ARTICLE IX. 



Researches concerning the Periodical Meteors of August and November, By 

 Sears C. Walker, A. P. S. Read January 15, 1841. 



§ I. Of the relative Velocities of shooting Stars. 



The discovery of the existence of a radiant, or its antipode, the convergent 

 point for the relative paths of the shooting stars composing the splendid specta- 

 cle of November 12th, 1833, and its confirmation on several subsequent, but 

 less brilliant displays of these bodies, has opened the field for fresh researches 

 concerning their geometrical relations. The earliest attempt to deduce the 

 necessary inferences from such a discovery was made by Prof Olmsted,^ shortly 

 after the great shower of 1833. In this inquiry he was followed, in 1834, by 

 Prof Twining'' and Mr. Espy^; in 1835, by Arago^ Biot' and others; and, in 

 1836 and 1837, more concisely, by Quetelet® and Olbers^, and, subsequently, by 

 Mr. Herrick'' and Prof Lovering.' Finally, in 1839, a full and systematic inquiry 

 on the subject was instituted by Prof. Erman,^° Jr., of Berlin. An abstract of the 



* Silliman's Journal, vol, xxvi., p. 144. See also subsequent volumes. 



^ Idem. vol. xxvi., art. viii. ^ Journal Franklin Institute, vol. xv., p. 9. 



* Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, 1836. ^ Sill. vol. xxxii., p. 181. 



^ Quetelet's Catalogue des Principales apparitions d'etoiles filantes. Nouveaux Memoires de 

 I'Academie, &c., de Bruxelles, 1839. Also Annuaire de I'Observatoire de Bruxelles, 1837. 



7 Die Sternschnuppen, Schumacher's Jahrbuch for 1838, p. 319, note. Also Schumacher's As- 

 tronomische Nachrichten, Nos. 372, 384. 



^ Sill. vol. xxxiii., art. xx., and vol. xxxv., art. xix. 



8 Idem. vol. xxxv., art, x. i" Astr. Nachr., Nos. 385, 390, 402, and 404. 



