SECT. XXXVI. SHOOTING STAES. 421 



The obliquity of the descent of meteorites, the peculiar substances 

 they are composed of, and the explosion accompanying their fall, 

 show that they are foreign to our system ; but whence derived is 

 still a mystery. 



Shooting stars and meteors burst from the clear azure sky, and, 

 darting along the heavens, are extinguished without leaving any 

 residuum except a vapour-like smoke, and generally without 

 noise. Their parallax shows them to be very high in the atmos- 

 phere, sometimes even beyond its supposed limit, and the direc- 

 tion of their motion is for the most part diametrically opposite to 

 the motion of the earth in its orbit. The astonishing multitudes 

 of shooting stars and fire-balls that have appeared at stated 

 periods over different parts of the globe, warrant the conclusion 

 that there is either a nebula or that there are myriads of bodies 

 revolving in groups round the sun which only become visible 

 when inflamed by entering our atmosphere. 



One of these nebnlse or groups seems to meet the earth in its 

 annual revolution on the 12th and 13th of November. 



On the morning of the 12th of November, 1799, thousands of 

 shooting stars, mixed with large meteors, illuminated the heavens 

 for many hours over the whole continent of America, from Brazil 

 to Labrador : it extended to Greenland, and even Germany. 

 Meteoric showers were seen off the coast of Spain, and in the 

 Ohio country, on the morning of the 13th of November, 1831 ; 

 and during many hours on the morning of the 13th November, 

 1832, prodigious multitudes of shooting stars and meteors fell at 

 Mocha on the Bed Sea, in the Atlantic, in Switzerland, and at 

 many places in England. But by much the most splendid 

 meteoric shower on record began at nine o'clock in the evening 

 of the 12th of November, 1833, and lasted till sunrise next 

 morning. It extended from Niagara and the northern lakes of 

 America to the south of Jamaica, and from 61 of longitude in 

 the Atlantic to 100 of longitude in central Mexico. Shooting 

 stars and meteors, of the apparent size of Jupiter, Venus, and 

 even the full moon, darted in myriads towards the horizon, as if 

 every star in the heavens had started from their spheres. They 

 are described as having been frequent as flakes of snow in a snow- 

 storm, and to have been seen with equal brilliancy over the 

 greater part of the continent of North America. 



Those who witnessed this grand spectacle were surprised to 



