MisceUanies. 395 



I can account for this great and rapid change of place in the Zo- 

 diacal Light, a change which is unlike any it sustains at any other 

 period of the year, only by supposing, that on or about the 13th of 

 November it comes very near to us, and that we pass rapidly by it, 

 thus giving it a great parallactic motion, an effect which is in perfect 

 accordance with all our previous conclusions. 



According to this view of the subject, the Zodiacal Light would 

 no longer he regarded as a portion of the sun's atmosphere, hut as 

 a nehulous or cometary hody, revolving around the sun ivithin the 

 earth's orhit, nearly in the plane of the solar equator, approaching, 

 at times, very near to the earth, and having a periodic time of either 

 one year, or half a year, nearly. 



Such, 1 affirm, would be the fact, should the Zodiacal Light be 

 proved to be the body which affords the meteoric showers. 



Yale College, Dec. 19, 1836. ' 



2. Proceedings of the Maryland Academy of Science and Lit- 

 erature, 1836. March 3. — Donations of various books for the Libra- 

 ry were received from Prof. Ducatel and Mr. Alexander ; a diagram 

 of the human eye from Mr. Green ; a map shewing the connection 

 of the Baltimore and Ohio rail road, with other rail roads projected 

 and completed, from Mr, Fisher. — Specimens were received for the 

 Cabinet, from Mr. J. Tyson, jr., chrome ore, in a matrix said to be 

 feldspar ; from Mr. P. T. Tyson, a large specimen of Asbestos, va- 

 riety Amianthus, obtained at the intersection of the Susquehanna 

 rail road with the Gunpowder river ; from Mrs. E. Geddings, a col- 

 lection of Southern plants. — Dr. T. Edmondson, jr. reported a mete- 

 orological table for February, 1836 — referred to the section of Phy- 

 sics, &c. — A list of minerals was submitted by Prof. Ducatel, at the 

 request of the Consul General of France, which the government of 

 that country is desirous to obtain — referred to the section of Mine- 

 ralogy. — Don Ramon della Lagea, of Spain, and F. R. Hassler, of 

 Washington, were elected honorary members. 



March 10. — Donations of American insects were received from 

 Mr. Hazlehurst, and of Chinese insects from Mr. Fitzgerald, which 

 were both referred to the section of Zoology. — Mr. P. T. Tyson, 

 from the section of Mineralogy, reported that the specimen of 

 chrome ore, referred to that section at the last meeting, is in a matrix 

 of magnesian carbonate of lime, the proper title of the mineral being 

 ferro-oxide of chrome in magnesian carbonate of lime. Mr. Tyson also 

 reported that some of the minerals required by the French Consul 



