ASTRONOMY. 389 



and presumably counectecl with Bielti's comet, very nearly two revo- 

 lutions of which had elapsed since the previous great appearance of 

 these bodies in 1872. 



In Europe and Asia the star shower was very remarkable wherever 

 the clouds did not prevent its being seen ; in this country it was nearly 

 over before sunset, yet in the early evening the meteors were numerous 

 enough to attract very general attention. It would also appear that 

 showers of meteors were observed from this stream not only on the night 

 of November 27, but also at some places on nights preceding and fol- 

 lowing. 



An adequate discussion of the observations can only be made after 

 all the reports are in. Tolerably complete summaries of the accounts 

 thus far published may be found in del et Terre, vol. 6, pp. 451, 491, and 

 Sirius, vol. 19, p. 33. 



" It will be very interesting to notice in 1898 how far the brilliancy 

 of the display to which we may then look forward will be affected by 

 the comparatively slightly altered position in its orbit of the principal 

 aggregation of meteors, which would seem to be a little behind what 

 would have been the place of the comet." 



The zodiacal light. — In October, 1883, Prof. Arthur Searle presented 

 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences a very valuable paper 

 on the zodiacal light, in which he had collected and reduced on a uni- 

 form system the evening observations of all the principal observers. 

 The principal points then brought out were that in all probability the 

 apparent changes in the latitude of the zodiacal light were due mainly, 

 if not entirely, to the effect of atmosi)heric absorption, and that the 

 method of observation by drawing outlines must be replaced by care- 

 ful photometric observations if definite knowledge was to be substi- 

 tutedfor the vague information we uowpossess as to the "Gegenschein," 

 the " zodiacal bands," &c. ; and Professor Searle concluded with the 

 suggestion that the ordinary meteoric theory would gain greatly in 

 simplicity by the substitution of meteoric dust scattered generally 

 throughout the solar system for the meteoric rings that have been 

 usually imagined. Professor Searle has continued his investigations 

 in a recent memoir, in which he corrects, for the effect of atmos- 

 pheric absorption, Jones's observations of what the latter called the 

 " stronger light," at the elongation 60°, whether made in the morning 

 or evening. The result of the inquiry is to confirm the view arrived at 

 previously, that atmospheric absorption largely affects the apparent 

 position of the zodiacal light, and Professor Searle again lays stress on 

 the need for photometric observations. Professor Searle concludes 

 that, after correcting Cor atmospheric absorption, there seems reason to 

 think that the zodiacal light has had, during the present half-century, 

 a more northern latitude near the longitude 180° than near the longi- 

 tude 0°. He also shows, from a (jareful study ot the distribution of the 



