284 METEORS AND AEROLITES. 



which we owe to the admirable observations of Mr. Hinde, 

 working with his telescopes in the Regent's Park, almost in 

 the midst of our foggy and smoky metropolis.* These bo- 

 dies are very various in size ; some of them so small as 

 to defy exact admeasurement. Astronomical considerations 

 fully sanction the idea of a common origin ; and if they be 

 truly fragments of a larger body, we may reasonably infer 

 that the same disruptive force which separated them must 

 have projected into space numerous fragments yet smaller,, 

 and with orbits more highly inclined to that of the primitive 

 planet in proportion to their smallness. It is another ques- 

 tion, however, whether any of these orbits could be such as to 

 bring them in proximity to, and within attraction of the earth. 

 It will be seen that this is simply a question of possibility, to 

 which little or nothing can be added, or hoped for, in the way 

 of evidence. Like the lunar hypothesis, it remains a mere 

 speculation ; affected chiefly by the proofs which have given 

 stronger presumption to another theory. 



It is this theory of which we have now to speak ; the one 

 which connects meteoric stones with meteors of other kinds ; 

 and, recognising in all an origin alien to and beyond the 

 limits of the earth, finds this origin in the interplanetary 

 spaces which were heretofore regarded as void in nature ; or, 

 if not void, occupied by an imponderable ether, hardly 

 known to us but as a name. Many circumstances have 

 tended gradually to create new views on this subject, and 

 especially the discovery of the vast number of cometary 

 bodies traversing these spaces in all directions ; varying 

 infinitely in magnitude, orbits, and periods of revolution ; 

 undergoing great changes even while within our view ; 



* The number has rapidly augmented by discovery since this article was 

 written. Nearly seventy now stand in our catalogues (1862), and the hea- 

 then mythology has been invoked in vain to furnish names for this planetoid 

 throng. 



