214 REPORT — ]875. 



stations where the annual showers of October, November, and December, and 

 of January, April, and August, hare hitherto been observed. 



November, December, and Jamtar)/ Meteor-showers, 1874—75. — In con- 

 sequence of the accumulating number of meteor observations on the annual 

 dates of the periodic shower, observations of the November, December, and 

 other annual meteor-showers of the past year have not been especially 

 solicited ; and the condition of the sky on the returning dates of the above 

 three showers was such that only a widely organized watch could have ob- 

 tained useful particulars of their appearance. The November and January 

 showers were looked for without success from the prevalence of clouds ; and 

 that of the 12th of December, when the circumstances were favourable for 

 its observation, disappointed expectation by an unusual scarcity of the Ge- 

 minids on the periodic night. With a perfectly clear sky, in the absence of 

 moonlight, one meteor only was visible at Newcastle-on-Tj-ne in an interval 

 of 45"" from 11" 30"" to 12" lo"" on the night of the 12th ; and although this 

 small shooting-star was a Geminid, the loss of intensity of the shower since its 

 last periodic return on the 12th of December, 1 873, is very conspicuous and 

 striking. A careful record of the meteors of November and December last 

 was kept, however, by the astronomers of the Toulouse observatory in France, 

 where M. Gruey (' Comptes Eendus,' vol. Ixxs. p. 56) mapped the tracks of a 

 considerable number of meteors in both months. But few meteors, and those 

 generally unconformable to Leo, were seen on the partially cloudy nights of 

 November 12, 13, and during a fine interval of the following night, from 3" 

 to 4" 30"° ; and on the morning of the 15th a greater scarcity even of sporadic 

 meteors prevailed, and not a single shooting-star was visible during a very 

 attentive watch. On the nights of the 10th, 11th, and 12th of December, 

 1874, watch was again kept, and on the first two nights a somewhat plentiful 

 display of meteors was observed. Three observers, watching a quarter of the 

 sky, saw on the night of the 10th 34 meteors in 1" 20"" (average rate of 

 frequency 25 per hour) ; on the night of the 11th, 17 meteors in 35 minutes 

 (or at the rate of 30 per hour) ; while on the night of the 12th 4 meteors 

 only were seen in the first and none in two subsequent watches of 10" each, 

 in which the clouds cleared away sufficiently to leave the sky unobscured. 

 The majority of these meteors were conformable to a radiant-point near 

 which (at K. A. 130°, Decl. -f- 4G=) one of great brightness on the 10th 

 appeared stationary ; and although this place differs considerably from the 

 usual direction of divergence of the Geminids of this shower, and from the 

 place of its centre observed by M. Tisserand in December 1873 (' Comptes 

 Eendus,' 1873, December 15), yet the general emanation of the meteor-tracks 

 recorded from about this point was very apparent ; and as an average 

 radiant-centre of the 11 meteors mapped on the 10th, 7 on the 11th, and 

 2 on the night of the 12th (or 20 shooting-stars in all), it was very di- 

 stinctly marked. Several radiant-positions by other observers, closely adjacent 

 to it, wiU be found in Greg's general list (1874), No. 175. As regards their 

 brightness, the following numbers represent the total of each description 

 which were visible throughout the watch : — 



Apparent brightness 1st mag. 2nd do. 3rd do. Total. 



and under. 

 No.of meteors seen in 2'> 25°>... 18 9 28 55 



M. Gruey suggests (and the conjecture weU deserves further trial and 

 corroboration) that the radiant-point of the December shower is multiple, and 

 that his new position of it is a special one, which was very perceptible on 

 this occasion. 



