PORTION OF THE COSMOS. AEROLITES. 427 



1839, 1841, 1846, arid 1847, the mean paths belong- 

 ing respectively to each of the 4 points (in Perseus, Leo, 

 Cassiopeia, and the head of Draco), were laid down sepa- 

 rately on a 30-inch celestial globe, and the position of the 

 point from which the greatest number of paths took their 

 departure was on every occasion deduced. The result de- 

 rived from the investigation was, that out of 407 falling 

 stars of which the paths were marked, 171 proceeded from 

 the constellation of Perseus, near the star 77 in the head of 

 Medusa, 83 from Leo, 35 from the part of Cassiopeia near 

 the variable star a, 40 from the head of Draco, and fully 

 78 from undetermined points. Thus the falling stars which 

 radiated from Perseus were almost twice as numerous as 

 those from Leo" ( 6 9 2 ). 



The radiation from Perseus would appear a very remark- 

 able fact, as having shewn itself in both periods. An acute 

 observer, who has been occupied for eight or ten years with 

 the phenomena of meteors, Julius Schmidt, Assistant at the 

 Astronomical Observatory at Bonn, expresses himself very 

 distinctly on this subject, in a letter to myself, written in 

 July 1851 : " Abstracting the abundant falls of shooting 

 stars of November 1833 and 1834, as well as some later 

 ones, in which the point in Leo seemed to send forth swarms 

 of meteors, I am at present inclined to regard the point of 

 convergence in Perseus as that which furnishes the greatest 

 number of meteors, not only in August, but throughout the 

 year. Taking as my basis the values derived from 478 

 observations by Heis, I find that this point is situated in 

 50 3' B.A., and 51 5' Decl. : this applies to the years 

 18441846. In November 1849 (7th to 14th), I saw 

 two hundred more falling stars than, since 1841, 1 had ever 

 observed in the month of November. Of these, generally 



