SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



161 



THE NOVEMBER METEORS. 



By Frank C. Dennett. 



HpHE records of the past millennium occasionally 

 refer to magnificent meteor showers in the 

 months of October and November. Professor 

 H. A. Newton, in the "American Journal of Science 

 and Arts" for May, 1864, gave a list of thirteen 

 such displays between and including the years 902 

 and 1833. The earliest of these, 902, occurred on 

 October 12th, and that of 1202 on October 19th. 

 In 1366 the record says: " Twenty-two days of the 

 month of October being past, three months before 



exact, five, seven and eight days respectively, later 

 than the same days of the month now used under 

 the Gregorian calendar. In 1799 the shower was 

 on November nth, and was observed in South 

 America by Humboldt and Bonpland. In 1833 

 the phenomenon is recorded pn November 12th, 

 and in 1866 on November 13th and 14th. 



Since more careful observations have been made 

 these showers are all found to radiate from one 

 spot in the heavens, close to a 5*7 magnitude star 



Paths of 17 Leonids observed at Bristol on the morning of Nov. 14th, 1879. 

 Fiom " The Great Meteoric Shower 0/ November." 



the death of the king, Don Pedro (of Portugal), 

 there was in the heavens a movement of the stars 

 such as men never before saw or heard. At mid- 

 night, and for some time after, all the stars moved 

 from the east to the west, and after being collected 

 together they began to move, some in one direc- 

 tion, others in another. And afterwards they fell 

 from the sky in such numbers, and so quickly 

 together, that as they descended low in the air they 

 seemed large and fiery, and the sky and the air 

 seemed to be in flames, and even the earth 

 appeared as if ready to take fire." It will be 

 remembered that those three dates were given in 

 old style chronology, some days, or, to be more 



November, 189S. — No. 54, Vol. V. 



marked as x Leonis by Bode, situated in the middle 

 of the sickle of Leo. To be quite exact, the posi- 

 tion of the radiant spot, as a mean of seventy 

 determinations, is R.A. 149 28' and Dec. N., or, as 

 it is sometimes written, +, 22 52'. 



These meteor showers are found to recur at 

 intervals of thirty-three years, and therefore the 

 next great display should occur in 1899 ;- but, as in 

 previous returns there have been abundant meteors 

 for a year or two earlier, and three or four years 

 later than the display-in-chief, we have much 

 encouragement to hope that this present month 

 will not prove an exception. Last year, it is true, 

 English observers were not favoured with seeing 



