451 W. M. Foote — Shower of Meteoric Stones, Arizona. 



28, — but nine days later than the fall observed. Yet I hardly 

 think it possible that the material actually collected can belong to 

 this meteoric stream, for the reason that the region of the sky 

 from which the Aquarids are seen to come had not yet risen above 

 the eastern horizon nor would this region begin to rise until 

 about one hour later. And as at this time the constellation 

 Aquarius would be seen in an almost due easterly direction, it 

 seems not possible that a member of this stream could be seen 

 coming from the west, as the Holbrook meteorite did. 



The next brilliant shower in point of time is the well-known 

 Perseid shower, more commonly known as the shower of August 

 shooting stars. Although this shower was most brilliant from 

 August 10th-13th of the present year, the individual particles 

 are so greatly scattered that straggling members may be seen for 

 nearly a month before this date. The point among the stars from 

 which the meteors of this stream are seen to come is constantly 

 changing during this time, owing to our displacement in space 

 caused by the motion of the earth. According to Mr. W. F. 

 Denning, — the highest present authority upon this subject, — the 

 occasional meteors from this shower witnessed on July 19th should 

 apparently come from a point just without the borders of Perseus 

 and within those of the constellation Cassiopeia. At the 1 ime under 

 consideration this point of the heavens would be almost exactly 

 in the north horizon, or at most but a degree or two to the west of 

 north. The greater part of the particles which reached us from 

 this stream at this time should therefore be expected to approach 

 our country from the north, and to at least begin their motion 

 through our air in a path very nearly parallel to the ground. 

 However a single, isolated member of the swarm might easily have 

 had the direction of its motion greatly changed, either by the 

 gravitational pull of the other members or by collision with them, 

 so that a single such mass might be seen to enter our atmosphere 

 from an unexpected direction.* 



It is therefore in my judgment not impossible that this most 

 interesting fall might have come from the Perseid swarm, and 

 therefore be an actual part of or an attendant to Tuttle's Comet 

 of 1862; but I do not think that from the data at hand we can now 

 establish this connection. 



There are several other less striking showers due at about this 

 time; notably, a second Perseid shower of faint, swiftly moving 

 stars whose radiant is 14 degrees farther toward the south than 

 that of the first, and also a shower coming from the constellation 



* That the observers' accounts of momentary phenomena often conflict, 

 is but natural. One witness wrote on October 18th, that on hearing the 

 reports, he saw only a very large cloud of sand or smoke move from east to 

 southwest, and after striking a black cloud, the first sand or smoke cloud 

 traveled back to the east. While probably of little value, the account is 

 recorded here because this large finder was the only one to fully indicate an 

 ellipsoid with longest diameter east and west, in answering as to the area of 

 the fall. 



