r 



334 On the Meteors of 13th November, 1833. 



i 



Ellicott, who was far to the north, observed the meteors in all parts of 

 the sky possessing evidently, as we judge from his very brief account, 

 the same general motions and directions as those which were seen in 

 the United States during the last meteoric display, their flight at Cu- 

 mana was confined to a particular part of the north eastern and south 

 western sky ; the meteors proceeding towards the south and not 

 above 40° in their highest altitude. A third instance of a similar na- 

 ture, observed in November 1832 by Capt. Briggs of the ship Mor- 

 rison of New York, has come to the writer's knowledge within a few 

 weeks, and will be detailed in a following paragraph. 



In the case of an observer less accurate than Capt. Parker, it 

 might be deemed an over nice enquiry, considering that the observa- 

 tions were made only by the judgment and recorded only in the re- 

 collections-why the point of radiation should rise during an hour and 

 a half only 5° to 10°, and that without veering from the N. E. ; 

 while the rise of a fixed point would have been 15° and its motion 

 toward the north as much,— but the high authority which we have, in 

 this case, and the excellent opportunity for observation — the ship 

 standing steadily S. E. so that the meteors were seen directly a- 

 beam, encourage us to remark that the question will be solved by sup- 

 posing the radiant to have retained some part of the absolute motion 

 from W. to E, (or a little S. of E.) which we have already pointed 

 out as a necessary conclusion from the early appearance of the me- 

 teors ; which motion must have been rapid at first and have progress- 

 ively decreased, till at 3 or 4 o'clock the radiant possessed but lit- 

 tle motion and became towards morning nearly or quite stationary. 

 This supposition, if it be admitted, may throw light upon the enquiry 

 why no observer noticed the radiant at an early hour very low to- 

 wards the horizon ; for the radiant, being doubtless above the horizon 

 at 9 P.M., would rise from that time forward, though but slowly in 

 consequence of its eastward motion,— yet it would not at first be noti- 

 ced by reason of the atmospheric obstructions to vision and to me- 

 teoric motion, and by reason likewise of the small number of the 

 meteors as well as their obliquity to the line of sight. It is probable 

 also that the number of shooting bodies was not sufficient till about 

 2 o'clock to disclose evidently the radiant which, having been grad- 

 ually rising for five hours, might occupy by that time a very consid- 

 erable elevation, although itself moving east among the stars. 



In drawing to a close this part of our subject which relates to the 



observed facts, respecting the meteoric shower of Nov. 13th, we now 



