274 ON THE ORBIT OF THE NOVEMBER METEORS. [34 



were founded on an imperfect determination of the radiant point, these 

 elements were not sufficiently accurate, and Sig. Schiaparelli failed to find 

 any cometary orbit which could be identified with that of the meteors. 



Soon after this, on the 21st January, 1867, M. Le Verrier communicated 

 to the Academy of Sciences a theory of the origin and nature of shooting 

 stars, very similar in its main features to that of Sig. Schiaparelli, and at 

 the same time gave more accurate elements of the orbit of the November 

 Meteors, his calculations being based on a better determination of the 

 radiant point than that employed by the astronomer of Milan. 



In the Astronomische Nachrichten, of the 29th January, Mr C. F. W. 

 Peters of Altona pointed out that the elements given by M. Le Verrier 

 closely agreed with those of Tempel's Comet (I. 1866), calculated by Dr 

 Oppolzer, and on the 2nd February, Sig. Schiaparelli, having recalculated 

 the elements of the orbit of the meteors on better data than before, himself 

 noticed the same agreement. 



Dr Oppolzer's elements of Tempel's comet are as follows : 



Period 33'18 years 



Mean distance 10'3248 



Eccentricity 0'9054 



Perihelion distance 0'9765 



Inclination 17 18' 



Longitude of Node 51 26 



Distance of Perihelion from Node 9 2 



Direction of Motion Retrograde 



If these elements be compared with those of the November Meteors 

 which I have given in a former part of this communication, it will be 

 seen that their agreement is remarkably close. 



The curious and unexpected resemblance which is thus shewn to exist 

 between the orbits of known comets and those of the meteors, both of 

 August and November, opens a wide field for speculation. It is difficult 

 to believe that the coincidences which have been noticed are merely acci- 

 dental ; but whether or not we are disposed to adopt the ideas of Sig. 

 Schiaparelli as to the intimate relations between meteors and comets, I 

 cannot help thinking that my researches respecting the motion of the node 

 of the November Meteors have settled the question as to the periodic time 

 of these bodies beyond a doubt. 



