142 



SCENERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



Place. 



Paris, at the Observatory 

 Dieppe - 

 Arras - 

 Strasburg 



Meteors. 



170 



36 



27 



85 



Place. 



Von Altimarl 

 Angou - 

 Rochcfort 

 Havre 



Meteors. 



75 



49 



23 



300 



On November 12th, 1837, at eight o'clock in the evening, the attention of observers in 

 various parts of Great Britain was directed to a bright luminous body, apparently proceeding 

 from the north, which, after making a rapid descent, in the manner of a rocket, suddenly 

 burst, and scattering its particles into various beautiful forms vanished in the atmosphere. 

 This was succeeded by others all similar to the first, both in shape and the manner of its 

 ultimate disappearance. The whole display terminated at ten o'clock, when dark clouds 

 which continued up to a late hour, overspread the earth, preventing any further observation. 

 In the November of 1838, at the same date, the falling stars were abundant at Vienna : and 

 one of remarkable brilliancy and size, as large as the full moon in the zenith, was seen on 

 the 13th by M.Verusmor off Cherburg, passing in the direction of Cape La Hogue, a long 

 luminous train marking its course through the sky. The same year, the non-commissioned 

 officers in the island of Ceylon were instructed to look out for the falling stars. Only a 

 few appeared at the usual time ; but on the 5th of December, from nine o'clock till midnight, 

 the shower was incessant, and the number defied all attempts at counting them. 



Professor Olmstead, an eminent man of science, himself an eye-witness of the great 

 meteoric shower on the American continent, after carefully collecting and comparing facts, 

 proposed the following theory : The meteors of November 13th, 1833, emanated from a 

 nebulous body which was then pursuing its way along with the earth around the sun ; 

 that this body continues to revolve around the sun in an elliptical orbit, but little inclined 

 to the plane of the ecliptic, and having its aphelion near the orbit of the earth ; and 

 finally, that the body has a period of nearly six months, and that its perihelion is a little 

 within the orbit of Mercury. The diagram represents the ellipse supposed to be 



described, E being the orbit of the earth, M that of 

 mercury, and N that of the assumed nebula, its 

 aphelion distance being about 95 millions of miles, 

 and the perihelion 24 millions. Thus, when in aphe 

 lion, the body is close to the orbit of the earth, and 

 this occurring periodically, when the earth is at the 

 same time in that part of its orbit, nebulous particles 

 are attracted towards it by its gravity, and then, 

 entering the atmosphere, are consumed in it by their 

 concurrent velocities, causing the appearance of a 

 meteoric shower. Arago has suggested a similar 

 theory, that of a stream or group of innumerable 

 bodies, comparatively small, but of various dimensions, 

 sweeping round the solar focus in an orbit which 

 More recently, a very complete catalogue of aerolite 

 falls, amounting to 175, has been analysed with a curious result. By far the greater 

 number are registered for the months of June and July, as compared with the opposite 

 months, December and January. The earth is then at the greatest distance from the sun ; 

 and it appears probable, from Leverrier's investigations, that the mean mass or system of 

 the planetoids is at the same time at its perihelion, and therefore nearest the earth. The 

 conjecture is hence indulged, that aerolites are minute outriders of that remarkable family. 

 Though great obscurity rests upon the subject which may never be dissipated, it is agreed 

 on all hands, that shooting stars, meteoric showers, and aerolites, are identical phenomena 



periodically cuts that of the earth. 



