On the Meteors of ISth November, 1833. 141 



per regions of the atmosphere ;* for, although the wind at the sur- 

 face was at that time in the opposite direction, namely, from west to 

 east, yet counter currents of wind are known sometimes to exist at 

 different elevations. But it would be very remarkable that the pro- 

 gress of the wind westward should exactly keep pace with the revolu- 

 tion of the earth in the opposite direction ; and it is, moreover, incon- 

 ceivable that the wind should blow with such a velocity, — a veloci- 

 ty which, in our latitude, is nearly seven hundred and fifty miles, an 

 hour, while the most violent hurricanes rarely exceed one hundred 

 miles an hour. 



It has also been supposed that the meteors appeared to radiate from 

 a fixed point in the heavens, only because their lines of direction were 

 parallel to the magnetic meridian , and their inclination in the direction 

 of that meridian such as to make appear to converge towards the pole 

 of the dipping needle. f 



At the time when the attention of most of those who observed the 

 phenomenon, was first directed to it, ihe position of the radiant point 

 was in the same part of the heavens as the magnetic pole. But at 

 half past five, the azimuth of the radiant point was, at New Haven, 

 about 50 degrees, and at six it was 25 degrees, while that of the 

 magnetic meridian is less than 5 degrees. But at 7 o'clock the same 

 radiant pomt was nearly on the meridian : hence it could have had 

 no fixed relation to the meridian of the place, as the magnetic pole 



has. 



That the source of the meteors did not partake of the earth's rota- 

 tion, but that it existed in space in such a manner that places lying 

 westward of each other came successively under it by the diurnal 

 revolution, may be inferred, from the fact, that the phenomenon, at 

 any given stage, as at the maximum, for example, occurred nearly at 

 the same hour of the night, at places differing greatly in longitude. 

 For, suppose that the meteors descended from the atmosphere like 

 a shower of rain ; and first, let the descent be at the same moment 

 of absolute time. Then the occurrence would have been at an ear- 

 lier hour of the night to places lying westward, by an hour for every 

 15 degrees of longitude. The maximum which was at 4 o'clock at 

 New Haven, would have been at 3 o'clock in the western part of 



* See Professor Caswell's observations in the Providence Journal. 

 t See Professor Hitchcock's remarks in the last No. of this Journal 



