8G ■ NOVEMBER METEORS. 



the Madras Observatory; and it is simple justice to add, that the very 

 considerable labour he has bestowed upon them was undertaken from 

 pure attachment to science, and was accomplished solely in his leisure 

 hours, without the slightest aid or advice from any onOi The informa- 

 tion aiforded in his tabular results is all that can be required or desired 

 for the prediction of the various phenomena of the eclipse.' " "We 

 gather from the same Journal that none of the reports yet received from 

 India, of the total eclipse of the sun in August last, describe a perfect 

 observation, as the monsoon was blowing at the time and clouds covered 

 the sky. At some of the stations, however, there were breaks in the 

 clouds, through which glimpses of the sun and moon were obtained, 

 photographs were taken, and spectoscopic observations. Major Ten- 

 nant, one of the observers, concludes, from what he saw, that the 

 atmosphere of the sun is mainly of non-luminous or faintly-luminous 

 gas at a short distance from the limb of the sun. And Captain Haig 

 describes the red protuberances as " streaked flames," 



NOVEMBER METEORS. 



We make the following extract from a communication of Professor 



Kingston to the Toronto Globe: 



The total number during the night just completed will be found to have 

 exceeded that of Novembei* 13th and 14th, 1867. With the exception of about 

 one per cent., the courses of the meteors were in directions /rom the constellation 

 of Leo ; most of them were accompanied by trains, and in several cases the track 

 remained visible from two to four minutes after the disappearance of the meteor. 

 The majority of the meteors, particularly in the early part of the night, were 

 extremely brilliant, and several exhibited a variety of colours. The apparent 

 superiority of this recent display was owing to the remarkably clear state of the 

 sky during the greater part of the night, and the absence of moonlight; whereas 

 in 186*7 the sky was overcast till 1, a.m., and subsequently, when the clouds had 

 partially or wholly disajjpeared, the visibility of the meteors were greatly im- 

 paired by haze and bright moonlight. But for these causes the total number 

 recorded last year would probably have been three times as great as in 1868. 



Number of Meteors counted at the Mapietic Observatory, Toronto, on the nights of 

 November 18, 14, 1867, 1868: 



Before midnight, 



Midnight to 1 a. m. of November 14, 



Total, , 2.286 2,486 



