THE EARTH IN METEORIC SHADOW. 153 



but to explain to others what they thoroughly under- 

 stand themselves. For instance, in Ghiillemin's Le 

 del, and in the English translation edited by Mr. 

 Lockyer, there was given a stupendously impossible 

 theory of the November and August meteor showers as 

 produced by a single ring of meteors, of which a picture 

 was presented, in which this single ring was shown 

 cutting the earth's orbit in two places, though it was 

 perfectly well known, long before the discoveries of 

 1866 and following years, that both meteor systems 

 cut the earth's path at an angle. The idea of the 

 August meteors crossing the plane of the earth's orbit 

 at a sharp angle (as, indeed, at any angle) when the 

 earth is in August, and then crossing the same plane 

 (necessarily in a contrary direction) at the place occu- 

 pied by the earth only three months later, is, of course, 

 outrageously absurd. Yet here two professed teachers 

 of the general public rather condescending teachers 

 too not only describe this impossible movement, but 

 even endeavour to picture it. If they had attempted 

 to show it * in elevation ' as well as * in plan,' they 

 could not have failed, I should imagine, to recognise 

 its absurdity ; but without that, the absurdity should 

 have been obvious. 



To return to Erman's theory, it by no means follows 

 from the disproof of the theory as advanced, that the 

 anomalous falls of temperature in February, April, and 

 May are not due to the interposition of flights of 

 meteors* 



Yet the objections even to the general theory are 



