THE MESSENGERS OF THE GODS 277 



might give any information they might be possessed of as to 

 the whereabouts of the lost comet. It never reappeared. 



But the orbit of the comet was well known, and it was cal- 

 culated that in 1872 the earth would just about cut across the 

 point where the missing comet ought to appear. The night 

 came, but no comet. What did come was a shower of shooting- 

 stars. The same thing happened in 1885. There seemed no 

 mistaking the fact that Biela's comet had gone to pieces ; it 

 had simply degenerated into a meteoric swarm. It does not 

 stand alone. Brooks' comet of 1889 was found to be accom- 

 panied by three smaller companions, and as this comet often 

 passes very near to Jupiter just as did Biela's comet, it seems 

 likely that it is undergoing the same disintegration. 



Probably the same thing is going on with several others ; 

 it is yet too early to know. The subject is new ; but there 

 seems little reason now to doubt that the meteorites are simply 

 comets in decay, the stragglers of a lost battle, and that on the 

 other hand the comets are vast swarms of these meteoric stones. 

 The evidence of the spectroscope makes this a practical certainty. 



It is of interest to know that, at least in one instance, it 

 seems probable that these meteoric swarms, like some comets, 

 have been incorporated into our system within historic times. 

 The great French mathematician Leverrier, in calculating the 

 orbit of the November meteors, found that it was an oval ex- 

 tending out beyond Uranus. The paths of the comets are 

 disturbed by the attractive influence of the planets ; calculating 

 back the past positions of the Leonids, Leverrier came to the 

 conclusion that under the influence of Uranus the form of its 

 orbit had been completely changed. Very likely it once de- 

 scribed a parabola about the sun ; it was, therefore, in all 

 probability a comet moving through space which closed within 

 the grip of the sun or of one of the outer planets. It would 

 have been torn to pieces by their combined influence, pulled 

 and hauled about until it had lost its great velocity, and was 

 but the rags and tatters of its former self. On Leverrier's 

 calculations it entered the solar system a century or so after 

 the death of Caesar, that is, in the year 126 A.D. It was a 

 beautiful piece of computation, not so brilliant perhaps as 

 another which we shall meet with soon, but surely calculated 

 to excite admiration for the perfection of the astronomer's art. 



But the study of meteorites and the paths of the swarms 



