278 MR. J. BAXENDELL ON THE NOVEMBER METEOES. 



was at sea^ off the west coast of central America; and 

 altliough I then knew little about meteors, and the idea of 

 a radiant-point had not, so far as I am aware, ever occurred 

 to any astronomer or meteorologist, the tendency of the 

 great majority of the meteors to diverge from a particular 

 region of the heavens was so strongly marked that it at 

 once engaged my attention ; and I find, on referring to my 

 notes, that I fixed the central point of this region in the 

 constellation Cancer, a few degrees east of the stars 8 and 

 y, and not in Leo, as observed by Professor Olmsted and 

 others in the north-eastern portion of the North American 

 continent. A great number of the meteors, however, had 

 other radiant-points ; and some of the finest moved in long 

 horizontal arcs, or in directions nearly perpendicular to 

 that of the main stream. This fact seems to me to be 

 strongly opposed to the cosmical theory of meteorites, 

 except on the rather improbable supposition that the 

 earth, on that occasion, encountered two or more groups, 

 all, at the same time, crossing each other^s orbit as well 

 as the orbit of the earth. It may, however, be urged that 

 such a supposition is hardlj' more unlikely than that which 

 ascribes the November meteors to a ring of small bodies 

 moving round the sun in an orbit differing little in magni- 

 tude from the earth^s orbit, but the motion being retro- 

 grade, or contrary to that of the earth, and therefore in- 

 consistent with the general analogies of the solar system, 

 and opposed to Laplace^s almost universally received ne- 

 bular hypothesis. 



