SHOOTING STARS. 211 



40 from the Dragon's Head, but full 78 from undetermined 

 points. The number of falling stars issuing from Perseus 

 consequently amounted to nearly double those from Leo."* 



The divergence from Perseus has consequently shown it- 

 self in both periods as a very remarkable result. An acute 

 observer, Julius Schmidt, attached to the Observatory at 

 Bonn, who has been occupied with meteoric phenomena for 

 eight or ten years, expresses himself upon this subject with 

 great decision in a letter to me (July, 1851) : " If I deduct 

 from the abundant falls of shooting stars in November, 1833, 

 and 1834, as well as from subsequent ones, that kind in which 

 the point in Leo sent out whole swarms of meteors, I am at 

 present inclined to consider the Perseus point as that point 

 of divergence which presents not only in August, but through- 

 out the ivhole year, the most meteors. This point is situated, 

 according to the result deduced from 478 observations by 

 Heis, in lit. Asc. 50'3 and Decl. 51-5 (holding good for 

 1844-6). In November, 1849 (from the 7th to the 14th), 

 I saw some hundreds more shooting stars than I have ever 

 remarked since 1841. Of these only a few, upon the whole, 

 came from Leo ; by far the greater number belonged to the 

 constellation of Perseus. It follows from this, as it appears 

 to me, that the great November phenomenon of 1799 and 

 1833 did not appear at that time (1841). Gibers also be- 

 lieves that the maximum November appearance has a pe- 

 riod of thirty-four years (Cosmos, vol. i., p. 127). If the di- 

 rections of the meteor-paths are considered in their full com- 

 plication and periodical recurrence, it is found that there are 

 certain .points of divergence which are always represented, 

 others which appear only sporadically and changeably." 



Whether, moreover, the different points of divergence alter 

 with the years which, if closed rings are assumed, would 

 indicate an alteration in the situation of the ring in which 



* This preponderance of Perseus over Leo, as a point of departure, 

 did not by any means obtain in the observations at Bremen on the night 

 of the |th November, 1838. A very experienced observer, Rosvvinkel, 

 saw, on the occasion of a very abundant fall of shooting stars, almost all 

 the paths proceed from Leo and the southern part of Ursa Major; while 

 in the night of the ||th of November, on the occasion of a fall but little 

 less abundant, only four paths proceeded from Leo. Gibers (Sebum., 

 Astr. Nachr., No. 372) adds very significantly, On this night paths did 

 not appear at all parallel to each other, and showed no relation to Leo: 

 they appear, on account of the want of parallelism, to belong to the 

 sporadic and the periodic class of falling stars. The proper November 

 period was, however, certainly not to be compared in brilliancy with 

 those of the years 1799, 1832, and 1833." 



