A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. , 398 
like small swarms of gnats. They seemed to start from a point in the south, 
and emanated thence in all directions. He even saw some crossing in front 
of the sun’s disk when it was still low upon the horizon. Other persons, to 
whom it was pointed out, also witnessed the phenomenon. It appears to have 
been most brilliant at about 8" 30" a.m.; after 9" a.w. nothing further was 
perceived. 
« ¢ At Calmav* in Sweden,’ according to the ‘ Ostsee Zeitung,’ ‘ an un- 
usually brilliant star-shower was observed; early in the morning, the Cal- 
marsund was lighted up by thousands of falling meteors.’ ” 
Among the preparations for the display in 1867, a partially successful 
attempt was made, on the occasion of this return of the November meteors, 
by M. W. de Fonvielle to surmount the clouds, and to view the shower, at 
Paris, in Mr. Giffard’s “ captive balloon.” Although the experiment was not 
carried out on the night of the 13th—14th of November, a still more adven- 
turous voyage, in a free balloon filled with pure hydrogen gas, and lent by 
Mr. Giffard for the purpose, was commenced at Paris, under the guidance of 
the same practical observer, M. de Fonvielle, accompanied by M. Jules Go- 
dard as aéronaut, and M. A. V. Weyenberch, shortly before midnight on 
the following evening, and terminated at daybreak on the coast of Bel- 
gium. A star-chart, a telescope, a barometer, and other instruments for 
observation were taken up; and although the height attained did not exceed 
a few thousand feet, a clear atmosphere was reached, and observations were 
obtained of several shooting-stars not visible to observers on the earth’s 
surface. 
Although the attempt to establish a floating observatory for observing the 
meteoric display on the morning of the 14th of November last was obliged to 
be abandoned, yet the experiment of the following night successfully proved 
that the hindrance of clouds to the observation of shooting-stars can be re- 
moyed by means of balloon ascents on rare and important occasions of their 
appearance. scents in balloons for scientific purposes, if arranged to take 
place by night on the periodical star-shower dates of the 10th of August and 
14th of November, might, on account of the extensive horizon visible from 
such a great elevation, be the means of tracing to their origin in distant me- 
teors the unaccountable flashes of light “like distant lightning” which, 
however clear and fine the weather may be, are so often visible during the 
appearance of a meteoric shower. 
III. Papers pearrmne on Mereoric Astronomy. 
Among the discussions of interest in this branch of observation, the pro- 
bable connexion of comets and shower-meteors was first reduced nearly to 
a certainty by the publication of M. G. V. Schiaparelli’s letters to Father 
rey in the Bullettino Meteorologico del Collegio Romano, vol. v. Nos. 8, 
men, 12. 
In the first letter, M. Schiaparelli communicates some observations on the 
August meteors of the years 1863 and 1866, made at Milan, to which (in a 
later letter) he applies the name of “ Perseids” from the constellation which 
usually contains their centre of divergence. A comparison of the ayerage 
horary increase in the frequency of meteors, throughout the year, from even- 
ing until daybreak, with a mathematical formula for the same variation in 
terms of their velocity, leads M. Schiaparelli in his opening letter to con- 
* N. lat. 56° 39', E. long. 16° 20'; opposite to the Island of Oland ; not far from Carl- 
scrona, at the southern extremity of Sweden. 
1868, 25 
