1865.] Astronomy. 445 



ray D and the Strontium blue line. Quoting an observation of Mr. 

 Huggins in which it is shown that in a Orionis, there is no dark line 

 corresponding to the above line b (coinciding with Frauenhofer's F). 

 Father Secchi infers that we have in that star the bright ray which is 

 found in the nebulae. Can this star, he asks, be a body intermediate 

 between the perfectly-formed stars and the nebulas ? In the discussion 

 which followed this note, Mr. Huggins stated that he could not agree 

 with the ingenious conjecture of Secchi, that the star a Orionis may 

 be a body intermediate between a nebula and a fully-formed sun, 

 because the dark line of absorption corresponding to F is wanting in 

 its spectrum. The light of the star emanates, as its spectrum shows, 

 from incandescent solid or liquid matter, and therefore necessarily 

 contains rays of all refrangibilities, and it is the presence of bodies in 

 its atmosphere which is indicated by the dark lines of absorption. 

 The absence therefore of a dark line corresponding with F and also 

 with one of the bright lines of the nebula is a proof, not that the gas 

 in the nebula from which the light of that particular refrangibility 

 emanates is present in the atmosphere of the star, but, on the contrary, 

 that this particular gas is not one of the constituent elements at 

 a Orionis. The closely-crowded lines of the spectrum of the star appear 

 to prove that it contains elements as numerous as those which exist in 

 the sun and in the brighter stars. The absence of the lines of hydrogen 

 corresponding to C and F is scarcely a sufficient reason for degrading 

 this star to a lower cosmical rank. At the request of the President, 

 Mr. Huggins then gave an account of the most recent of his researches 

 on the application of prismatic analysis to the light of the nebulae. 

 This was an examination of the Great nebula in the sword handle of 

 Orion. The results have already been before our readers. 



Some important steps have been gained and some real contribu- 

 tions made to exact science during the past year in the department of 

 Meteoric Astronomy. A summary of these by A. S. Herschel, Esq., 

 formed the next important communication made to the Society. As 

 regards the height of shooting stars it appears from a comparison of 

 several hundred observations dating from the end of the last century, 

 that it may be stated respectively at 73 and 52 miles at first appear- 

 ance and disappearance above the surface of the earth, with a probable 

 error of not more than three miles. The average velocity of shooting 

 stars in sixty-six instances is 35 miles per second. In this respect fire- 

 balls resemble shooting stars, but they differ from them in penetrating 

 more deeply into the atmosphere ; shoidd they arrive within 20 miles of 

 the earth's surface a violent concussion is usually produced, and stones 

 are not unfrequently precipitated from the meteor. One of the most re- 

 markable observations of a fireball on record was made by Dr. Schmidt, 

 at Athens, on the morning of the 19th of October, 1863. A fireball of 

 surpassing size and brilliancy was examined for 14 seconds by Dr. 

 Schmidt, in a telescope with a magnifying power of eight diameters. The 

 meteor was twin or double, attended and followed by a tribe of lesser 

 meteors advancing side by side together, with parallel motions of 

 translation, until the whole were extinguished. Respecting the origin 



