On the Origin of Shooting Stars. 875 



meteor was equal to Venus at her brightest here ; and I ought to mention that Ve- 

 nus here casts a strong shadow, in which all the most minute parts of objects, as 

 the leaves of trees, &c. are perfectly well distinguished, not only against the white 

 wall of a house, but on the ground. You may be sure that I shall look out again 

 next 13th and 14th of November, should I still be here ; though I can hardly sup- 

 pose the thing to be more than an accidental coincidence : however, I have seen 

 no considerable meteor since." " 



By the side of Sir John Herschel's observations, I am happy to 

 place the following accounts of the same phenomenon as witnessed 

 at several places in our own country. They were transmitted to me 

 soon after the occurrence, and would sooner have been given to the 

 public, through the medium of this Journal, but for want of room. 



1. From Mr. Frederick Merrick.* 



" Amenia Seminary, Avienia, Dutchess Co. New York, Nov. 18, 1835. 

 " To Professor Olmsted, — 



"Sir, — On the morning of the 14th instant, I observed a slight exhibition of 

 meteors, very much resembling those of 1833, although the number of meteors 

 was comparatively small. From the time when I first observed them, imtil they 

 were lost in the light of the sun, a period of only fifteen minutes, judging from the 

 number which fell in that part of the heavens to which I directed my attention, I 

 think they must have fallen at the rate of about six or eight per minute, although 

 at one time I counted seven within the space of about half a minute; so that had 

 they fallen equally fast Ih all parts of the heavens, they must, at that time, have 

 fallen at the rate of not less than fifty per minute. Some were quite brilliant, 

 though none remarkably so. They evidently radiated from a point not far from 

 the constellation Leo, although I was unable to fix the point with any considerable 

 degree of accuracy." 



2. From Professor John Mc Caffrey, Vice President of Mount 

 St. Mary's College, Maryland, dated November 24, 1835. 



" Professor Olmsted, — 



"Dear Sir, — In this district of country, the morning of the 13th was cloudy, 

 and of course no return of the meteoric phenomenon of 1833 could be discovered. 

 On the morning of the 14th, which was very clear, I observed, from a window 

 in my room, the eastern portion of the heavens, from about five o'clock until day 

 light. During this time I noticed the descent of seven meteors, which seemed to 

 me to fall towards the earth at angles with the horizon of 70° or less. They all 

 appeared to me to proceed from the vicinity of the constellation Leo; and one of 

 them, which was very bright, and admitted of more satisfactory observation, 

 seemed to start from a point in the heavens not far from the radiant point of the 

 meteors seen on the 13th November, 1833 ; — in other words, it fell in a line which, 

 produced upwards, would terminate in or near Gamma Leonis. 



" A laboring man, living at this Institution, has informed me, that being up ear- 

 lier than 4 o'clock on that morning, he witnessed a very brilliant, and quite unusu- 



* Mr. Merrick made some very good observations on the meteors of Nov. 13, 

 1833, at Middletown, Conn, being then a member of the Wesleyan University. 

 (American Journal, XXVI, 340.) 



