68 Americmi Philosophical Society, 



true path of the observer, of 80°- 6 ; and hence their true velocity 

 cannot have been much less than that of the observer, or about six- 

 teen geographical miles per second. This observation of tlie con- 

 vergent point of these meteors, Mr. Walker regards as strongly con- 

 firmatory of the cosmical theory of shooting-stars ; inasmuch as it 

 seems to demonstrate the existence in this group of a planetary velo- 

 city, like that of the December group observed by Mr. Herrick in 

 1838, in a direction normal to the observ^er's motion, and incapable 

 of resulting from it. 



Professor Forshey also obser\'ed the meteor-shower of the 12th of 

 November, 1833 : he vk'as then a cadet at West Point. While en- 

 gaged, long before dawn, in preparing his morning recitation, his at- 

 tention was caught by flashes of light at his window as if from light- 

 ning. The spectacle which met him on opening it, he describes as 

 one of singular and fearful sublimity, the whole sky streaming with 

 fire-balls, throwing a bright light upon the plain, and reflecting lu- 

 ridly against the mountains which enclose West Point. After a few 

 minutes, finding no intermission in the display, he roused his asso- 

 ciates to witness it ; and the first sense of personal hazard yielding 

 to the remark, that none of the meteors (meteorites, as he then sup- 

 posed) were actually descending into the plain, but that they became 

 invisible before reaching the level of the mountains, he crossed the 

 plain to awaken Professor Courtenay. While in company with this 

 gentleman, he witnessed the magnificent meteor with a serpentine 

 train, described by Professor Olmsted and others, and which has 

 been called Twining's meteor, after the Professor who calculated its 

 relative path and velocity. Both Professor Courtenay and himself 

 noticed the white nebula which it left on exploding, and the beau- 

 tiful silvery cloud that remained for some ten minutes after. He 

 listened carefully, during the meteoric display, for the noises which 

 are said sometimes to attend such phaenomena, but could hear none ; 

 the explosion of the Twining meteor, he is confident, was not accom- 

 panied by an audible report. 



Professor Forshey does not believe that the meteors of the 12th 

 of November have the anniversary character. He has watched for 

 them every year, except 1834 and 1836, since their appearance in 

 1833. He saw the great auroral arch of 17th Nov. 1835, from a 

 point near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi ; and on the 14th 

 November, 1837, he witnessed at Jefferson College a brilliant crim- 

 son arch, a rare phaenomenon in that latitude, 31'"" 36'. He noticed 

 also occasional brilhant meteors on the 13th and 14th of November, 

 1837, but they did not ap})ear to come from the well-known radiant 

 point of 1833, in Leo. The times for observation in 1838 and 1839 

 were too cloudy to allow of satisfactory results. The subsequent 

 anniversaries were clear, and well watched, but without any obser- 

 vation of interest. 



Professor Forshey mentions that he hiid seen the zodiacal light in 

 the west from December to May, but that he first witnessed it in 

 the east on the 4th of October of last year, when it continued in 

 great brilliancy from 3 a.m. till daylight. 



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