374 On the Origin of Shooting Stars. 



Dr. Wright, of Ohio, given in this Journal, (Vol. XXVII. p. 419.) 

 upon whose authority alone we until now rested our knowledge of a 

 repetition of the meteoric shower as far back as the year 1831. 



"Nov^ember 13th, 1831, (says M. Berard,) at 4 o'clock in the morning, the sky- 

 was perfectly pure, and the dew very copious. We had seen a considerable num- 

 ber of shooting stars and luminous meteors of great size. During three hours 

 there fell on an average, two per minute. One of these meteors which appear- 

 ed in the zenith, leaving an enormous train, extending from east to west, presented 

 us with a very large zone, equal in diameter to half the breadth of the moon, and 

 exhibiting several colors of the rainbow. A trace of it remained visible more 

 than six minutes. We were then on the coast of Spain, near Carthagena." 



All accounts received respecting the recurrence of the meteoric 

 shower last November agree in this — that it was on the morning of 

 the 14th and not on the 13th as usual. The London Athenaeum 

 for Feb. 27, 1836, contains the following notice of the observations 

 of Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope. 



"Annual Meteoric Phenom&non. — Our transatlantic brethren have, for the 

 last two or three years, indulged us with accounts of some most extraordinary 

 meteoric appearances that have taken place in America about the middle of the 

 month of November of each year, and generally on the same day. The phenom- 

 enon in question consists of a most brilliant display in the heavens of a great 

 quantity of that class of meteors called shooting stars, which, during the whole of 

 the night above alluded to, keep up a constant discharge, and illuminate the whole 

 hemisphere. The most remarkable circumstance, however, attending this affair 

 is, that the phenomenon always occurs on or about the same day of the month, and 

 that the direction of the meteors is generally the same, which has induced many 

 persons to imagine that it is connected with some extraneous body revolving about 

 our globe (?) Mr. Bailly, in the course of his correspondence with Sir John 

 Herschel, noticed these remarkable statements, and requested Sir John to notice 

 any remarkable appearance of the kind that might occur during his residence at 

 the Cape of Good Hope. The following is an extract from a letter which Mr. 

 Bailly has just received from thaf distinguished philosopher. "In all my sweeps 

 in November, I was on the look out for shooting stars, viz. on the 10th, 11th, 13th, 

 14th, and 18th. On the 13th, and especially on the day mentioned in your letter, 

 I told Stone (my assistant) to keep a sharp look out for them; his attention being 

 disengaged whilst I was occupied at the telescope. He saw none. On the 14th I 

 still desired him to keep watch for them. The sweep commenced at hours, sid- 

 eral time, and we went on from 4A. 8m. without his or my noticing any. At 4A. 

 8m. 195. sideral time, he called out, ' There goes the largest I ever saw.' It fell in 

 azimuth north about one half west perdendicularly. At 4A. 42m. 595. he cried out 

 again for another great one. This fell north about two points east, not quite ver- 

 tical, but rather inclining eastward. This was as large, he said, as Jupiter. At 

 4A. 46?}i. 395. another great one falling east of Jupiter, and still more obliquely, 

 elicited another call. At 4A. 53m. 595. I absolutely started from the eye-piece of 

 the telescope, at the glare of a superb one, which fell about 20° azimuth west of 

 south, obliquely. Stone thought that it lightened, though his back was to it, and 

 it was hid from him by trees. It left a narrow, vivid, and distinctly crooked train, 

 which lasted twenty seconds, and admitted of being distinctly contemplated. This 



