NOVEMBER METEORS. 



It appears from well-authenticated records that after 1839 the 

 Leonid shower virtually disappeared. As time drew near its 

 expected recurrence , in 1866, the interest in it revived. The 

 display fully answered expectation, as many of us can testify. 

 The display as seen in England in 1866 was indeed magnifi- 

 cent ioo meteors per minute were recorded by some observers. 

 There were showers of considerable brilliance in America in 

 1867 and 1868. . . Though clouds impeded these obser- 

 vations in Greenwich and other places, Mr. Denning gives 

 a list of 35 places and observers where the showers of meteors 

 in 1866 were conspicuous. One of these records is by Mr. 

 G. J. Symons, who lately visited this County Club with 

 reference to rainfall. He estimated that he saw 8,000, the 

 time of observation being from eleven p.m. to nearly five a.m. 

 Professor Schmidt, of Athens, reported 10,602. At Greenwich 

 Observatory 8,786 were reported as seen between nine p.m. and 

 five a.m. 



The reports from various parts of America show similarly 

 large numbers. In the east the numbers reported are not 

 nearly so high. Nearly all these tabulated reports are for 

 November i3th, 1866 or 1867 and 1868. It may be fair to 

 infer from this that for the next three or four years we may 

 expect large and possibly fine displays. With diffidence as 

 seemingly opposed to the current views of experts I am 

 inclined to think that the maximum will be nearer 1900 than 

 1899, f r it is conceded that planetary attraction may retard the 

 maximum. 



It is from the credited data of these successive maxima that 

 Professor Adams and Professor Schiaparrelli, Professors Peters 

 and Le Verrier, and Professor Newton calculated the orbit of the 

 Leonids, and showed that it was identical with that of Tempel's 

 comet, and concluded that the Leonids are probably largely due 

 to the disintegration of the comet. This opinion meets with 

 increasing acceptance from competent authorities. 



Professor Kirkwood, of Indiana, who has made this matter a 

 subject of special research, states as follows : - 



