490 



METEOES. 



in the manufacture of tungsten steel by Besse- 

 rner's process. The operation was conducted 

 in the ordinary way gray Scotch pig and some 

 Spiegeleisen being employed but in the con- 

 verter was added a quantity of iron containing 

 a known weight of tungsten. This would have 

 given 0.7 per cent, of tungsten in the whole 

 mass ; but one-half was lost by oxidation in the 

 convertpr. Though the amount of tungsten 

 was so small, the steel received a good temper, 

 and forged and rolled well. The author ex- 

 presses the opinion that ordinary gray iron, 

 not at all steely, and rather impure, may, by 

 the addition of tungsten, be converted into 

 good steel by Bessemer's method. 



Test of Steel-headed Sails. A steel-headed 

 rail, made at the Wyandotte Rolling Mills, has 

 been subjected to some severe tests, under the 

 direction of Mr. Lyon, of the Sligo Iron Works, 

 Pittsburg, Pa. The rail was cut 5 feet long, 

 and a weight of 1,600 Ibs. was allowed to 

 fall on it as follows: for the first blow the 

 weight was raised 5 ft., and the second 10 ft. ; 

 then the rail was turned over and received the 

 third blow, with a fall of 15 ft., and the fourth 

 blow with a fall of 20 ft., which bent the rail 

 almost double. The rail was then taken to the 

 steam-hammer,, whose weight was 8,800 Ibs., 

 and received ten or twelve blows. When the 

 bar was nearly straightened out it broke, but 

 the iron and steel remained perfectly welded to- 

 gether. One of the pieces was then subjected to 

 100 blows from the 8,800 Ibs. hammer, on the 

 head of the rail, as follows : 50 blows at 2 ft. 

 fall, and 50 blows at 3 ft, fall. This crushed 

 the rail without breaking the weld of the iron 

 and steel. 



METEOES (see also ASTRONOMICAL PHENOM- 

 ENA AND PROGRESS). The meteoric shower 

 of November 14, 1867, had been looked for 

 with confidence, and preparations had been 

 made in all parts of the United States to note 

 its phenomena with more or less scientific ac- 

 curacy. .No similar occurrence in the history 

 of the world was ever subjected to such patient 

 and methodical observation ; and the result is 

 the accumulation of a great amount of inter- 

 esting data which will be of service hereafter 

 in solving the mystery of meteoric showers. 

 The editor has availed himself of every source 

 of information within his reach, but would ac- 

 knowledge his peculiar obligations to the care- 

 fully prepared article on the subject in the 

 American, Journal of Science and Arts, for 

 January, 1868. 



By previous arrangements among astrono- 

 mers and other persons qualified to report in- 

 telligently upon the phenomena, the hours from 

 10J P. M. to 2 A. M. had been designated for 

 concerted observations for parallax at numer- 

 ous points in the United States. It was thought 

 that the meteors would be less numerous in 

 these hoars than later, and hence more easily 

 identified, and that conformable meteors would 

 be seen at more stations, since their paths 

 would be more nearly horizontal and longer. 



The air was clear in most places, though float- 

 ing clouds concealed some of the meteors. The 

 moon was but two days past the full ; hence 

 the number seen and the brilliancy of the ex- 

 hibition were greatly diminished. 



The observations under direction of the Uni- 

 ted States Naval Observatory were, except for 

 the parallax, highly satisfactory and complete. 

 Commodore Sands and five assistants per- 

 formed the work at Washington, while Prof. 

 Harkness, of the Observatory, was stationed at 

 Eichmond. In his brief official report, the 

 commodore says that 125 meteor tracks were 

 mapped before 4J- A. M., when the meteors 

 flew so thick that identification became hope- 

 less, and simple counting was resorted to: 

 1,000 meteors were counted in 21 minutes; 

 but as these were counted while mapping was 

 going on, it is probable that one-half of all 

 that fell within the area of observation were 

 not seen, so that it may be estimated that 2,000 

 really fell in the space of time mentioned. Af- 

 terward, successive hundreds were counted in 

 the following intervals: 4 m ; 5 m 30"; 5 m 35"; 



5 m 44.. gm 3.. gm 37.. IQm 31 ; 18"> 20'. The 



time of maximum thickness of the shower was 

 about 4 h 25, which is about two hours later 

 than that given by the European observations 

 of 1866, showing a slight change in the position 

 of the stream. Many of the meteors were re- 

 markable for their brilliancy and for having a 

 splendid green train, which usually vanished in 

 a few seconds, but in one or two cases lasted 

 several minutes. The radiant point was well 

 defined, being in right ascension 10 h l m , a t nd 

 declension 22 31'. Commodore Sand? pre- 

 dicts that the shower in 1868, if there be any, 

 will not begin until 10 A. M., Washington time, 

 and will therefore be seen only in the Pacific 

 Ocean. 



The observations of Prof. Harkness at Rich- 

 mond were exclusively for parallax ; and there- 

 fore he makes no reliable estimate of the num- 

 ber of shooting-stars visible from that point. 

 Unfortunately the arrangement for telegraphic 

 signals (which were to have been exchanged 

 between the two observatories) failed, through 

 some fault of the wires, and the chief object of 

 his labors was frustrated. From various data, 

 however, he estimated the altitude of the 

 shower at about 100 miles above the surface of 

 the earth. With another observer, he counted, 

 in a range of vision embracing about half the 

 visible heavens, 193 meteors in ten minutes, 

 and estimated that they flew past at the rate 

 of 2,000 an hour. Some were mere specks of 

 light, while others shone with a brilliancy sur- 

 passing that of the largest rockets, and with all 

 the colors of the rainbow. In regard to the 

 main body of the stream, he says that it was 

 thicker in some places than in others. 



Director G. W. Hough, of the Dudley Obser- 

 vatory, Albany, made a full report of the shower, 

 as seen from that point. The following table 

 is prepared from a careful comparison of notes 

 made by him and others at the time : 



