SHOWERS OF SHOOTING STARS. 231 



The first and most important truth with regard to the 

 recurrence of the meteors is their occasional appearance 

 in what are known as "meteoric showers." During such 

 displays it sometimes happens that shooting stars in 

 shoals break forth simultaneously, so as to produce a 

 spectacle which we now regard as of the utmost beauty 

 and interest, but which in earlier times has often been 

 the source of the direst terror and dismay. 



Let me, for the sake of illustration, give some account 

 of one of these great showers of shooting stars. It 

 occurred on the 13th November, 1866. Doubtless many 

 of those who read these lines will remember that event. 

 It dwells in my memory along with one or two other 

 superb astronomical spectacles that it has been my privi- 

 lege to witness. I have never seen a total eclipse of the 

 sun under favourable circumstances. This is, I apprehend, 

 about the most sublime of all the occasional phenomena 

 which the heavens present to us. I have, however, seen 

 the great comet of 1858, the shower of shooting stars in 

 1866, and the transit of Venus in 1882. The last was of 

 interest rather from its rarity and its delicacy than 

 from its actual appearance regarded as a spectacle. Of 

 the phenomena in the heavens which I have seen, I must 

 give the first place to the wonderful shower of shooting 

 stars in November, 1866. Although I have previously 

 had occasion to describe my experience as an eye-witness 

 of this event, yet I think it will bear telling again. 



In the year 1866 I occupied the position of astronomer 

 to the late Earl of Rosse, who is specially known to fame 

 as having been the builder of the greatest telescope the 

 world has ever seen. This grand instrument at the time 



