On Shooting Stars. 103 
No. 50. Duration five seconds. Velocity thirty six miles per 
second. If we take its apparent diameter the same as that of Jupi- 
ter, its true diameter must have been eighty feet. 
No. 56. This meteor stood in the zenith on the shore of the Bal- 
tic near the Gulf of Riga, and fell ninety six miles almost vertically 
downwards. ‘The distance from Gleiwitz to this place where it 
stood in the zenith is four hundred and eighty miles, and the meteor 
might therefore have been observed from Gleiwitz almost to Lap- 
land; and from Christiansand in Norway to'’Twer in Central Russia. 
Of the thirty six observed courses, twenty six are downwards, 
nine upwards, and one meteor moved horizontally ; thirteen courses 
differed from the lower vertical, less than 45°, fourteen are between 
45° and a horizontal direction, eight between the horizontal direc- 
tion and 135°, and only one inclined still more upward. Of the 
azimuths, nine are situated in the S. E. quadrant, fourteen in the S. 
W., seven in the N. W., and four in the N. KE. These meteors ap- 
pear to be subject to gravity, but at the same time to be impelled by 
some other power, which in some cases was sufficient to communi- 
cate a ditection contrary to gravity. ‘The prevalent direction in azi- 
muth appears to be 55° West from South. For if we class together 
those which fell in the quadrant, in the middle of which 55° West is 
situated, we have fifteen between 10° and 100° W. azimuth, instead 
of which in the opposite quadrant, from 80° to 170° E. only three 
occur; one of the remaining quadrants has seven, the other nine. 
This observation, that notwithstanding the variety of directions, the 
one to the S. W. is predominant, leads us to the question, whether 
this is not merely a relative velocity to the earth which is itself in 
motion. A body actually at rest which the earth met in its course, 
would fall behind us very nearly in the direction which was opposite 
to the motion of the earth; and therefore if we fall in with bodies 
moving in all possible directions, this relative motion will be combin- 
ed with the absolute motion, and the direction of this relative motion 
will be the predominant one of the former moving bodies. 
It is then worth while to calculate the direction in which the earth 
was moving at the time of the preceding observations, and see if it 
agrees with the former direction of 55°W. azimuth. Prof. Brandes 
has made this calculation for each observation, and taking the mean 
of them all so as to allow each one such weight as the number of 
courses determined for the several evenings requires, he finds it to be 
131° 50’ E. from the S. meridian; or the point to which the earth’s 
