42 REPORT 1871. 



and nearly as bright as Jupiter, moving for two seconds in a slightly curved 

 course from r to \p Orionis, and leaving a short streak upon its track. 

 Flashes of faint reddish lightning were perceived at 12'' 28" and 12'' SS" a.m. 

 Between 12'' 30"" and 1" 30"" a.m. on the morning of the 16th some meteors 

 were observed, but did not appear to present features worthy of special note. 

 At Newhaven, in the United States, three observers noted, in three hours, 

 thirty-one meteors, of which only six were conformable to the radiant-point 

 in Leo. On the following morning (the 14th) Professor Newton, with five 

 other observers, obtained the following enumeration of the meteors visible in 

 the half-hours ending at 1870, November 14th, a.m. : — 



hm h hmhhmhhmhhmhm 



(1870, November 1 3tb, P.M.... 1 1 30 12) 1230 i 130 2 230 3 330 345* Totals 



Conformable meteors o i 5 10 12 9 15 8 12 7 79 



Unconformable meteors 6 8 4 7 810157 7 2 74 



After 3'' 45"" the sky was so nearly overcast that regular counting was 

 abandoned, while in open spaces of the sky it was still apparent that up to 

 six o'clock no marked increase in the number of the meteors had taken place. 

 After half-past five, however, the clouds already began more nearly to cover 

 the sky. (American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. i., January 1871.) 



5. Meteor-shower of December 12t7i, 1870. — The state of the sky was not 

 generally favourable for observations, Mr. H. W. Jackson reporting from 

 Louth that on the nights of the 12th and 13th the sky was overcast, with 

 frequent rain from 8" 30"" p.m. on the night of the 12th. At Glasgow, York, 

 and Manchester it was equally obscured. At Birmingham Mr. "W. H. Wood 

 was more fortunate in securing a short view of the sky on one of the periodic 

 nights, and the following is his description of the shower : — • 



"The overcast state of the skies from the 10th to the 13th permitted only 

 of a partial view of the character of the shower, which occurred during a 

 temporary clearance of the sky for one hour only, from 11'' 30"" p.m. on the 

 12th to 12'' 30'" A.M. on the 13th. Five meteors were recorded in three- 

 quarters of an hour, radiating accurately from radiant G (6 Geminorum). 

 Meteors white or blue, and trainless (one observer)." A list of the recorded 

 paths, and a description of the meteors seen, accompanies Mr. Wood's report. 

 The position of the radiant-point from which the meteors approximately 

 diverged was near the stars k- and g, in Gemini. 



No observations were recorded, owing to a cloudy state of the sky, on the 

 shower-meteor nights of the 1st and 2nd of January, 1871. 



6. Meteor-shower of April 20th, 1871. — The last weU-marked appearance 

 of the ApiH meteor-shower, to the annual occurrence of which attention 

 was first drawn by Herrick, in the United States, took place on the morning 

 of the 21st of April, 1863 1, when, for a few hours, meteors were observed 

 by Mr. Wood, at Weston-super-Mare, to be as frequent as in a moderately 

 bright August star-shower. Two Julian intervals of four years each having 

 elapsed since that occurrence, the astronomical conditions of its reappearance 

 suggested special preparations and a simultaneous watch, which were ac- 

 cordingly made for its return. Besides the staflp of observers at the Eoyal 

 Observatory, Greenwich, Mr. Glaisher's son, Mr. James Glaisher, volunteered 

 to take part in the observations at Cambridge, where Professor Adams also 

 offered his aid, to join in recording the shooting-stars which might be visible at 

 the Obsei-vatory. The other observers who awaited the display were those 

 who have most frequently assisted the Committee by their recorded observa- 

 tions at Glasgow, York, Manchester, Birmingham, and London. Such, how- 



* In a quarter of an hour. t. Eeport for 1863, p. 325. 





