EPOCHS OF SHOOTING STARS. 



marked regularity ; they appeared to diverge from a centre or 

 focus, which preserved a fixed position with respect to the horizon, 

 but had no such fixed relation to the objects on the firmament. 

 This point, or centre, to which their common directions converged, 

 was a point of about thirty degrees above the horizon, and sixty 

 degrees west of north. 



19. On the night of the 9th of August, 1837, M. Wartmann ob- 

 served these phenomena at Geneva ; between nine o'clock, P.M., and 

 midnight, eighty-two were seen in different parts of the heavens. 

 They were most frequent about ten o'clock, and then appeared 

 to emanate from a centre or focus situated between the star 

 , in the constellation of Bootes, and the star A, in the con- 

 stellation of the Dragon. At a quarter past ten, twenty- 

 seven were seen, and were remarkable for their bright bluish 

 light. Other observers in the same neighbourhood, and on the 

 same night, counted one hundred and forty-nine in one part of 

 the heavens, between a quarter before nine and half-past eleven 

 o'clock. 



Of these hundred and forty-nine meteors, three had the 

 appearance of round disks, or globes, of a ruddy red colour, 

 measuring from four to five minutes in diameter, being about 

 one-sixth part of the moon's diameter. Twenty-six were more 

 brilliant than the planet Venus, and of resplendent whiteness ; the 

 remainder had the appearance of stars from the first to the third 

 magnitude, their colours varying between blue, yellow, and orange. 



20. On the night of the llth of November, 1832, M. Tharand, 

 a retired officer at Limoges, stated that workmen who were 

 employed in laying the foundation of the bridge over the river 

 Vienne, observed the firmament brilliant with meteors, which at 

 first only amused them, but after some hours the number and 

 splendour of these luminous appearances were so greatly 

 augmented, that the people were seized with panics, and so great 

 was their terror, that they abandoned their labour, and flew to 

 their families, exclaiming that the end of the world had arrived. 

 On the next day these people were interrogated on the subject, 

 and their accounts varied according to the different impressions 

 which had been produced on their imaginations. Some declared 

 that they saw streams of blue fire ; others that they beheld bars 

 of red iron crossing each other in all directions ; others, that they 

 beheld an immense quantity of flying rockets. All agreed that 

 the phenomena were diffused over every part of the firmament ; 

 that they commenced at eleven o'clock, and continued till four 

 the next morning. 



21. There appears some reason for supposing that November 

 and August are not the only times of the annual recurrence of these 



155 



