclusion of the essay, I suggested the possi- 

 bility that the zodiacal light might be the body in question. 

 I was reluctant, however, to insist on such a connection, be- 

 cause the existence of tlie nebulous body was infen*ed from 

 evidence wholly independent of the zodiacal light, and even 

 before the zodiacal light was thought of. In fact, at that 

 time, 1 had very vague ideas respecting this light, as some- 

 thing that appears in the west after twilight about the time 

 of the vernal equinox ; but I did not even know that it was 

 ever visible at the period of the year when the November 

 meteors occurred ; for, at that time, I had never read either 

 the observations of Cassini on this body, or the treatise of 

 Mairan on the Aurora Borealis, where so much is ascribed 

 to its agency in the production of this latter phenomenon. 

 Nearly twenty years have since elapsed, and I have had suf- 

 ficient opportunity to observe the zodiacal light, and to re- 

 flect on the question of its possible connection with the mete- 

 oric showers of November and August. The result is, an 

 increasing conviction of such a connection. I may here re- 

 mark, that the first idea of such an origin of the November 

 meteors is now generally ascribed by European writers to 

 M. Biot. It may be proper, however, to state, that the 

 paper in which M. Biot first mentions the subject, is an 

 essay read before the French Academy, soon after the mete- 

 oric shower of November 1836, three years after my paper 

 was published. M. Biot does, indeed, favour the idea that 

 these showers of meteors have their origin in the zodiacal 

 light ; but in noticing the views which I had published re- 

 specting the cause of the meteoric shower, which he did me 

 the honour to review at some length, and in a manner very 

 encouraging to myself, he distinctly stated that I had in my 

 paper suggested the idea that the zodiacal light might pos- 

 sibly be the very nebulous body in question. 



I am aware that the opinions I have formed differ widely 

 from those entertained by many members of this Association, 

 whose eminent talents and great success in the investigation 

 of truth entitle them to the highest deference ; but, should 

 I fail of convincing them of the correctness of my views, I 

 still indulge the hope that I may secure increased attention 



VOL. LTI. NO. CHI. — JANUARY 1852. h 



