476 



METEORS. 



Mr. "W. S. Gilman, at Palisades, N. Y., took 

 careful notice of the peculiarities of the more 

 remarkable meteors, and mapped their paths 

 npon the chart. A few meteors of great beauty 

 were seen before 11-^ o'clock. Mr. Gilman 

 says he could see distinctly, and with the ut- 

 most ease, the little companion of Sirius in his 

 4-inch glass with a power of only 40, at 3 h A. M., 

 which fact shows remarkable clearness and 

 steadiness of atmosphere. He noticed blue 

 trains at first ; afterward more greenish ones. 

 The radiant point seemed to him to be near 

 y Leonis, say KA. 152, N. Dec. 18. 



At Haverford, Pa., observations were made 

 by Professor S. J. Gummere, assisted by Mr. 

 E. B. Taylor and others ; counting commenced 

 at ll h 34 m , and the number seen, up to 5 h 40 m , 

 was 5,005. It is said that several hundreds 

 more were counted, but the times were not 

 observed. 



Mr. G. T. Kingston, of the Magnetic Obser- 

 vatory, Canada, reports that nearly 3,000 were 

 counted between 10 h 45 m and 18 h O m of Novem- 

 ber 13th, Toronto astronomical time. With 

 the exception of .about one per cent., their 

 courses were from the constellation Leo. 

 Owing partly to the remarkably favorable 

 state of the sky during most of the night, many 

 of the meteors appeared very large and bril- 

 liant, some exceeding Sirius in apparent magni- 

 tude, and often exhibiting a variety of colors. 

 Most of them were followed by trains, which 

 often left tracks that continued visible from 

 two to four minutes. Two observers were 

 constantly watching excepting from 10 b 45 m to 

 ll h O m and from ll h 50 m to 12 h 10 m , when only 

 one was engaged. From 12 h 10 m to 17 h O m a 

 third observer was frequently though not con- 

 stantly assisting. 



A single observer, Mr. Lewis Swift, at Mara- 

 thon, 1ST. Y., after half-past one o'clock counted 

 896 meteors, all but five from Leo. At a little 

 after three o'clock, a train in Cancer was visible 

 for several minutes, which floated to the 

 north. 



Professor Kirkwood and Mr. Maxwell, at 

 Bloomington, Ind., thought they saw one 

 meteor in the forenoon of the 13th, and sus- 

 pected two or three others. They were look- 

 ing from a shaded place in the direction of the 

 radiant. Professor Kirkwood, however, in 

 view of the fact that no considerable fall seems 

 to have commenced until several hours later, 

 thinks it quite probable that there was some 

 ocular deception in this. 



Mr. J. E. Hendricks, at Des Moines, Iowa, 

 counted in an hour and a quarter, from four 

 o'clock, 250 meteors, only one being non-con- 

 conformable. 



At Manhattan, Kan., Professor B. F. Mudge 

 with one' assistant counted 833 from half-past 

 four to half-past five o'clock. The time per 

 hundred varied from seven to nine minutes, 

 the last hundred being counted in eight min- 

 utes. 



The preceding abstract of observations from 



the American Journal of Science is confined 

 principally to the numbers seen on the morning 

 of November 14th. The most striking pecu- 

 liarities of the display are its uniform intensity 

 through several hours, and its appearance 

 twelve or eighteen hours later than might have 

 been expected. 



Professor Henry, Commodore Sands, Pro- 

 fessor Rockwood, Mr. W. S. Gilman, -Miss 

 Mitchell, Mr. Fuertes, Mr. Tuttle, Professor 

 Gummere, Mr. Swift, Mr. Wm. 0. Taylor, of 

 Philadelphia, and Professor Twining, have fur- 

 nished to the same publication valuable obser- 

 vations upon particular meteors remarkable for 

 brilliancy or duration of train. 



The most remarkable meteor of the night 

 was one which passed about eighty miles north 

 of Philadelphia, and disappeared at an altitude 

 of about fifty miles, at a point over Schuylkill 

 County, Pa., at l h 16 m , New Haven time. The 

 portions of its train floated in different direc- 

 tions, and continued visible nearly or quite 

 three-quarters of an hour. It was seen and its 

 place noticed at Williamstown, New Haven, 

 Poughkeepsie, Palisades, Haverford, and other 

 places. 



Another brilliant meteor was described by 

 Professor Newton as appearing at 4 h 57 m , and 

 " going down to the left of the Pleiades with a 

 flash that made every one look around." Pro- 

 fessor Twining, of Yale College, saw this 

 meteor at New York City, and by a comparison 

 of the two observations, Professor Newton 

 calculated that it fell from a height of eighty- 

 five miles to within sixty miles of the earth's 

 surface. 



Director Hough, of the Dudley Observatory, 

 at Albany, N. Y., made the following report: 



DUDLEY OBSERVATORY, November 14, 1868. 



The display of shooting stars on the night of the 

 13th and morning of the 14th instant was very fine. 

 They appeared in much greater numbers than we 

 had reason to expect. The great mass of the meteors 

 were more brilliant than those observed during the 

 great shower of last year. Many surpassed Jupiter 

 in splendor, and a few gave out light sufficient to cast 

 a perceptible shadow. The largest number emanated 

 from the constellation Leo, passing to the north or 

 south, in a line nearly parallel with the horizon. 

 Quite a number, however, emanated from other parts 

 of the heavens, and moved in various directions. A 

 few of the most brilliant ones left a train visible long 

 after the meteor had disappeared. Advantage was 

 taken of this circumstance to examine them with a 

 telescope. 



As seen through the comet-seeker, the train ap- 

 peared as a brilliant gray band of light, which grad- 

 ually changed its form, assuming, before its disap- 

 pearance-, a great variety of shades. One resembled 

 a spear and another doubled on itself, forming a coil. 

 In general the train first became bent, appearing like 

 a piece of serpentine braid, after which it gradually 

 separated in different pieces. Through the telescope 

 the train of one remained visible for more than ten 

 minutes. During the examination of the train, in a 

 number of instances, other meteors were seen to 

 shoot across the field of view, appearing, in the tele- 

 scope, of great brilliancy. 



The observations at the Dudley Observatory were 

 continued from 11 hours 30 minutes P. M. of the 13th 

 to 5.80 A. M. of the 14th instant. Our 63*0118 were 



