On the Meteors of 13th November, 1833. 323 
The accounts of the meteoric shower, which dated its commence- 
ment at 11 P. M. and which ascribed to it a progressive increase 
ull an hour or two before day light, were numerous and_ high- 
ly credible ; but, without referring to them more particularly we may 
infer safely, that the meteoric shower commenced about 9 o'clock P. M. 
on the evening of Nov. 12th; that it became remarkable at 11 ; came 
to its maximum at 4 or half past 4 A. M., and was concealed from 
view by the day light at’ 7. The time of the maximum was placed very 
uniformly at 4 A. M. ; but the writer has observed in all persons who 
describe the morning phenomena a tendency to place events earlier 
than the true time of occurrence. For this reason it may be sus- 
pected that the maximum took place about half past 4 A. M. 
This meteoric shower, to say the least, was vast in its extension. 
It has been traced already, in one direction, from the North Ameri- 
can lakes to the middle of the gulf of Mexico; and, in the other, from 
long. 61° on the Atlantic to Central Mexico—long. 100°. ‘There 
is nothing which makes it probable that these limits approach the ex- 
treme boundaries of the shower excepting on the south and, possibly, 
on the east. Through this whole region, the extreme south except- 
ed, the general appearances were every wherealike. ‘The incessant 
and active motions which prevailed in the sky it cannot now be 
doubted were every where directed, whether the fact was observed 
or not, along the ares of great circles having a common intersection. 
At a certain distance from the point of intersection, the paths were 
long and the angular motions rapid; nearer to that point the paths 
were shorter and the motions less rapid, till, in the immediate vicinity 
of that point, the paths were so short and the motions so gentle as 
only to excite the conception ofa little elliptical cloud, or nebulous star, 
softly swelling out from the heavens, and subsiding. The point it- 
self, as will be imagined from the preceding description, was a cen- 
tre of divergence for apparent motions; from which centre the luminous 
lines left upon the sky, by meteors shooting in its vicinity, appeared to 
radiate; and in consequence it has been termed, not inaptly, the ra- 
diant: at or near the very point, itwas not uncommon that spectators 
noticed, now and then, a bright spot or a star perfectly stationary for 
the brief period of itscontinuance. Mr. J. N. Palmer, who viewed 
this radiant with great attention at different times from two o’clock 
till morning, is positive that he distinguished, at an early hour, a cir- 
cular or elliptical space surrounding it of perhaps, at first, three times 
the moon’s diameter and towards morning, three times larger still ; 
Vou. XXVI.—No. 2. 42 
