450 The November Shooting Stars. 



that they do not "belong to this earth or its atmosphere, but 

 that on the contrary they are from afar ; and that they circu- 

 late round the sun in definite orbits. 



On almost any fine night a few shooting stars will be seen ; 

 such is the experience of those who have watched for them in 

 various parts of the world. A bright object, looking like a 

 star, is suddenly seen moving a little way through the heavens, 

 and then disappearing. They are common at all times, and, to 

 use Professor Ansted's words, ce they are as little exceptional 

 as clouds/' These are the ordinary shooting stars, which I 

 have seen hundreds of times, though generally not more than 

 three or four of them during one evening : but we have now 

 to speak of those which are known to be periodical in their 

 displays, and by the pre-concerted observation of which, some 

 knowledge has been gained respecting the shooting stars in 

 general. 



On several occasions these wanderers have appeared, not 

 few and far between, but in astonishing numbers, conveying 

 the idea of a shower of rockets, or of snow-flakes falling. 

 Observers have noted the dates of such appearances, and the 

 very remarkable fact has been established, that the greatest 

 displays of the kind have uniformly happened on the night 

 between the 12th and 13th, or on that between the 13th and 

 14th of November. Time out of mind those identical days, 

 or those directly corresponding to them have been occasionally 

 signalized by such exhibitions. 



They appear likewise on the 10th of August, and 

 more or less on the 9th and 11th also. The display is less 

 brilliant than in November, but more certain. The No- 

 vember show is often interrupted for a number of years, but 

 on those three days in August shooting stars are almost sure 

 to be seen. Other epochs have also been, to a certain extent, 

 established. 



And here our third question must be answered — ' ' What 

 possible reason can be given for their appearance on a fixed day 

 in our calendar ? " A reason has been given ; and it is so well 

 stated by Sir John Herschel, that I shall give his remarks verba- 

 tim* "It is impossible/' he says, "to attribute such a recurrence 

 of identical dates of very remarkable phenomena to accident. 

 Annual periodicity, irrespective of geographical position, refers 

 us at once to the place occupied by the earth in its annual 

 orbit, and leads direct to the conclusion that at that place the 

 earth incurs a liability to frequent encounters or concurrences 

 with a stream of meteors in their progress of circulation round 

 the sun. Let us test this idea by pursuing it into some of its 



* Outlines of Astronomy, Art. 901. (1859.) 



