xlvi Appendix. 



with sky rockets, moving in all directions, excepting from the earth, to which 

 they all seemed inclined more or less, some of them descending perpendicularly 

 over the vessel he was in. They were again seen in the autumn of 1818, 

 when in the language of one of the observers, the surrounding atmosphere 

 seemed enveloped in one expansive ocean of flame. The next exhibition on 

 the grand scale was in November, 1831. This was followed by another in 

 1832, at the same time. The most splendid display was in November, 1833, 

 when the whole sky is said to have been lit up with these meteors and immense 

 fire-balls. One was observed nearly stationary in the zenith for some time, 

 emitting streams of light. Luminous trains marked the path of these meteors, 

 which remained in view for some minutes. This remarkable fact was 

 established, that they all moved in lines which, when traced backwards, 

 converged to the same point in the heavens. The position of this radiant 

 point among the stars was near Leo, which point remained stationary 

 among the stars during the whole exhibition. They were again observed, but 

 on a smaller scale, in Europe and America, in November, 1834, tending, 

 moreover, from the same radiant point. No less than twelve displays have 

 been noticed. They are also found to be more frequent every thirty-three and 

 a quarter years. Accordingly they were anxiously looked for in 1866, at 

 which time they also made their appearance, and their radiant point fixed in 

 reference to the ecliptic in long. 142° 35', and lat. 10° 27' N. Now 

 it must be regarded as a very significant fact, . that if this point is projected 

 on the plane of the ecliptic it would be very nearly in a line with a 

 tangent to the earth's orbit on the 13th of November. It follows, therefore, 

 that the earth is moving very nearly towards their radiant point. Taking the 

 velocity of the earth in its orbit at twenty miles per second, and the mass and 

 source of the meteors as stationary (excepting, of course, the retrograde 

 velocity imparted to the mass by the earth's attraction, and which would 

 increase the collision), then the compression suddenly exerted on the meteoric 

 matter, and on a portion of the earth's atmosphere, must be enormous, and far 

 quicker than the rate of diffusion which gases are known to possess. Portions 

 of the earth's atmosphere must be arrested, as it were, and its motion partly 

 communicated to unmixed and contracting portions of the meteoric matter, 

 which manifests itself by intense heat. The common experiment of compres- 

 sing air in a glass syringe, thereby igniting various substances, will give some 

 idea of the heat actually developed. From the suddenness of compression, 

 there would not be time to allow at first the radiation of this heat ; 

 consequently ignition must occur, attended, probably, with new chemical 

 combinations, and when that commences, a few seconds suffice to dissipate the 

 smaller meteors ; and the larger ones, when they reach the denser atmosphere 

 near the earth, remain for a time suspended (as proved by actual observation) ; 



