122 RESEARCHES CONCERNING THE PERIODICAL 



earth is coming, while the latter seem to come from a part of the heavens to- 

 wards which the earth is going." 



" Accordingly, the universe may be considered as replete with bodies of a 

 similar kind, revolving round the sun. In certain portions, also, there is a 

 tendency to the formation of connected systems of these bodies. Two of these- 

 sy stems seem to describe paths round the sun that lie near the portions of the 

 earth's orbit which it passes through in August and November. The pecu- 

 liarities of the August and November meteors above mentioned may, perhaps, 

 be best explained by supposing the orbit of the former nearly perpendicular, 

 and of the latter nearly parallel to the orbit of the earth." 



The latter supposition of Mr. Littrow cannot be reconciled with the conclu- 

 sions in Table VI., drawn from the data of Tables I. and III., which give a 

 high inclination for the November meteors, as was also remarked by Olbers. 



Bessel's ^^ opinion has already been referred to. It is stated as follows : — 

 "Far more weighty grounds than those for ordinary shooting stars are at 

 hand, which render it probable that those of November have a cosmical 

 origin." 



Professor Erman's theory of a ring for the August and November asteroids, 

 and Professor Boguslawski's theory of a yearly period for the cluster of the 

 latter, have been already alluded to. 



The telescopic appearance of the meteors of the 9th and 10th of August, 

 1839, has been carefully described by the late Mr. E. P. Mason. And the 

 opinion of that nice observer and zealous astronomer is contained in a manu- 

 script not yet printed, and which is here offered to the public, in compliance 

 with a request of the author made to me a few weeks before his decease. 



"The nights of the 9th and 10th of August, 1839, are the evenings of the 

 alleged recurrence of the August shower of meteors. They fell in extraordi- 

 nary numbers, and of very uncommon brilliancy, during both nights. I have 

 never seen nor heard of any telescopic observations of these bodies, and there- 

 fore take this occasion to offer my own on these evenings, as the statement 

 would be too brief for a separate article, and I shall probably have no better 



"Astr. Nachr. 381, p. 349. " Es sind zwar Griinde vorhanden, welche den cosmischen Ur- 

 sprung der November-Sternschnuppen, selbst vorzugsweise vor den gewohnlichen, wahrschein- 

 lich machen." 



