

METEORS. 161 



we to form if any meteors show a rate of motion ex- 

 ceeding that which the sun can impart to them ? If 

 observers, having carefully watched a meteor's fiery 

 course from two stations, deduce by calculations of a 

 simple and convincing kind a rate of motion which is 

 greater than that due to solar attraction, where are we 

 to find the ' power ' which has caused the meteor to 

 travel with that extra velocity. 



Now the most careful observations of meteoric move- 

 ments do actually show, in several instances, a rate of 

 motion exceeding by many miles per second that which 

 astronomers can fairly account for. Our earth moves 

 at the rate of eighteen miles per second, and a meteor 

 drawn in by the sun's might from a distance exceeding 

 even stellar distances would cross the earth's track at 

 the rate of about twenty-six miles per second. Sup- 

 posing the meteor to meet the earth full tilt, there 

 would result but a velocity of forty-four miles per 

 second, for the earth's attraction on the meteor would 

 not appreciably increase its velocity. But careful ob- 

 servers tell us that some meteors travel through the air 

 at the rate of sixty, or even seventy or eighty, miles 

 per second. The extra velocity is a peculiarity too well 

 supported by the evidence to be neglected. An explana- 

 tion must undoubtedly be sought for. But whence is 

 this explanation to be obtained ? 



There are other bodies in the universe which exert a 

 mightier attraction than our sun, and are, therefore, 

 capable of imparting greater velocities. The star 

 Sirius, for example, must force those meteoric bodies 



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