396 REPORT— 1873. 



Meteors of September Ist, 1873. — Quite an abundance of bright meteors 

 (as communicated by Mr. J. E. Clark) was seen at Street, Somersetshire, on 

 the night of the 1st of September, 1873. Nine meteors, some of them very- 

 fine ones, were seen between 11'' and 12'' p.m., mostly in the south; but the 

 directions of their apparent paths were not noted with sufficient accuracy to 

 determine the place of their radiant-point, or if aU the meteors of the display 

 diverged very definitely from a common centre. 



IV. Papers relating to Meteoric Astronomy. 



The discussions relating to the second great star-shower in November, now 

 known to be connected with Biela's comet, occupy the principal place of in- 

 terest among the various published papers on meteoric astronomy during the 

 past year. In the Reports of this Committee for the years 1868 (p. 399) and 

 1869 (p. 305), the communications of Professors d' Arrest and Galle on the con- 

 nexion of certain comets with meteor-showers are briefly abstracted from two 

 Numbers (1633 and 1635) of the 'Astronomische Nachrichten ' of the month of 

 March, 1867 (the same apparent connexions having already been announced 

 by Dr. Weiss, of Vienna, in the next preceding No. 1632 of the same Journal), 

 with some errors and omissions which require correction. The star-shower 

 indicated by d' Arrest dififers entirely from the principal December star-shower 

 of December llth-13th, there supposed to be signified, whose radiant-point 

 is between the constellations Gemini and Auriga. That indicated by Prof, 

 d' Arrest is a star- shower, having a more north-westerly radiant-point in 

 Andromeda, appearing in the British Association list of 1868 as A^^ (Nov. 23- 

 Dec. 18), connected perhaps with A^^^ j^ of an earUer date, and in Dr. 

 Heis's list of the year 1867 * as A,g and Xj, in the latter half of November and 

 beginning of December, whose positions are all in or near the constellation 

 Cassiopeia. It is pointed out by Prof, d' Arrest that meteoric showers having 

 this direction occurred on the following dates : — 



which may be supposed to be connected with the passages of the earth through 

 the node of the orbit of Biela's comet. On the last of these dates the position 

 of the radiant-point was found by Plaugergues ia Prance, and Herrick in the 

 United States to be near Cassiopeia, at about 30°, -|-40° for the former, and 

 in less R. A. and greater declination for the latter observer's estimate of its 

 position. 



In ' Nature ' of Jan. 16th, 1873, Mr. T. W. Webb thus recalls some excel- 

 lent observing-notes of that star-shower, which he formerly reported with 

 many similar notes to the late Professor Baden Powell : — " 1838, Dec. 7. 

 A great number of faUiug stars were observed between 6** and 7'' p.m. In 

 about half an hour 40 were counted, sometimes by one, sometimes by two, 

 sometimes by three observers, two at a medium. They were of all magni- 

 tudes up to the first. The larger dissolved into a train of light, but left no 

 train behind them. The S. and W. quarters were chiefly observed, but their 

 prevalence seemed to be universal. They all feU in nearly a vertical direc- 

 tion ; but those in the N.W. and S.E. quarters inclined towards S.W. [i. e. the 

 radiant-point was not far from the place occupied by it in November 1872]. 

 The colours of the more conspicuous ones seemed to verge towards orange. 

 Their courses were of no great length. There was at the same time a pale 



* Asffonomische Nachrichten, No. 1642. See end of this Beport. 

 t These Eeports, 1852, p. 185. 



