1885.] 4:-jD [Kirk wood. 



13th. This identity is now very generally admitted. The interval be- 

 tween the perihelion passages of 1366 and 1866 is 499.3 years ; or fifteen 

 periods of 33.28 years. The comet of 1266 may have been a return of the 

 same body ; the comet seen in China, September 29, 1133, was in all 

 probability Tempel's ; the interval between the apparitions of 1133 and 

 1366 corresponding to seven periods of 33.28 years. 



The comet seen in January, 868, both in China and Europe, has been 

 regarded by Hind and others as an early appearance of Tempel's comet. 

 "In 868," Mr. Hind remarks, "at the end of January, a comet was ob- 

 served under the tail of Ursa Minor, which moved in seventeen days 

 almost to the constellation Triangulum. In China it was seen in the fir^t 

 moon (February) with the same right ascension as stars in Aries and 

 Musca. I find by calculation that when Tempel's comet arrives at peri- 

 helion at the end of March or early in April, it must follow this path in 

 the heavens, being first situated at the end of January in the constellation 

 Camelopardus, where, for want of conspicuous stars of reference, it might 

 be said to be below the tail of Ursa Minor ; afterwards moving to Trian- 

 gulum and Aries."* Neglecting the apparitions of 1133 and 1266 as per- 

 haps more doubtful, the interval between 868 and 1366 is equal to fifteen 

 periods of 33.24 years. 



" Sometime between April and December, A.D. 69, a comet appeared."! 

 The interval between this date and 868 is equal to twenty-four periods of 

 33.28 years. Seven periods of the same length take us back to B. C. 165 ; 

 nine more, to B. C. 405 ; and two additional, to B. C. 531 ; at each of 

 which epochs a comet is recorded. 465 B. C. is also the date at which 

 the celebrated meteoric stone, called the "Mother of the Gods," was said 

 to have fallen from the skies. The entire history includes 2396 years, or 

 seventy two periods of 33.28 years. 



The orbit of Tempel's comet approximately intersects that of the earth 

 near perihelion and that of Uranus near aphelion. The discovery that it 

 is intimately related to the meteors of November 14, and the fact that one 

 of the minor clusters of these Leonids is soon to return, give interest to a 

 new study of the recorded phenomena. 



The 3Ieteors of November J 4th. 



Professor H. A. Newton traced back the great showers of 1866 and 1833 

 to A. D. 902.:}: He showed that the period must be 180 days, 185 days, 

 355 days, 377 days, or 33.25 years, and even suggested the method of 

 determining which of the five is the true period. This important problem 

 was first solved, however, by Professor J. C. Adams, of England, who 

 found the periodic time to be about 33.25 years. 



The comet's perihelion passage occurred January 11, 1866. The me- 

 teoric shower derived from the principal group. A, was observed in Europe, 



* Monthly Notices!, Vol. xxxiii, p. 19. 



t See Chambers' Catalogue, No. ii. 



X Am. Jourii. of Sci., May and July, 1861. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXII. 120. 3lJ. PRINTED AUGUST 31, 1885. 



