380 Miscellanies. 



4 



X. It has been objected to my " explanation/' that the meteoric 

 shower began as early as midnight^ when th6 sun was on the oppo- 

 site side of the earth, and therefore it could not have been derived 



* 



from a body which lay between us and the sun. 



This is the most reasonable objection that has been alleged 

 against the theory, as the theory is understood by the objector- 

 . But the difficulty is founded on an entire misconception of the theo- 

 ry itself. It assumes that the nebulous body in question, at the 

 time of the meteoric shower, lies in a straight line, extending from 

 the center of the earth to the sun, the circumstances being analo- 

 gous to those attending an inferior conjunction of Mercury or Venus, 

 except that the conjunction occurs very near to the earth. The body 

 itself, also, is contemplated as so small in extent, that, in its astro- 

 nomical relations it may be taken for a point. 



Now as my views of this niatter were propounded with extreme 

 brevity, quite at the close of an article, extended far beyond its pre- 

 scribed limits, I do not complain that I have been so imperfectly 

 understood on this point. But the fact is, that the views here as- 

 sumed, are totally different from those which I have always enter- 

 tained, respecting both the extent and position of the nebulous body. 



Although the part of this body which afforded the meteoric 

 shower, must have been comparatively near the earth's orbit, yet, 

 as this, like other astronomical bodies, is probably one of large ex- 

 tent, it is not possible, in the present state of our knowledge, to de- 

 termine whether, at the aphelion, the ceriter of gravity is within or 

 without the earth's orbit, in respect to the sun. My views were, 

 that the body extended to a considerable distance both interior and 

 exterior to the earth's orbit, making (as appeared from observation) 

 a small angle with its plane. The position which may be given to 

 the body, to make it correspond to the facts observed, is that of a 

 cloud, (suppose, for illustration, a thin fog,) lying across the earth s 

 path, rising a few degrees above its plane, through or near the s/ctrts 

 of which the earth passed. If the body has the usual shape of a 

 comet, we rtiay place its nucleus within the earth's orbit, and let its 

 tail spread out to a great extent over the earth. If one of the balls 

 of an orrery represents the earth, and w^e place before it, (that is, m 

 the line of direction in w^hich it is moving,) and a little above the 

 plane of its orbit, a small feather, bent at the extremity, as the tails 



Mr. Espy, Franklin Journal. 



