Wilcocks.] 3gg [May 



nation of the reduction of volume in comets on approaching the sun, 

 and their subsequent increase on receding from that luminary. 



The non-concurrence of M. Arago and Sir John Herschel in the 

 theory of M. Valz is given as evidence of the influence of the an- 

 cient theories of ether at the present time upon the minds of astro- 

 nomers. 



The existence of the ascending current of ether near the ecliptic 

 is offered in explanation of certain peculiarities of Halley's comet, 

 which have been observed in five of the eight visits which that body 

 has made to its perihelion since the year 1305. 



The vortical currents which descend upon the poles of the sun, are 

 urged as the causes of the exceptional position of the tails of such 

 comets as have passed through them. 



The catalogues of comets in the works of M. Arago and Mr. Hind 

 show that the orbits of all those bodies which have had tails directed 

 towards the sun, have had an inclination of more than seventy de- 

 grees, and a perihelion distance less than one-fourth the radius of the 

 earth's orbit. 



The ascending current of ether which, owing to the reflecting 

 matter which it contains, becomes visible to us as the zodiacal light, 

 cannot be of as low a temperature as the surrounding medium. 



In order to show the influence of ether upon the seasons, I have 

 traced, by the aid of a priori reasoning, the path of the ascending 

 current through the solar system. 



I have determined by calculation the points where the earth passes 

 through the current, and endeavored to demonstrate that the first 

 passage occurs in the month of August, and produces the canicular 

 days ; the second passage takes place in November, and is the cause 

 of the season known as the Indian summer. 



Several minor influences of the ethereal currents upon the seasons 

 are suggested, and the effort made to connect, through the relation 

 of cause and effect, these influences with known phenomena. 



A .belief in the ethereal origin of the dog-days and the Indian 

 summer, naturally leads to the inquiry, May not the numerous spo- 

 radic shooting stars seen about the 10th of August, and the showers 

 of them sometimes seen on the 12th of November, proceed from the 

 same cause ? Under the impression that this might be the case, I 

 was induced to search for the existence of some numerical coinci- 

 dence between the grand November exhibitions of shooting stars, 

 and the sidereal year. 



I found that the number of days between the years of the great 



