28 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
in somewhat quick succession — ten were notably bright, and 
one equalled Venus in size and brilliancy. Of those whose 
paths were recorded most radiated from Leo ; of the remainder 
many were traceable from the region around a and /3 Geminorum , 
but I was unable to find the exact position of the radiant point.” 
On the following night, Mr. Sawyer, at Cambridgeport, 
Mass., observed seven Leonids in a watch of two hours, and 
found the radiant point at 151° + 22°. Other reports from 
America confirm the reappearance of the shower on the morn- 
ings of November 13 and 14. 
I have been particular to mention the facts of the recent 
display of Leonids , because it goes far to prove that they form a 
continuous stream, like the Perseids , and that the shower is 
visible every year with more or less intensity. At the present 
time the parent comet is nearing its aphelion (close to the orbit 
of Uranus), a vast distance from the Earth, and none but the 
most widely separated of its particles could have encountered 
the Earth at her recent approach to the node. It is a significant 
fact that now (thirteen years after the maximum in 1866) the 
shower has recurred on several successive nights in the most 
decided manner. 
The remarkable display from near y Andromedce due at 
about the end of November, and having no sort of connexion 
with the Leonids to which we have been referring, was first 
witnessed on December 7, 1798, by Brandes whilst travelling 
near Hamburg in Germany. Four hundred meteors appeared 
in half of the sky during a few hours. On the same date in 
1830 many shooting-stars were seen by the Abbe Baillard in 
France. On December 6, 1838, a meteor- shower was observed 
by Paul Flaugergues at Toulon, and by Herrick in the United 
States. At the Brussels Observatory meteors were recorded to 
be four times as numerous as on an ordinary night. On 
December 8, 1847, Heis saw a meteoric shower with a radiant 
at 25° + 40°; and on November 30, 1867, Zezioli noted a few 
meteors from a centre derived by Schiaparelli at 17° + 48°. 
On November 27, 1872, a great shower of meteors was seen in 
many parts from a radiant point at 25° + 43°. They fell so 
thickly during several hours that it was almost impossible 
to record the approximate numbers. During the next few 
years the shower became quiescent, but in 1877, November 25, 
the shower recurred again, and was slightly seen by the 
writer. On the 27th it continued feebly in progress, but the 
exhibition was a very meagre one. In 1878 a conspicuous 
apparition was looked for, but astronomers were disappointed. 
The shower failing in 1878 it was confidently asserted that 
in 1879 the conditions being more favourable, we should again 
become immersed in the dense portion of the meteor flight ; 
