47G 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[June 5, 1885. 



unworthy of investigation, and regarded simply as atmo- 

 spheric meteors originating in the inflammation of a 

 quantity of hydrogen gas, have, in consequence of recent 

 observations, become objects of greater attention among 

 men of science. Previous theories limited their place in 

 the heavens to our own atmojiphere ; but from observations 

 made at Breslau and other places by Professor Brandes and 

 several of his pupils, the heiglit of some shooting stars has 

 been calculated at r)00 Engh'sh mile3 ; and the rate at 

 which they move not less than thirty-six miles in a second, 

 which is nearly double the rate of the earth's motion 

 round the sun. If a reduction be made to one-half of 

 this rate per second, in order to allow for the illusion 

 occasioned by the motion of the earth, the real motion 

 would be eighteen miles per second, which, with the excep- 

 tion of the earth, would still be more rapid than that of 

 any of the principal bodies of our system. In the attempts 

 which have been made to ascertain the apparent direction 

 in which shooting stars usually move, it has been ascer- 

 tained that, although they become ignited in our atmo- 

 sphere, they come from beyond it. It is singular that 

 their general direction should be contrary to that in which 

 the earth moves in its annual orbit ; and it is much to be 

 desired that the inferences already deduced should l)e cor- 

 rected or confirmed by a greater number of observations. 

 We think that the oflicers of the watch on board the 

 Bonite* should be invited, during their voyage of dis- 

 covery, to note the hour of the appearance of each shooting 

 star, its angular height above the horizon, and especially 

 the direction in which it mo%-es. In referring these 

 meteors to the principal stars of the constellations which 

 they traverse, the diflerent questions here raised can be 

 easily settled. 



" The means of accounting for tbe extraordinary appear- 

 ance of luminous projectiles observed in America in the 

 night of November 12 and 13, 1883, are not very satisfac- 

 tory, unless it be assumed that, besides the planetary bodies 

 which revolve round the .sun, there are myriads of smaller 

 bodies which only become visible at the moment when they 

 come within our atmosphere and assume a meteoric appear- 

 ance ; and that these asteroids (to use the term which 

 Herschel formerly applied to Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and 

 Vesta) move in groups ; and that they move singly also. 

 A careful observation of shooting stars is the only means of 

 enlightening us on this curious subject. 



" The shooting stars in America, to which allusion has 

 been made, were observed in 1833. They succeeded each 

 other at such short intervals that it was impossible to 

 count them ; and the most moderate calculations fixed 

 their number at hundreds of thousands. They were so 

 numerous, and showed themselves in so many quarters 

 of the heavens at the same time, that the attempts 

 to estimate them were only rough guesses. At the 

 Observatory at Boston their number was considered 

 to equal one-half of the flakes which fill the air in 

 an ordinary fall of snow. When their numbers were 

 diminishing, G50 stars were counted in fifteen minutes, 

 in a circumscribed part of the heavens, which did 

 not comprise a tenth part of the visible horizon; 

 and these did not amount to more than two-thirds of 

 the whole number seen, which was at least 8G6 ; and if the 

 whole hemisphere could have been surve>>d by one observer, 

 the number seen would have been 8^060, or 36,640 per 

 hour. As the phenomena continued more than seven 

 hem's, the number of shooting stars visible at Boston was 

 upwards of 240,000 ; and it should be recollected that the 

 basis of this calculation was taken when the intensity of 



the phenomenon was diminishing. It was visible along 

 the whole of the eastern coast of North America, from the 

 Oulf of ^Mexico to Halifax, from nine o'clock in the even- 

 ing to sunii-e, and in some p'aces in full daylight, at eight 

 o'clock in the morning. All these meteors came from the 

 same point of the heavens, viz. y of Leo, and those which 

 were seen elsewhere was the efiect of the earth's movement 

 which caused an apparent alteration in the position of this 

 star. The above facts are certainly very curious, but the 

 following are not less so. 



" The shooting stars observed in the United States 

 appeared in the night of the 12th and 13th of November. 

 In 1799 a similar phenomenon was observed in America 

 by M. de Humboldt, in Greenland by the Moravian 

 Brethren, and in Germany by various individuals ; and 

 the period of its appearance was also the night of the 12th 

 and 13th of November. In 1832, in Europe and some 

 parts of Asia the phenomenon was witnessed; and the date 

 was still the night of the 12th and 13th of November. 

 This identity of dates induces us to urge upon our young 

 seamen the task of observing with attention the appear- 

 ances in the firmament between the 10th and l-'Uh of 

 November. Since my report has been read to the Academy, 

 M. Berard, one of the most intelligent officers of the 

 French marine, has favoured me with tlie subjoined extract 

 from the journal of the brig Loiret, which he commands : — 

 "The 13th of November, 1831, at four o'clock in the 

 morning, the sky being perfectly cloudless, and a copious 

 dew falling, we have seen a number of shooting stars and 

 luminous meteors of great dimensions. During upwards 

 of three hours more than two per minute were seen. One 

 of these meteors, which appeared in the zenith, left an 

 immen.se train from east to west like a luminous band, and 

 in it many of the colours of the rainbow were distinctly 

 visible ; its breadth was equal to one-half of the moon's 

 diameter, and the light which it gave did not disappear 

 for six minutes. We were on the coast of Spain, near 

 Carthagena.' 



" On Nov. 13, 1835, a large and brilliant meteor fell 

 near Bel ley, in the department of the Ain, and set fire to a 

 farmyard. In the same night of Nov. 13 a shooting-star, 

 larger and more brilliant than Jupiter was observed at 

 Lille by M. Delezenne. It left on its passage a shower of 

 sparks precisely similar to those which follow a sky-rocket. 



" The facts we have now gi%-en confirm more and 

 more the existence of a zone composed of myriads of 

 small bodies, whose orbits come within the limits of 

 the earth's ecliptic every year between the 11th and 

 13 th of November. This is a new planetary world 

 which begins to open to us. It is almost unnecessary 

 to state how highly important it is to ascertain if other 

 masses of asteroides do not come within the earth's ecliptic 

 at other points than that which it reaches about Nov. 12. 

 It is desirable to make observations between April 20 and 

 24, as well as in November; for in 1803, on April 22, I 

 believe, from one o'clock in the morning until three, shoot- 

 ing stars were seen in all directions in such great numbers, 

 in Virginia and JIassachusetts, as to be compared to a 

 shower of sky-rockets, ilessier states that on June 17, 

 1777, towards noon, he saw in the space of five minutes a 

 very large number of black globules pass over the sun's 

 disc. Were not these globules also asteroides?" 



* A French vessel on a voyage of discovery. 



Gas at New York. — The most prosperous gas company in Now 

 York last year was the ilntual, which realised an average net profit 

 of 109 dols. per 1,000 cubic feet. It received 229 dols. per l.UCO 

 cubic feet. The least successful was the Harlem, which realised a 

 profit of 45 cents ; the Manhattan, reporting S2 cents; the Muni- 

 cipal, 1-02 dols. ; the Knickerbocker, 96 cents ; the Metropolitan, 

 85 cents ; and the New York, 72 cents. 



