Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 51 



Mr. Boye further stated, that he hoped to be soon able to give a farther 

 account of this substance; of the way in which it is obtained, and of 

 some other similar reactions, which they are now engaged in studying. 



Mr. Vaughan exhibited from M. Alexandre Vattemare, a fac simile of 

 an original grant by Charles of England to William Penn ; and also a 

 fac simile of a deed of sale, by William Penn, of 20,000 acres of land, 

 for 800 pounds sterling ; the original deed being in Penn's hand-writing. 



Mr. Walker made an oral communication on the subject of the August 

 shower of meteors. 



These meteors returned this year on the 9th instant, and were observed 

 at the High School Observatory, by Mr. Walker, as well as by Messrs. 

 Forshey, of Louisiana, and Hamilton, of this city. The evenings of the 

 10th and 11th, being partly cloudy, and the moon nearly full, no obser- 

 vations were made. The evening of the 9th, however, was distinguished 

 by all the peculiarities hitherto noticed in the August period. The fol- 

 lowing table exhibits a classification of the meteors from memoranda, 

 concerning each meteor, made at the time of its appearance. 



From an inspection of the table, Mr. Walker remarked, it will readily 

 appear, that these meteors differ from ordinary shooting stars, in their 

 greater brilliancy, longer apparent paths, and the greater duration of their 

 trains. Their most important peculiarity, however, is the tendency of 

 their apparent paths towards a common point of convergence in the celes- 

 tial sphere, or in other words, their apparent divergence from a common 

 radiant point near the head of Perseus. 



The existence of a common -radiant point near y Leonis, for the great 

 display of meteors, November 12th, 1833, was noticed by Messrs. Olm- 

 sted, Twining, Aiken, Riddell, and others. The same may be inferred 

 from the descriptions of Humboldt and Ellicott, in 1799; of Briggs, and 

 others, in 1832; and it has been manifest in every return of the Novem- 

 ber shower witnessed since. 



