MEMOIR ON METEORITES. 293 



from the original conception of the origin of meteoric stones 

 to views of a different character, based on observations of the 

 shooting-stars. 



It may be a broad assumption to start with, that there is 

 not a single evidence of the identity of shooting-stars (as ex- 

 emplified by the periodical meteors of August and November) 

 and these meteors which give rise to meteoric stones, and this 

 conclusion is one arrived at by as full an examination of the 

 subject as I am capable of making.* Some of the prominent 

 reasons for such a conclusion will be mentioned. 



Were shooting-stars and meteoric stones the same class of 

 bodies, it is natural to suppose that the fall of the latter would 

 be most abundant when the former are most numerous. In 

 other words, these periodic occurrences of shooting-stars in 

 August and November, and more particularly those immense 

 showers that have been sometimes seen, ought to have been 

 attended with the falling of one or more meteoric stones ; 

 whereas there is not a single instance on record where these 

 showers have been accompanied with the falling of a meteoric 

 stone. Again, in all instances where a meteoric body has been 

 seen to fall, and has been observed even from its very commence- 

 ment, it has been alone and not accompanied by other meteors. 

 Very little reflection will serve to convince any one that an 

 objection to the identity of the two classes of bodies, based 

 upon the above fact, is of great weight. 



Another strong objection to considering the bodies of the 

 same nature is based on the want of proof of their velocities 

 being the same. It is a pretty well-established fact that the 

 average velocity of shooting-stars is sixteen and a half miles a 

 second — a result arrived at by different observers, and doubtless 

 a close approximation to the truth, as from the constant occur- 

 rence of shooting-stars thousands of observations may be made 

 with comparative ease by different observers noting the same 

 stars. Not so with meteoric stones, these occurrences being- 

 rare, sudden, and unexpected, and no two observers being ever 



* Prof. D. Olmsted, in a most interesting article on the subject of meteors, 

 to be found in the 26th volume of Amer. Jour, of Science and Arts, p. 132, 

 insists upon the difference between shooting-stars and meteorites, and the 

 time and attention he has devoted to the phenomena of meteors give we'ght 

 to his opinion. 



20 



