PROGRESS OF METEORIC ASTRONOMY IN AMERICA. 285 
legibly inscribed in the unerring and enduring records of 
our system. They would preclude the accordance which 
is found to exist between the present lunar theory and the 
ancient observations. They would be found to be incon¬ 
sistent with the known values of precession and nutation. 
They might, indeed, almost be said to be incompatible with 
the present mass of the moon.” 
From the observations of the meteor of November 15,1859, 
Prof. H. A. Newton l , of Yale College, concluded that it must 
have moved in a hyperbolic orbit, and that we have, there¬ 
fore, two sources of meteors—the solar system and stellar 
space. 
With regard to the periodic meteors of August, Mr. A. C. 
Twining 2 , of New Haven, concluded that “ the radiant is 
probably capable of a far more exact determination than is 
ordinarily supposed or than could have been anticipated, 
and it is apparently subject to a motion of several degrees 
from day to day, and a motion which exhibits some remark¬ 
able points of agreement in the comparison of one year’s 
positions with those of other years.” 
From a discussion of the peculiar characteristics of the 
August meteors Prof. IP. A. Newton 3 came to the following 
conclusions: 
1st. The individual meteors are cosmical bodies. 
2d. They are permanent members of the solar system, re¬ 
volving about the sun in elliptic orbits. 
3d. The direction and Velocity of the relative motion, and 
therefore of the absolute motion of the individual bodies, are 
nearly the same. 
4th. The whole group forms what may be considered a 
ring or disk around the sun. 
5th. The periodic time is two hundred and eighty-one 
days. 
1 A. J. s., XXX 2 , 186. 
3 A. J. S., XXXII 2 , 448. 
2 A. J. S., XXXII 2 , 444. 
