A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 43 



" The meteors about Perseus were mostly small, some only just distinguish- 

 able, the larger ones were usually 40° to 60° from r; Persei. 



" A meteor, almost upon the point of divergence, scarcely moved amongst 

 the stars. The year before last I saw one exactly on this point ; it became 

 visible, increased in magnitude, and then disappeared without moving. 



" No meteor was observed to move towards r\ Persei, all moving away from 

 that star. On the 14th there were a number of meteors discordant, but on 

 the 11th and 12th scarcely one whose path produced backwards would not 

 have touched the point near tj Persei. 



" There was a great similarity in the meteors. Nearly all had tails or streaks 

 which lingered for a short time after the meteors themselves had vanished, 

 and nearly all were of the 2nd to 4th magnitude. 



"A meteor seen through a telescope of 2| inches aperture, with a power of 

 20, had a decidedly planetary appearance, the tail hemg phosphorescent-looking, 

 not fire-like. The duration was too brief to make any very careful observa- 

 tions ; and the meteor itself was small, viz. 3rd magnitude. 



" The weather on the above days was warm, and the wind between W. and 

 S.W. 



" E. J. Lowe." 



" Observatory, Beeston, August 20th, 1861." 



No. 10. — M. Le Verrier has just applied the results of his researches on the 

 four planets, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, to the rectification of existing 

 astronomical tables. From the perturbations observed in the orbits of these 

 planets, he has come to the conclusion that there exists in our system a con- 

 siderable quantity of matter which has not hitherto been taken into account. 

 In thefirst place, he supposes that there must exist within the orbit of Mercury, 

 ataboutO"17 of the earth's distance from the sun, amass of matter nearly equal 

 in weight to Mercury. As this mass of matter would probably have been 

 observed before this, either in transit over the sun's disc or during total 

 eclipses of the sun, if it existed as one large planet, M. Le Verrier supposes 

 that it exists as a series of asteroids. Secondly, M. Le Verrier sees reason 

 to believe that there must be a mass of matter, equal to about one-tenth of 

 the mass of the earth, revolving round the sun at very nearly the same dis- 

 tance as the earth. This also he supposes to be split up into an immense 

 number of asteroids*. Thirdly, M. Le Verrier's researches have led him to 

 the conclusion that the groups of asteroids which revolve between Mars and 

 Jupiter, and sixty of which have been seen, and named, and had their ele- 

 ments determined, must have an aggregate mass equal to one-third of that of 

 the earth. He thinks it not at all unlikely that similar groups of asteroids 

 exist between Jupiter and Saturn, between Saturn and Herschel's planet, and 

 between the latter and Neptune. 



Haidinger reports that M. Julius Schmidt, of the Royal Observatory, 

 Athens, is continuing his observations, it is said, on the phenomena pre- 

 sented by the luminous trains of meteors, with interesting results. It is in- 

 tended to publish some particulars in the next year's report on luminous 

 meteors. 



The following recent publications on meteoric literature may be especially 

 noticed. 



1. Versuch eines quellenverzeichnisses zur Litteratnr iiber Meteoriten : 

 von Dr. Otto Buchner von Giessen. Published at Frankfort-on-Maine, 1861. 



2. By the same author, and a very valuable and comprehensive work, 



* It is very possible the meteorites which from time to time fall to the earth may be the 

 representatives of this group of Le Verrier's. 



