The November Meteor -Shower at Glasgow. 459 



THE NOVEMBER METEOR- SHOWER AT GLASGOW. 



BY A. S, HEKSCHEL, B.A. 



The cloud-stratum of the second capital of Scotland affords 

 coolness in summer and warmth in winter, and a protection 

 from the unequal radiation of night and day. It would surprise 

 persons unacquainted with the abnormally elevated temperature 

 of climates on western coasts, to be informed that the mean 

 temperature of Glasgow is three degrees warmer than the 

 mean temperature of a place situated, like Birmingham, in the 

 centre of the island; yet such, from the neighbourhood of 

 warm streams of the Atlantic Ocean, is actually the case. The 

 substantial advantage thus derived from the breezes of the 

 sea has, however, its corresponding disadvantage of a more 

 refined, aerial nature ; for the watery vapours wafted with the 

 wind do not always reveal at night, in the words of Byron — ■ 



" in the sky that clear obscure 



So deeply dark, and darkly pure, 



Which follows the decline of day, 



Ere twilight melts beneath the moon away." 



Fine nights, when they occur at this season of the year, 

 are, however, unexceptionally good observing nights ; and the 

 morning of the 14th of November, 1866, when the predicted 

 shower of the November meteors was expected to appear, was 

 one of these, which might be reckoned among the most fortu- 

 nate events of an observer's diary. 



The skies were attentively watched to catch the first signs of 

 their appearance, and many, like myself (among the number of 

 four observers, consisting of Professor Grant and his assistants 

 at the Glasgow Observatory), sat up, determined "for once 

 in their lives " to make a night of it. 



To witness the successful issue of an altogether novel kind 

 of prediction was a small satisfaction, compared to the advan- 

 tage which co-operation with Professor Grant afforded me in 

 noting the particulars of the shower. The detailed description 

 which Professor Grant published in the Glasgow Herald of the 

 following day, shows his personal interest in the phenomenon, 

 whilst his assistance enabled me to complete a set of observa- 

 tions which, alone, it would not have been possible to carry out. 



A violent gale of wind blew from the 4th to the 8 th of 

 November ; when the wind abated, and a fine double arch of 

 the aurora was visible in the evening, about seven o'clock, 

 spanning' the north-west verge of the horizon. It resembled 

 a cap-and-plume, the upper arch being only a fragment, which 



