A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 397 
A remarkable discovery was made shortly after these announcements, on 
the publication (Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 1624) by Oppolzer, of the 
_ corrected elements of the Comet I. 1866, that the orbit of the comet coin- 
cides almost perfectly with the long elliptic orbit of the November meteors 
haying a period of 33-25 years. The note of Mr. Peters, dated January the 
29th, is in the same No. 1624 of the ‘ Astronomische Nachrichten ;’ and those of 
Oppolzer and Schiaparelli, announcing the same discovery, are in an imme- 
diately following Number (1626) of the same Journal. In ‘ Les Mondes’ for 
the 21st of February (2nd ser. vol. xiii. p. 287), and in Father Secchi’s 
Bullettino Meteorologico for the last day of February 1867 (vol. vi. No. 2), 
there appeared additional letters of M. Schiaparelli on the subject of this 
second newly found connexion between comets and meteoric showers. 
In that addressed to ‘ Les Mondes’ *, a convincing comparison of the ele- 
ments ot the two orbits is thus given by M. Schiaparelli, viz. :— 
Elements of the Orbits of the November Meteors, and of Comet I. 
(1866.) 1866. 
Passage through the 9........ Noy. 13:57 
3 ce perihelion. . Noy. 10-092 Jan. 11:160 
Long. of the perihelion........ 56° 25'-9 60° 28':0 
» ee ly A SEs ds dan stoicls 231° 28'-2 231° 26!-1 
WIARTON. 15 5 ake "p Si s)alinym apart > « 17° 44'°5 17° 18"1 
Perihelion distance .......... 0:9873 0-9765 
RPERETIGIGY ats pgiale tack <9 0 09046 0-9054 
BemiaAxiIS MAjOr.., «6.6 0k soar 10-340 10°324 
Periodic time of revolution .... 33-250 yrs. 33°176 yrs. 
. TR A oe eer San eee retrograde. retrograde. 
To establish the reality of this resemblance, it was desirable to place beyond 
a doubt the assumed correctness of the long elliptic orbit of the November 
meteors with a periodic time of 33-25 years. The researches of Professor 
Adams, with this object in view, which appeared in the ‘ Monthly Notices of 
the Royal Astronomical Society ’ for March 1867, are thus noticed by Prof. H. 
A. Newton +, by whom the importance of this inquiry was first pointed out, in 
a paper noticed in these Reports (for 1864, p. 96) on “ the original accounts 
of the displays in former times of the November Star-showers, and the pro- 
bable orbit of the group of bodies around the Sun.’ 
“It was shown some time ago (this Journal, IT. xxxviii. 57) that the pe- 
riodic time of the November meteors must be one of five accurately determined 
periods. These five periods were 180-0 days, 185-4 days, 354-6 days, 376°6 
days, and 33°25 years. The longitude of the node was also shown to increase 
with respect to the ecliptic 1’-711 in a year, which is equivalent to a procession 
with respect to the fixed stars of 29' in a cycle of 33-25 years. It was also 
suggested that by computing the secular motion of the node for each one of 
the five possible orbits, and by comparing it with the observed motion, we 
have an apparently simple means of deciding which of the five orbits is the 
true one. 
“Soon after the remarkable display of the meteors in November of last 
_ year {, Prof. Adams undertook the examination of this question. Taking 
_ first the orbit corresponding to a periodic time of 354:6 days, he found that 
the action of Jupiter produces an annual increase of the longitude of the node 
equal to 6”, and that of Venus an annual increase equal to 5”. The action 
* Dated at Milan, the 2nd of February. 
t American Journal of Science, 2nd ser. vol. xliv. p. 127. 
[t 1866, Nov. 13-14.] 
