406 On the Meteors of I3th JVovember. 



earlier. It maintained the same relative position in regard to Gamma 

 Leonis during the vvhole time of observation, that is, till the light of 

 day obscured the meteors, a space of about two hours. I am confi- 

 dent if it had moved five degrees, in any direction, I should have 

 observed it, as my attention was, for various reasons, fixed upon 

 that point. It was to the north and west of Gamma Leonis, and by 

 reference to the celestial globe would not have been, when on the 

 meridian, more than 15 degrees south of the zenith. 



"The words 'probable proximity,' occurring in my letter, (see p* 

 374.) referred to the possibility of the meteors being within our at- 

 mosphere ; the phenomenon, if at ail explicable, seeming to me 

 more easily so, iflhe theatre of action could be located near us. It 

 "is needless to add, that my supposition is wholly untenable, when op- 

 posed by the inferences you deduce from the stationary position of 

 the radiant, — inferences which did not strike me at the lime, and 

 which are therefore perhaps felt with greater force at present." 



Mr. Scott, of Providence, (who wrote an anonymous description 

 of the phenomenon in the Providence Journal, but whose testimony 

 we have been able to obtain from Professor Caswell,) " thinks that 

 it was at least half an hour before the disappearance of the meteors, 

 that he fixed the position of the radiant point. During that interval, 

 it did not sensibly vary with respect to the stars." 



Mr. John L. Riddell, of Worthingion, (O.) author of the descrip- 

 tion on page 377, in a letter of Dec. 21, observes : " It first occurred 

 to me to determine the location of the point from which the meteors 

 seemed to radiate, a little before 5 o'clock. At 5, the Right Ascen- 

 sion of this point was near 149°, and its Declination 21° 45'.* 

 Twenty minutes later, the R. A. was about 151°, Dec. 21° 30', 

 nearly. From this time, until the exhibition was rendered invisible 

 by the light of day, the center of radiation seemed to retain nearly 

 the same place in the heavens, moving westward with the fixed stars. 

 Those who saw this phenomenon very early, assert that the stars 

 seemed to shoot down from the zenith ; but I do not place much re- 

 liance upon these accounts. f 



* Therefore a little west of Gamma Leonis, not Delta, as mentioned on p. 377. 



t la reply to certain other queries submitted to him, Mr. R. remarks: "I have 

 regretted that it was not in my power to make magnetic observations at the time ; 

 though I do not believe terrestrial magnetism had any influence. In regard to a 

 luminous body, mentioned by your correspondents of the Western Reserve, as seen 

 in the north-west, I cannot learn that it was observed at this place. A little before 



