S54 Miss Zornlin on the Periodical Shooting Stars. 



rather than making their appearance as periodical visitors. 

 And, in fact, although they doubtless seem to have their gala 

 nights, M. Quetelet infers, from observations he has made, 

 that in our latitudes about sixteen shooting stars of various 

 sizes may be seen on a dark night in the course of an hour. 

 Nor need we suppose the phenomena to be discontinued 

 during the hours of sun-light. And in the warmer regions of 

 the globe, the phenomenon of shooting stars is, according to 

 M. de Humboldt, of very frequent occurrence. Thus, when 

 off the coast of Africa, and especially near the Canaries, that 

 eminent traveller speaks of " the innumerable multitude of 

 falling stars, which appeared every instant." He adds, * That 

 he never saw them so multiplied as in the vicinity of the vol- 

 canos of Quito, and in the part of the Pacific Ocean which 

 bathes the volcanic coasts of Guatemala." He also describes 

 these meteors as being very brilliant, and as usually either 

 leaving trains behind them, which remain luminous twelve 

 or fifteen seconds, or bursting into sparks. And, should the 

 great height above the earth's surface assigned to some of 

 these meteors* seem to militate against the hypothesis here 

 advanced, on the other hand, it cannot but appear that the fact 

 of their frequent occurrence in volcanic regions distinctly leads 

 to the inference that they are not solely cosmical phenomena, 

 but absolutely and intimately connected with the physical con- 

 stitution of our own planet. And when we consider the vast 

 number of these meteors f, we cannot but feel convinced that 

 they are not mere accidental displays, calculated to alarm the 

 ignorant, and to excite the wonder and curiosity of the learned, 

 but that they actually perform some important though hitherto 

 unperceived office in the ceconomy of nature. 



I am well aware that the above attempt at explanation does 

 not account for the periodicity of these meteors, which, in fact, 

 constitutes one of their most remarkable features ; but per- 

 haps we can scarcely expect to arrive at any satisfactory con- 

 clusion as to the cause of their periodicity, until we become in 

 some measure acquainted with their nature and origin. The 

 facts above adduced prove that the periodical shooting stars 

 are not isolated meteorological phenomena ; whilst their evi- 

 dent connexion with the aurora borealis leads us to regard 



* One hundred German miles (466 English miles) or more. — See an ar- 

 ticle by M. Quetelet from the Annuaire de Bruxclles, in Phil. Mag. for Sep- 

 tember 1837. [Third Series, vol. xi. p. 271.] 



t At the rate of 16 per hour, according to M. Quetelet's observations, 

 not less than 140,000 annually ; or, if this be considered as too large a pro- 

 portion, let us take only half that number, and this in a comparatively cir- 

 cumscribed space, and in a temperate parallel of latitude. 



