PROGRESS OF METEORIC ASTRONOMY IN AMERICA. 279 
eluded that “ there was a point from which most of the 
meteors seemed to emanate ; that this radiant corresponded 
to that point in the dome of the heavens to which the mag¬ 
netic needle would point if left free to move vertically and 
horizontally, and that meteors are only modifications of the 
Aurora Borealis.” 
Prof. D. Olmstead, 1 of Yale College, discussed at length the 
meteors of November 13, 1833, with the following conclu¬ 
sions : 
“ 1st. The meteors originated beyond the limits of our at¬ 
mosphere and fell towards the earth, in straight and nearly 
parallel lines, from a point 2,238 miles above the surface of 
the earth. 
“ 2d. Their velocity on entering the earth’s atmosphere was 
about four miles per second. 
“ 3d. They consisted of light, transparent, combustible mat¬ 
ter, and took fire and were consumed in traversing the at¬ 
mosphere.” 
Prof. Olmstead finally concluded that “ the meteors of 
November 13 consisted of portions of the extreme parts of a 
nebulous body which revolves around the sun in an orbit 
interior to that of the earth, but little inclined to the plane 
of the ecliptic, having its aphelion near to the earth’s path 
and having a periodic time of 182 days, nearly.” 
After discussing the November meteors of 1836, Prof. 
Olmstead 2 concluded that “ the zodiacal light might be the 
source of those meteors, and therefore was not a portion of* 
the sun’s atmosphere, but a nebulous or cometary body re¬ 
volving around the sun within the earth’s orbit nearly in 
the plane of the solar equator, approaching at times very 
near to the earth, and having a periodic time of either one 
year or half a year, nearly.” 
On the 28th of April, 1840, Mr. E. C. Herrick 3 read before 
the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences a paper on 
1 A. J. S., xxvq, 132 . 
3 A. J. S., XL 1? 349. 
2 A. J. S., XXXI D 386. 
