350 Star-Showers of Former 7'imes. 



This at first view appears to be a very clear case, but its re- 

 semblance to an instance mentioned in the Catalogue of Bolides, 

 &c. observed in China, (Abel-Remusat, Jour, de Phys. 1819,) 

 which reads thus — " 687 ansavant J. C* * les etoiles ne parois- 

 soient pas, * * il toniba une etoile en forme de plide^'' — induces 

 the suspicion that the Chinese annalist may mean to state only 

 the appearance of a single meteor which exploded into fragments. 

 See note under No. (6.) 



(3.) A. D. 7. " In the thirty sixth year of his reign, [i. e. of 

 Synin who began to reign in the year of Synmu 632, before 

 Christ 29 years,] it rain'd Stars from Heaven, in Japan." — Hist. 

 of Japan, by Engelb. Kcempfer, M. />., trans, by J. G. Scheuch- 

 zer, London, 1728, folio, Vol. 1, p. 162.* 



(4.) A. D. 532. "In the same year [A. D. 532] there hap- 

 pened a great chasing of stars from evening until morning, so 

 that every one was amazed, and cried out — The stars are falling ! 

 We never knew any thing like it !" 



" TuJ (5' oijiw £TEi jffti (iarE^ajy yeyovs dgof^og nolvg and saneQag sug av- 

 yovg- wars nuvzag sxnhJTTsadai, aal Xiyeiv, on ol aariqeg Tilmovai, icul ovx 

 ol'8a/uev noxE roiovro nqayna.'''' — Thecplianis Chronogvaphia : Hist. By- 

 zant. Script. Corp. ed. Venct. fol. 1729, torn. 6, p. 126. 



The following account of the same event is given by Cedre- 

 nus : " In the same year there was a great running of stars, so 

 that all were astonished, and exclaimed — See ! the stars are fall- 

 ing ! We don't know what is to happen." — Geo. Cedreni Comp. 

 Hist. ; Hist. Byz. Sc. Corp. torn. 7, p. 292. — Stated also in Jo. 

 Malaise Chronog. 1. 18, p. 477, cons. B. G. Niehbuhr, Bounce, 8vo. 

 1838. 



This is the shower referred to A. D. 533, in Chladni's Feuer- 

 Meteore, p. 88.1 



* In the same work are the two following accounts, which may perhaps relate 

 to meteoric showers. 



A. D. 11. " In the 40th )'ear of his reign, [i. e. of Synin,] on a clear and se- 

 rene day, there arose of a sudden in China, a violent storm of thunder and light- 

 ning : Comets, Fiery-Dragons and uncommon Meteors appeared in the Air, and it 

 rain d fire from Heaven." p. 163. 



A.D. 771. " In the second year of his reign, [i. e. of Koonin.] there liappened 

 a storm of thunder and lightning dreadful beyond expression. It rained fire from 

 Heaven, like stars, and the air was filled with a frightful noise." p. 175. 



t In E. H. Burritt's Geography of the Hcavc7is, (5th ed. 1838, 12mo.) p. 161, it 

 is said that " as early as the year 472, in the month of November, a phenomenon 

 of this kind [a shower of shooting stars] took place near Constantinople. As Theo- 

 phanes relates, ' the sky appeared to be on fire with the coruscations of the flying 

 meteors.' " This is a mistake. It was a shower of volcanic dust from Vesuvius. 



