Nature and Art, January 1, 1867.] 
THE METEORIC SHOWER OP NOVEMBER, 1866. 
such occasions, have received the name of “ Star 
Showers,” and one of which we have so lately, and 
under such favourable circumstances, had the good 
fortune to witness. It is well known that there 
are certain nights in every year that are remarkable 
lor the regular recurrence of large numbers of shoot- 
ing stars ; perhaps the most famous date being the 
10th of August, when, according to the Irish 
legend, Saint Lawrence sheds his fiery tears. The 
next important date is comprised between the 11th 
and 14th of November ; and it is with the shower 
of this period that we are specially concerned. A 
cursory examination of the long lists of meteor 
records that have been collected from the histories 
of past times and of all countries, does not fail to 
show that, whereas a display more or less important 
takes place every year between the above dates, 
there are yet certain years when, according to these 
ancient records, the display reaches an extraordinary 
magnitude and the meteors appear in stupendous 
numbers. One of these occurred in the year 902, 
when the Aglilabite King, Ibrahim bin Ahmad, 
died, and “the stars scattered themselves like rain 
to the light and to the left.” Another is recorded 
in the year 934 ; another in 1002 ; and another in 
1202. The chronicles of the Kings of Portugal 
make mention of another in 1366, which so terrified 
the people of that country that they thought the 
end of the world had come. The all-recording 
Chinese tell of others in the years 1533 and 1602. 
In 1799 occurred the brilliant shower witnessed by 
Humboldt and Bonpland at Cumana in South 
America, and so well described by the former in 
his Relation Hislorique. The year 1832 is also 
marked by a shower which pioneered the splendid 
one of the following year : this latter is the last 
great meteoric display preceding that which we 
have so lately observed. 
Now it became evident, upon close examination 
of those and other such-like accounts, that grand 
November displays take place three times in a 
century, or at intervals of about 33 years apart ; 
and the last having happened in 1833, it was 
reasonable to expect a return in 1866; but inas- 
much as each of the former great showers appear 
to have been anticipated by a slighter one in the 
year preceding, observers anxiously watched the 
night of the 13th of November, 1865, for this pre- 
cursor, and were rewarded by a sight which, 
although far below that of 1866, was still extra- 
ordinary ; about a thousand meteors being counted 
between midnight and five o’clock the following 
morning. 
This may be a proper place to put and answer the 
questions, why these showers occur on particular days 
of the year! and why such an extensive display should 
take place every 33rd November 1 It is assumed, 
and there are very good reasons for admitting the 
correctness of the assumption, that there are a 
number of concentric rings of these meteoric 
bodies circulating about the sun ; orbits, in fact, 
every part of which is thronged with meteoric 
particles. The earth, in its annual course about 
the sun, cuts through these rings on certain days of 
the year, that is in certain points of her orbit, and 
this explains the annual recurrence of showers on 
certain days. The majority of the rings, of which 
there must be a goodly number, have the meteoric 
particles distributed evenly throughout their circuit ; 
but the November ring — the ring we cut through 
every November — is not of such equable density ; 
for its component particles and masses are very 
thickly clustered in one part, and scantily dispersed 
over the remainder. This November ring has been 
made the subject of a great deal of research ; and 
what astronomers call its “ elements,” or its 
dimensions, position, &c., have been determined 
with considerable accuracy. In size, it has been 
found to be slightly less than the orbit of the 
earth; revolving about the sun in a period of 354 
days, or 1 1 days less than the earth’s period. The 
direction of its motion is opposite to that of the 
earth, and the orbit is inclined to the earth’s 
orbit by an angle of about 17 degrees. The portion 
of the ring which constitutes the thick cloud of 
bodies, is about one-fifteenth of its circumference, 
or in linear measure about 40 millions of miles, 
while the breadth of the cloud is about 100,000 
miles. The disposition of things and the course of 
matters which produce the periodic grand dis- 
plays, may be made intelligible be the following 
diagram. 
In this diagram the continuous circle represents 
the orbit of the earth, and the dotted ring the zone 
of meteoric bodies, with the cloud of them collected 
at one part of it. The earth is going one way 
(indicated by an arrow) and the ring of meteors 
another (indicated by an opposite arrow) ; and the 
orbit of the meteors is inclined to that of the earth. 
Now, it will be plain that if the ring moved at 
exactly the same speed as the earth, we, the earth, 
should meet it at the same point of its circuit 
every year ; but as it moves fastei- than the earth , 
it is equally plain that the part which we cut 
through in one November has gone by 11 days 
before we come to the point of intersection in the 
next November, and hence we perceive that we 
cut the ring every year in a new place. In the 
course of years, we naturally fall in with the thick 
part of it, and then it is that we get the great 
meteor showers ; this encounter taking place everv 
33 years. The reason why we have showers on 
two or three years at the end of every 33-year 
