METEORS AND METEORITES. 



487 



which he caught the trains with the spectro- 

 scope. diiully of yellow and 

 : while the nuclei gavo all the primitive 

 pg. -(Intfll. Obteroer, Nov. 1806.) 



iidell, who witnessed off tlie western 

 fioost of Central America the display of 1833, 

 far interior to the 

 li in tlio niitiibcr of meteors and in 

 rillimiey of the larger ones. Ho states 

 that the directions of flights in 1833 were much 

 ihir than in I860 ; and, besides mak- 

 ing some siiL.';re>;ion3 in reference to the cos- 

 mica! theory of tho origin of meteors, he calls at- 

 i to t ho fart that, at the time of maximum 

 . the earth was advancing in its orbit 

 alino-t directly toward the radiant (to a point 

 of 1< >:r_r. _ 1- .7 loss); whence ho infers also 

 that the meteors were crossing the earth's path 

 from within outward. 



M. Faye remarked before the Academy of 

 Sciences (Comptes JRondut, Nov. 19, 1866) on 

 the meteoric display, for which he was led to 

 watch, as he implies, by a suggestion of Olbers 

 of the possible return of the great star-shower 

 in 1866 or '67, as well as by the confirmatory 

 researches of Prof. Newton, and by the fact 

 that the November displays, waning from the 

 1833, had begun to increase again from 

 1864. On the morning of the 14th, although 

 the sky was often covered with clouds, yet, 

 looking toward Orion, he noted 81 meteors 

 during the half hour following l h 6, and 45 

 again during 40 minutes following 3 h 5 m ; and, 

 of the whole number, all save two diverged 

 from the superior part of Loo. Many were 

 very brilliant, some heing visible through clouds 

 which masked the brighter stars of Orion. The 

 display was well seen by Dr. B. A. Gould, with 

 others, at Valentia, Ireland. The sky was 

 dear, and from 12 h 39" to I h 5 m , he alone count- 

 ed 310 ; and, with a second observer, 203 during 

 the 90 seconds following l h 9. Of the meteors 

 he says, u The comparatively slow and uniform 

 movement of most of them, their long bright 

 trains, and pure white light, presented a strong 

 resemblance to the flight of rockets." Mention 

 of the appearance of the shower at Saragossa, 

 Spain, and at Beirut, Syria, has also been met 

 with. 



In New Haven, night of November 13-14th, 

 a party of observers (12 most of the time), and 

 of which again Professor Newton was one, 

 noted from 11 P. M. to 4 A. M. 881 meteors, gen- 

 erally more brilliant than on the preeo'liii^ 

 nL'ht, and a largo proportion of them conform- 

 able. Professor Twining, observing alone at 

 the same place during two hours of the morn- 

 ing of the 14th, noted 62 conformable meteors, 

 the average length of paths being about 10, 

 and average time five seconds. At 2* 11 of 

 the same morning, a very bright green (or 

 blue) meteor appeared about 20 south of Reg- 

 ulus, visible at New Haven, Newark, and else- 

 where, and leaving a trail or cloud 4 long, 

 which floated away to the north bonding up. 

 as sion from Newark, as. is usual with such 



trains and remaining in sight minutes. 

 From the observations at different point-*. Pro- 

 fessor Newton calculates its altitudes at appear- 

 ance and disappearance as about 120 and 60 

 miles, its length 6, and its breadth 3 miles. 

 Its northward motion, at right angles to the 

 course of the meteor, was ascribed to a current 

 in the atmosphere. "The material of the 

 meteor must have been considerable in order 

 to have filled several cubic miles with its delrit. 

 And yet ^his debris must have been very atten- 

 uated to float in an atmosphere o light as that 

 which is 60 or 90 miles from the earth's surface." 



Finally, Professor Newton suggests that if 

 there shall bo a star-shower in 1867, and if the 

 group of meteoroids lies sensibly in a plane, the 

 limiting lines of visibility should be removed 

 90 or 100 westward : unless, under perturba- 

 tions due to the action of the earth, Jupiter, or 

 other planets, the time of the maximum, and so 

 the region in which the shower is to occur, 

 may meantime have been changed. 



Miscellaneous. Professor Newton's paper 

 contains also a suggestion by Professor Twining 

 of a form of instrument to be used in observing 

 meteors a conical shell, mounted as a telescope 

 with opening at the apex for the eye, 

 and its base occupied by a system of diverging 

 and circular wires, by means of which the 

 directions of flight, and extremities and lengths 

 of paths, may be determined more accurately 

 than by the unaided vision. M. Faye (loc. cit.) 

 suggests, as a means of rendering the observa- 

 tions more precise, that two observers, each 

 furnished with a telescope mounted very high 

 and so as to bo very mobile, endeavor to fix 

 the extreme points of visibility of the trains, 

 and further, that observations be thus carried 

 on at different stations telegraphically connect- 

 ed ; questions of radiant, height, velocity, etc., 

 might thus be more accurately determined. 



M. Faye also mentions facts which have led 

 him to conclude that the meteoric rings of April 

 20th, August 10th, and November 13th, whose 

 periodicity is established, are very nearly cir- 

 cular ; or at least have their longer axis very 

 near to the line of nodes, a circumstance which 

 has been remarked in many periodical comets ; 

 but that the like is not true of the meteors of 

 April 10th, October 19th, and December 12th, 

 the claim of which to 'he title of rings is more 

 doubtful. 



Professor Newton, in an article in the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science, 1866 v. 41, p. 192, 

 deduces, from observations made in the pre- 

 vious November period, the proportionate 

 number of meteors likely to be seen at the 

 same place by different groups of observers, 

 from 12 down to 1. Ho infers that four ob- 

 servers, dividing the sky between them, would 

 see three times as many as one, and yet no 

 more than about one-half the total number then 

 visible. In the papet above cited, also, he con- 

 cludes that, with such observers, meteors, and 

 methods of observing, as those of the two nights 

 of the November period, 1866, fourtefin persons 



