298 Recent contributions to Astro-Meteorology. 
Elements of Elements of 
August meteors. Comet 1862 If. 
Long. of perihelion, 343° 38’ 844° 41! 
Long. of node, 138° 16/ 187° 27 
Inclination, 64° 3’ 66° 25’ 
Perihelion distance, 0°9643 0:9626 
Motion, retrograde retrograde 
Perihelion passage, July 23°62 Aug. 229, 1860 
riod, 12374 years 
These elements do not differ by quantities greater than can be 
accounted for by the want of precision in the data for compu- 
ting the paths of the meteors. We come thus to the unexpec- 
ted conclusion, that the great comet of 1862 ts nothing else than one 
of the August meteoroids, and probably the largest of them all. 
At the time of announcing this relation of the comet of 1862 
with the August meteors, Mr. Schiaparelli found no comet hav- 
ing similar relations with the November meteors. But upon the 
publication by Oppolzer shortly after,* of the corrected orbit of 
the comet 1866 1, the resemblance of its elements to those of 
the orbit of the November group on the supposition of a period of 
‘25 years was strikingly manifest, attracting at once the notice 
of several astronomers.t The following comparative elements 
are given by Schiaparelli (Bullettino Meteor., Feb. 28, 1867). 
Noy. M ; Comet 1866 I. 
Perihelion passage, Nov. 10:092, 1866. Jan. 11:160, 1866. 
Passage of descending node, Nov. 13°576 
Long. of Perih., 56° 25"9 60° 28"0 
Long. of Asc. Node, 231° 28/2 231° 26/1 
Inclination, 17° 44°5 17° 161 
Perihelion dist., 0-9873 0:9765 
Eccentricity, 0:9046 0°9054 
i-major axis, 10340 10°324 
Periodic time, 33°250 33:176 
tion, retrograde. retrograde. 
ee that time. Two months later the comet : 
node, and ten months afterward the earth, returning to the node, 
encountered a dense portion of the stream.$ 
; an Nach., No. 1624, i 
eters, Astr. Nach., No. 1624; Oppolzer, ibid. No. 1626; Schiaparelli, ibi 
} The computed elements of the see of 1366, though very uncertain, resemble 
those of comet 1866 I, and may belong to the same body. There was a remarka- 
ble star-shower in 1366 shortly after the computed perihelion passage of the comet. 
§ The total length of the stream ¢ fen : 
would exceed 500,000,000 
