Klrkwood.] 



428 



[July 17, 1885. 



represented in the following figure, -where the relative positions of the 

 meteoric clusters correspond to the epoch of the comet's perihelion pas- 

 sage in 1866 : 



'I 



The next returns of these several bodies may be expected at the times 

 indicated below : 



Tempel's comet 1899 



Group A 1899 to 1901 



Group B 1886 to 1889 



Group C 1912 to 1915 



This cometary and meteoric orbit is a connecting link between the 

 orbits of the earth and Uranus; the perihelion being immediatel}^ within 

 the former, and the aphelion just exterior to the latter. All matter mov- 

 ing in it is liable to considerable perturbation by Uranus and the earth, 

 but each of the meteoric clusters is now too extensive to be much dis- 

 turbed as a whole. The present writer has elsewhere noticed that about 

 547 B.C., just before the first recorded (probable) appearance of Tempel's 

 comet, this body and Uranus were comparatively near each other.* 



* Comets and Meteors, p. 80. 



