392 Miscellanies. 



VI. Observations at Randolph Macon" College, Virginia. 

 By Prof. R. Tolefree, (communicated in a letter to the writer of 

 this article.) 



"On the night of the 12-13th November, three of the students^ 

 and myself prepared to watch all night. The sky was serene and 

 all was calm. About ten o'clock meteors began to appear. The 

 first distinguished for its brilliancy, started from the lower part of the 

 Little Bear and proceeded to the southwest. After midnight until 

 two o'clock,, all the meteors shot westward ; and from two o'clock 

 until day break their course was entirely north west. We only 

 watched occasionally during the night, and only on the northern side 

 of the heavens, except an occasional visit to the other parts of the 

 building.* I counted two hundred and forty eight shooting starsy 

 and my companions saw a larger number than this. You may safely 

 conclude that five hundred were seen by us, and this from observa- 

 tions kept up only at intervals during the night." 



VII. Observations made in South Carolina. From the Charles^ 

 ton Courier of Nov. 25. 



''Greenville, Nov. 19th.-^We learn that the people in the neigh- 

 borhood of Maybinton, Newbury District, witnessed the fall of an 

 immense nnmber of meteors, which first made their appearance 

 about twelve o'clock on Saturday night last, and continued their de- 

 scent until daylight the next morning. It is said their number was 

 not near so great as that of the " Falling Stars" three years since ;- 

 but the spectacle is represented as having been very brilliant and 

 unusual." 



From the foregoing accounts compared, we are led to conclude 

 that the meteoric shower increased in intensity from north to south, 

 that of South Carolina having been the most considerable of all, so 

 far as accounts have reached us. 



Does not the recurrence of this phenomenon for six successive 

 years at the same period of the year, plainly show its connexion 

 with the progress of the earth in its orbit ? and does not the fact that 

 the greatest display occurs every where in places differing widely in 

 longitude, at the same hour of the day, as plainly indicate its con- 

 nexion with the motion of the earth on its axis ? The supposition 

 of a body in space, consisting of an immense collection of meteors^ 



* Had Prof. Tolefree taken his station where his view of the firmament would 

 have been unobstructed, he would probably have seen a stillgreater number shoot- 

 ing to the southwest. 



