i ■ 



Sept. 1 6, 1880] 



NATURE 



471 



on July 29-30 Mr. Corder had seen a shower of twenty meteors 

 from the point 29° + 56", which no doubt represented the first 

 on-coming of the Perseidi;. 



The night of August 10 at Mr. Carder's station was very hazy 

 and generally overcast, so that though he was watching during 

 the three hours preceding midnight, he estimated that his obser- 

 vation was not more than an equivalent to one hour of clear sky. 

 He reckoned that under favourable conditions of the atmosphere 

 the Perseids were falling at the rate of 40 per hour. Only one 

 meteor he saw on the loth was a fine one about — X. It 

 appeared at llh. 23m. rather low in Ursa It was rich orange 

 in colour, with a long narrow streak broken ii; the middle. On 

 August II Mr. Corder found meteors scarce; the shower had 

 evidently fallen off considerably. The horary numbers found 

 at Bristol were 26 of all meteors and 17 of Perseids, which very 

 closely con-esponds with Mr. Corder's figures, for, observing 

 for three hours, he saw 76 meteors, amongst which were 50 

 Perseids. He mentions several instances in which the Perseid 

 streaks were broken, and the same feature was frequently 

 observed at Bristol. In such cases the nucleus had several 

 maxima, and the streak-producing power seemed intensified at 

 the point of each outburst. 



Mr. Corder mentions a bright aurora as visible on the Ilth 

 and 12th instant. They were seen at Bristol also, but the 

 phenomenon of the 12th was by far the most conspicuous. At 

 about loh. 20m. there was a vivid arch of crimson light spanning 

 the horizon below the stars ;8 — 7 of Ursa Major, and the whole 

 northern quadrant was aglow with streamers. But it soon lost 

 its striking character, though there were indications of streamers 

 at a much later period, and an auroral glow was apparent above 

 the north-west horizon as late as 1411. It was also seen by 

 the Rev. S. J. Johnson at Mitcheldean, Glos., who writes : — 

 " On the 1 2th there was a somewhat striking display of aurora. 

 It began at loh. 29m., and was bounded on the east by Capella, 

 and on the west by Arcturus. The columns were often very 

 vivid, but the brilliant character of the phenomenon only lasted 

 12 minutes." 



Major Tupman observing at Cookham, near Maidenhead, 

 Berks, reports the weather very cloudy on August 8, after iih. 

 34m. In one hour (loh. 34m. — iih. 34m.) 13 meteors were 

 seen, of which all but 2 were Perseids. August 9 very clear, 

 and the sky watched from 9h. 56m. to I2h. 5m., when 31 

 meteors were seen, including 28 Perseids and 3 Cygnids. 

 August 10— watch sustained from gh. 5m. to loh. 43m., when 

 15 or 16 Perseids were noted, and a few other small meteors. 

 Sky clouded up at loh. 43™. August 11 cloudy. Partly clear 

 at loh. 5Sm., and 3 Perseids observed, but at llh. 9m. it again 

 became overcast, and prevented further observation. The radiant 

 point derived from a number of very accurately observed paths 

 on August 9 was at 44° + 56°, with indications of a sub-radiant 

 4° higher in declination. 



The Rev. G. T. Ryves, of Stoke-on-Trent, writes as 

 follows : — 



" August 8 — loh. to I ih. — 19 meteors seen, of which not more 

 than 10 or II were Perseids. Soon after iih. clouds formed, 

 and intenaipted further watching. 



August 9, 9h. 45m. to iih., 65 meteors seen. 

 ,, iih. to I2h. 4Sm., 30 meteors seen. 



"From 80 to 85 were Perseids. The falling off in numbers 

 after Ilh. is only apparent, as up to that time I had been 

 assisted by two pairs of eyes, and owing to my defective sight 

 many of the smaller meteors would have escaped me afterwards, 



"August 10, 9h. 30m. to llh. 30m., 126 meteors seen. 

 Nearly all of these were Perseids. During the whole of this 

 period I was assisted by the two young observers above alluded 

 to. Several brilliant meteors were recorded. On August 9, 

 I2h. 25m., one was imperfectly seen in the Milky Way near 

 horizon, in S.W., moving about S.W." This is obviously the 

 same as one described at Bristol at I2h. 23m. the same night.. 



Another was seen by Mr. Ryves at I2h. 35m., August 9, 

 moving very slightly west of, and parallel to, the stars 5 and 

 7 of Cygnus, and at llh. 2m., August 10, a fine meteor shot 

 towards Aquila, the end point being noted slightly below and 

 west of Altair. These meteors were evidently Perseids, though 

 Mr. Ryves saw only a small proportion of brilliant meteors. He 

 remarks : "The most noticeable feature in this year's display has 

 been the great falling off in the average brightnessof the meteors 

 as compared with former years. Of the 240 meteors seen here 

 not more than a dozen were such as would have attracted the 



attention of any one but trained observers, the great majority 

 requiring rather exceptionally keen eyes to detect them at all." 



Mr. Cornish, at Debenham, Suftblk, gives the following 

 summary of watches between August i and 12 : — 



August I, loh. 1501. to lib. 4oni. 



9, loh. to llh 



9, loh. 4oni. to iih. 



11, gh. 48m. to iih. 38m. 



12, gh. 3m. togh. 33m. ... 



Observers. 

 V. Cornish 

 H. Heather 

 V. Cornish 

 V. Cornish 

 H. Heather 



On the nth no less than 24 were noted during the first half- 

 hour's observation. The sky was [partly cloudy after llh. A 

 1st mag. stationary meteor was seen at 348^ - 23 on August 4, 

 at I3h. 48m. On August 9, loh. 23m., a meteor = Sirius shot 

 from 0° + 37° to 349° + 28", and it appears to be identical with 

 a fine meteor registered by Mr. Ryves at Stoke-on-Trent,. 

 August 9, loh. 25m., path from a Andromeda; to a. Pegasi. 

 Mr. Cornish remarks that " the recent display of Perseids was 

 not equal to that of last year, even supposing the circumstances 

 to have been as favourable." It must be remembered, however, 

 that on the all-important night of August 10 few observations 

 could be obtained, owing to the generally unfavourable state of 

 the sky, and that under these conditions a comparison cannot 

 fairly be instituted. Mr. Corder estimated the horary rate of 

 Perseids as 40 per hour on the loth ; and at Bristol, where the 

 stars could only be seen in dim outline through the fog-laden, 

 atmosphere, the number actually counted at an early period of 

 the night was 28 per hour. This compares favourably with the 

 last successful observation of this shower obtained by the 

 writer in 1877, when, with a perfectly clear sky, 57 Perseids 

 were noted between 95h. to llh., = 38 per hour. Making 

 allowance for the difference of weather, the recent display, 

 though it cannot be regarded as in any way exceptional, may 

 yet be classed as a fairly active return of the shower ; and it is 

 fortunate that on the several nights immediately preceding and 

 following the loth, the state of the sky allowed its progress to 

 be traced with unusual distinctness. 



The Rev. S. J. Johnson, at Abbenhall Rectory, Mitcheldean, 

 Glos,, saw 20 meteors during an hour's watch (loh. 57"i- '"^ 

 iih. 57m.) on August 9. The following night there was much 

 cloud about at times, especially in the eastern sky, so that only 

 16 meteors were seen between loh. 3m. and llh. 3m. On the 

 nth the night was very clear, and 12 meteors seen between loh. 

 and II h. Mr. Johnson gives a list of the brighter meteors, 

 which includes several nearly equal to Jupiter, and many ist 

 magnitude. 



The night of the 9th appears to have been very favourable 

 at all stations, and more shooting-stars were seen on that date 

 than on the loth, when the sky was in part overcast. On the 

 nth there was a very evident falling-off in the number of 

 meteors observed at Chelmsford and Bristol, the horary rate of 

 apparition of the Perseids being noted as 17 at both places. 

 The following night it had fallen to 8, and on the 13th to 5, as 

 derived from observations at Bristol, and the absolute cessation 

 of the shower was evidently near at hand. 



W. r. Denning 



JI 



INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGY 



HE International Meteorological Committee appointed by 

 the Congress of Rome held its first meeting at the Obser- 

 vatory, Berne, from the 9th to the 12th ultimo. All the 

 members of the Committee, nine in number, were present. 

 Their names are as follows : — 



Prof. H. Wild (president), Mr. R. H. Scott (secretary). 

 Professors Buys Ballot and Cantoni, Capt. de Brito Capello, 

 Professors Hann, Mascart, and Mohn, and Dr. Neumayer. 

 The following is a brief notice of the most interesting results of 

 the meeting : — 



The International Comparison of Standard Instruments.— Tb& 

 original scheme for this undertaking was based on the suppo- 

 sition that thirty-six European observatories would take part in 

 it, each paying a contribution of about 15^. The number of 

 acceptances of the proposal up to the date of the meeting was, 

 however, insufficient to justify the Committee in commencing 

 the comparison, and it was therefore determined to recommend 

 each country to carry out a careful comparison of its own 

 standard instruments with those of neighbouring countries. 



The International Simultaneous Observations. — The proposal 

 recently made by the Chief Signal Office, Washington, to change- 



