Miscellanies. 379 



1. The Zodiacal Light was unusually conspicuous at the time of 

 the great meteoric shower, and for some months following ; it was 

 less conspicuous at the corresponding season ia 1S34, and has been 

 still less so in 1835. 



2. It changes from the morning to the evening sky about the 13th 

 of November, (indicating that the earth passes by it or through it,) 

 being for a considerable time after that period seen on both sides of 

 the sun, and subtending so great an angle as to indicate that it is 

 very near the earth. 



3. At other times it varies its apparent dimensions exceedingly, 

 sometimes expanding to a length of nearly one hundred and fifty de- 

 grees, and at other times shrinking so as to be hidden in the twi- 

 light ; and there is some reason to believe, (although more accurate 

 and multiplied observations are wanting to decide the point abso- 

 lutely,) that these variations, in apparent magnitude and brightness, 

 correspond to the appearances which the supposed nebulous body 

 would present at the corresponding periods, being in inferior conjunc- 

 tion when the zodiacal light is largest, and in superior when it is small- 

 est. Thus, the rapid changes of position which the zodiacal light 

 undergoes about the 13th of November — its great elongation and 

 retrograde movements, in January, when it ought to be in inferior 

 conjunction — its rapid direct movements a few days afterwards — and 

 its total disappearance about the middle of May, when the supposed 

 body would be in its superior conjunction, are facts which favor the 

 supposition that the zodiacal light is the nebulous body, whose exist- 

 ence and laws of revolution had been inferred from independent 

 evidence, — evidence which will remain unimpaired, should it finally 

 appear that the zodiacal light has no connexion with the meteoric 

 showers.* Little or nothing has been done, to ascertain the nature 

 and laws of this light, since the original papers of Cassini and Mai- 

 ran were published, that is, for more than a century. Those great 

 observers were undoubtedly guided by a false hypothesis, viz. that 

 the zodiacal light vi^as the solar atmosphere ; but now since that hy- 

 pothesis is exploded, it seems incumbent on astronomers to make new 

 observations, and if it is not the solar atmosphere, to tell what it is. 



* Some, who seem to suppose that the Zodiacal Light is an imaginary body, 

 conjured up to suit the purposes of the writer, are requested to consult the origi- 

 Dal papers of Cassini andMairan, in the Memoirs of the French Academy for 

 1683 and 1731. 



