£6 Mr. G. Forbes on the Meteoric Shower 



Mr. Alexander Herschel, in a letter to the ( Times/ as made by 

 him at Glasgow, are the only ones I have read of anywhere that 

 seem to agree with those noted by me. He says, "Large 

 meteors appeared at 12 h 33 m , 12 h 41 m , 2 h 14 m , 2 h 42 m . These 

 meteors left streaks which endured from five to fourteen mi- 

 nutes." The first of these agrees in time with a large bursting 

 meteor observed by me, which, however, I did not notice to 

 leave any long-lasting train. The second is undoubtedly the 

 remarkable triple meteor which I saw, and whose position I 

 noted carefully shortly before its disappearance. Mr. Herschel 

 does not give, in the letter referred to, any particulars of the 

 position of this object from which its height might be calcu- 

 lated. The third one he mentions must be the same meteor as 

 that described above, which I saw at the same time. In this 

 case, however, as in the last, he gives no particulars. 



Many observers noticed long-lasting trains like those already 

 described. The serpentine form was also remarked by several 

 observers. Mr. J. M. Heath noticed one train, after assuming 

 the serpentine form, to contract into the form of the section of 

 a lens, and at the same time to revolve about an axis. Messrs. 

 Thompson, who observed at Cardiff on behalf of the British 

 Association, saw similar changes going on in the train of a me- 

 teor which remained visible for 12 minutes. They also noticed 

 that this train was transported some distance in a westerly 

 direction. The Rev. Robert Main noticed the same phenomenon 

 in a different meteor*. 



Very few fireballs seem to have been observed anywhere. 

 Besides the one already mentioned, a large one was seen at Edin- 

 burgh at 3 h 51 m , of a deep blue colour, leaving behind it a 

 golden-coloured train, not pointed as in the case of the ordinary 

 meteors. This fireball shot from east to west not far from the 

 zenith. 



Very few meteors were seen by any observer to burst. 



The great fact proved by this extraordinary shower is the 

 periodicity of the returns of these displays of meteors. This be- 

 lief is grounded on the observations of similar showers since 

 the year 902, and was first suspected by Humboldt. 



The general direction of flight from a radiant-point shows 

 that these bodies come in parallel directions. That the ra- 

 diating appearancei s merely the result of perspective is clearly 

 shown by the arc traversed being greater, and also by the speed 

 and brilliancy being greater, the further the meteors were from 

 the radiant-point. 



* M. Schmidt, in writing to the Astronomische Nachrichten, states that 

 at Athens he observed a train which lasted for an hour. He also fixed the 

 time of maximum display at about 2*i 15 m Athens time. 



