On the Meteors of 13th November, 1833. 351 
in full a hypothesis, respecting the cause of the meteors, based on the 
general principles which have been already advanced. . But to pro- 
ceed to a statement of the conditions of the problem. 
It is required so to arrange a system, or cloud, of meteoric bodies 
in an orbit around the sun that it shall, at stated periods, encounter 
the earth; and that the disturbing force of the latter shall draw a 
part of them only from their orbit; and give to them such motions 
as to account— 
Ist. For the appearance of the meteors, in small numbers, early in 
the evening of Nov. 12th; 
2d. For the stationary situation of the radiant, for two hours at 
least, on the morning of the 13th—and tts observed position in the 
heavens ; 
3d. For the change of declination, relatively to a change of lati- 
tude—while the position in right ascension was unvaried ; 
Ath. For a relative velocity of the meteors, of from about 14 to 20 
miles a second ; 
5th. For an eastward motion of the whole meteoric shower, equal 
to the velocity of the earth’s rotation, for a part of the time at least 
of its duration—as observed in different years and places, by Hum- 
boldt, Capt. Parker and Capt. Briggs ; 
6th. For a duration of the meteoric shower, less than a day, at the 
utmost. 
Final Obs. —When we glance back upon all the known circumstan- 
ces of the meteoric shower, the extent and magnitude of the powers in 
exercise fill the mind with wonder. The one body whose flight we 
have been able to calculate, and which moved with such inconceiva- 
ble rapidity, could not have been less—after allowing for the deceitful 
glare of surrounding and enveloping flame—than a hundred feet in 
diameter; and doubtless very many others were as large. ‘The mul- 
titude of bodies was such as no man can venture with confidence to 
limit by numbers; and, had they held on their course unabated for 
three seconds longer, half a continent must, to all appearance, have 
been involved in unheard of calamity. But that Almighty Being who 
made the world, and knew its dangers, gave it also its armature—en- 
dowing the atmospheric medium around it with protecting, no less 
than with life-sustaining properties: and, considered as one of the 
rare and wonderful displays of the Creator’s preserving care, as well 
as the terrible magnitude and power of his agencies, it is not meet 
that such occurrences as those of Nov. 13th, should leave no more 
