84 Mr. G. Forbes on the Meteoric Shower 



that moment he had seen a very large fireball, of a green colour, 

 passing through the zenith, and had seen it bursting. 



At 2 h 13 m I saw a large meteor which left a distinct train, 

 which, after passing through the serpentine and oval forms 

 already described with relation to another meteor, disappeared 

 after having been visible for two minutes. Its position was a 

 little north of the bright star Menkar in the constellation 

 Cetus. 



The next thing to be done is to compare the observations 

 which have now been mentioned with those which have been 

 published in the newspapers and elsewhere, 



First, as to the numbers of the meteors. The numbers counted 

 have varied very much under different circumstances. This is 

 owing in some instances to a greater or less number of ob- 

 servers having been employed, in others apparently to differences 

 in the skill of the observers, and in many cases, doubtless, to the 

 state of the atmosphere. Thus while, by myself, I counted 

 between the hours of 12 and 1 only 883, Mr. Hind, along with 

 three friends, counted 1 1 20. The trained staff of observers, again, 

 under Mr. Glaisher at the Greenwich Observatory, counted be- 

 tween the same hours 2032. At Malta the meteors were sup- 

 posed to be falling at the rate of 500 or 600 per minute. It 

 was there impossible to count them, and the scene was com- 

 pared to a shower of hail. Some observers at the time of 

 maximum display counted only about 40 per minute, while 

 others counted three times that number in the same time. 



I have heard from only one observer an account of meteors 

 being seen on the morning of the 13th. Between the hours of 

 11 and 3 he had counted 50. This was in Fife. No one in 

 Britain seems to have seen any on the night following that of 

 the great display. An account from Saragossa, in the l Times/ 

 states that the great shower took place on the morning of the 

 15th. This, however, is most probably a misprint. Accounts 

 also from Penzance say vaguely that they were visible on that 

 night. 



Every one seems to agree in fixing the time of maximum dis- 

 play at between 12 minutes and 15 minutes past 1 on the 

 morning of the 14th. The curves (Plate III.) show the gradual 

 increase in numbers up to about l h 12 m , and the decrease in 

 numbers after that time. 



The first is deduced from the observations of Mr. Alexander 

 Herschel at Glasgow. Here the ordinates measure propor- 

 tionally the number of meteors seen in periods of one minute, 

 each counted at unequal intervals. 



In the second, the ordinates also measure proportionally the 

 numbers seen in periods of one minute, counted at intervals of 



