356 Miss Zornlin on the Periodical Shooting Stars. 



must use the term periodicity, as applied to these meteors, 

 with caution*." That philosopher, however, does not seem 

 to regard the aurora borealis as connected with, and occa- 

 sionally appearing as a substitute for the phaenomena of the 

 shooting stars; the fact, however, is attested by his own ob- 

 servations in 1837, and by those of others in 1838. He 

 further remarks, that no marked indication was observed in 

 1839 and 1840. At this place, in both those years, the nights 

 of November 12th were most unfavourable for observation; 

 that of November 12th, 1839, having been uniformly foggy; 

 and that of November 12th, 1840, hazy and dull in the early 

 part of the evening, and subsequently rainy. In 1836, the 

 weather at this epoch was not more propitious; and in 1837, 

 except in the early part of the evening (when the phenome- 

 non before described was witnessed), the sky was overcast 

 throughout the] night, the moon being also at the full. On 

 the 10th of August of the present year (1841) we had here a 

 dull evening and a rainy night: on the 9th, however, the 

 phenomenon of shooting stars was witnessed in far more than 

 usual abundance ; and among those I observed, although the 

 larger proportion were direct, or moving from N.E. to S.W., 

 three were retrograde, or moving from S.W. to N.E.; and the 

 latter included a splendid meteor, much larger than Venus, 

 which burst into sparks. 



The predominating direction of these meteors is another 

 point to which, perhaps, some allusion ought to be made. The 

 hypothesis of Chladni, and that which has been most gene- 

 rally adopted, consists, as stated by Mr. Galloway, " in sup- 

 posing that, independently of the great planets, there exist in 

 the planetary regions myriads of small bodies which circulate 

 about the sun, generally in groups or zones, and that one of 

 these zones intersects the ecliptic about the jMace through 

 which the earth passes in November." Besides other dif- 

 ficulties attending this hypothesis, (none of which, it will be 

 found, apply to the hints at explanation I have offered above,) 

 Mr. Galloway remarks, " That bodies moving in groups in 

 the circumstances supposed, must necessarily move in the 

 same direction, and consequently, when they become visible 

 from the earth, would all appear to emanate from one point 

 and move towards the opposite. Now, although the observa- 

 tions seem to show that the predominating direction is from 

 north-east to south-west, yet shooting stars are observed on 

 the same nights to emanate from all points of the heavens, and 

 to move in all possible directions." This difficulty, it will be 



* Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1840, 

 p. 119. 



