Meteors of November 24-27, 1872. 61 
Dec. 6th, 1798, by Brandes, and Dee. 6th, 1888, by Mr. Herrick, 
gives the radiant for meteors following the path of that comet, 
as R. A., 23°-4, N. Decl., 48°-0. I assigned a point 3° from 
y Andromede as the center of the radiznt of the meteors, or 
about R. A. 25°38, N. Decl., 43°°3. The longitude of the node 
of Biela’s comet was in 1852, according to Hubbard, 245° 51’, 
and the comet would pass about a million of miles from the 
earth’s orbit, between it and the sun. We passed that place of 
the node early Wednesday evening, Nov. 27th. There can 
hardly be a doubt therefore that these meteors were once frag- 
ments, or companions, of that comet. 
Any theory that shall explain the formation of the present 
grouping of meteoroids must account for the magnitude and 
shape of the radiant areas. If the members of a group have 
he orbits must then either lie approximately in a plane or 
there must be a common node in the ecliptic, where the earth 
meets them. Such a node would point unequivocally to the 
earth as the body that originally scattered the comet. 
f, as seems more probable, the orbits, however, lie nearly in 
one plane, either the major axes, or the longitudes of the peri- 
helia, must differ widely. Neither of these conditions could be 
satisfied, so far as I can see, by a group formed from the dis- 
persion of a comet by Jupiter, or other large planet. If the 
fragments of the comet leave the neighborhood of Jupiter, they 
should after each revolution return nearly to the same point in 
space. But a radiant area 8° or 10° long on the night of Nov. 
27th, implies a distribution of the aphelia over 10° or 12° of 
longitude, or a similarly large difference of major axes. Such 
orbits can hardly have a common point at a great distance from 
€sun. Moreover, a scattering accomplished in a short time 
upon a body moving in an orbit inclined several degrees to the 
ecliptic should, it would seem, be incompatible with a group- 
Ing at the earth’s node. ; 
Again, suppose a disrupted body or agglomeration, has been 
once changed into a stream by the differential action of gravita- 
tion in the manner shown so beautifully by Schiaparelli. If 
the perturbing forces exerted by any planet or planets, whether 
temporary or long continued, should produce such differences 
