370 On the Meteors of 13th November. 



have described ; and about the time when the morning light was be- 

 ginning to make the fainter phenomena invisible, I could observe ma- 

 ny of a faint but decided green. 



There was a point a few degrees south and east of the zenith, 

 which was evidently the directrix of all the apparent motions ; and 

 every luminous body, without exception, of those associated in the 

 phenomenon, obeyed a regimen in relation to that point, which was 

 such that every line and track of motion if continued backward, 

 would have passed, as nearly as the eye could discern, through that 

 soecific point. In the vicinity of that point, a few star-like botlies 

 were observed possessing very little motion and leaving very little 

 length of trace ; but, in their aspect, such as if a small nebula had 

 softly swelled out from the heavens, gently elongated in its figure, 

 and then as gently subsided. Farther off the motions were more 

 rapid and the traces longer ; and most rapid of all and longest in 

 their trace, were those which originated but a few degrees above the 

 horizon and descended down to it. In these, the aspect might be 

 compared to that of flaming sparks driven swiftly athwart the sky by 

 a strong wind. 



The position in the heavens of the point which I have described, 

 might have been determined with much nicety by an attention de- 

 voted exclusively to that determination ; but in the variety of as- 

 pects which solicited notice, I did in fact only make a rapid and 

 general determination ; the result of which was to place it between 

 the stars in the breast and shoulders, and those in the head of the 

 Lion. As a definite point, I should select as near the truth a small 

 star in the Lion's neck, which I find on the celestial globe at the bi- 

 section of a line from s to y, and also nearly at the bisection of a line 

 from jjo to ^ of that constellation ; and I should call the time of the obser- 

 vation half past five o'clock mean time. This point then lay at about 

 the elevation of the magnetic pole, but too far east of the meridian. I 

 trust that some one who had earlier and better opportunity for accu- 

 rate observation, m^ay have made the same determination with pre- 

 cision. This point, of which mention has been made, cannot be sup- 

 posed to have been a real part of space from which the luminous 

 bodies actually proceeded, but the vanishing point of sight for mo- 

 tions which were truly or nearly parallel. If a multitude of bodies 

 moving in parallel directions had entered the earth's atmosphere 

 from that quarter of the heavens which has been pointed out, and be- 

 come luminous by contact with the atmosphere, and had been dissi- 

 pated by motions through it, they must have presented the appar- 

 ent motions, very nearly, if not exactly, as those which I observed. 

 The supposition is not suggested as a possible explanation of the facts, 

 but as a guide to the conceptions of such as did not witness the 

 phenomena, and may desire to have a clear idea of what they were. 

 For, in the case supposed, if any luminous body were moving di- 



