156 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



matter from them by the operation of forces similar to those 

 producing the solar prominences. 



Mr. Proctor subjects this bold hypothesis to mathematical 

 examination, and finds that the orbit of Tempel's comet and 

 its companion meteors correspond to that which would result 

 from such an eruption occurring on the planet Uranus. An 

 eruptive force effecting a velocity of about thirteen miles per 

 second, which is vastly smaller than the actually measured 

 velocity of the matter of the solar eruptions, would be suffi- 

 cient to thrust such meteoric or cometary matter beyond the 

 reclaiming reach of the gravitation of Uranus, and hand it 

 over to the sun, to make just such an orbit as that of TernpeFs 

 comet and the Leonides meteors. 



He shows that other comets and meteoric zones are similarly 

 allied to other planets, and thus it may be that the falling stars 

 and comets are fragments of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or 

 Neptune. Verily, if an astronomer of the last generation 

 were to start up among us now, he would be astounded at 

 modern presumption. 



The star shower of November 27th, and its connection with 

 Bicla's broken and lost comet, referred to in my last letter, are 

 still subjects of research and speculation. On November 30th 

 Professor Klinkerfues sent to Mr. Pogson, of the Madras 

 Observatory, the following startling telegram : " Biela touch- 

 ed earth on 27th. Search near Theta Centauri." 



Mr. Pogson searched accordingly from comet-rise to sunrise 

 on the two following mornings, but in vain ; for even in India 

 they have had cloudy weather of late. On the third day, 

 however, he had " better luck," saw something like a comet 

 through an opening between clouds, and on the following days 

 was enabled to deliberately verify this observation and deter- 

 mine the position and some elements of the motion of the 

 comet, which displayed a bright nucleus, and faint but distinct 

 tail. 



This discovery is rather remarkable in connection with the 

 theoretical anticipation of Professor Klinkerfues ; but the con- 

 clusion directly suggested is by no means admitted by astron- 

 omers. Some have supposed that it is not the primary Biela, 

 but the secondary comet, or offshoot, which grazed the earth, 

 and was seen by Mr. Pogson ; others that it was neither the 

 body, the envelope, nor the tail of either of the comets which 

 formed the star shower, but that the meteors of November 

 27th were merely a trail which the comet left behind. 



