292 
EASTMAN. 
In a paper on the “ Influence of meteoric showery on au¬ 
roras” Prof. Pliny E. Chase 1 concludes that “ there seems 
therefore good reason to look for an increase of auroral dis¬ 
plays soon after every meteoric shower.” 
In discussing the meteors of November 27, 1872, Prof. H. 
A. Newton 2 remarked, “ With Professor Weis and others, I 
am inclined to consider them all to have been once con¬ 
nected with periodic comets. The scattering took place appar¬ 
ently at or near the perihelion.” 
In 1872 Prof. J. W. Mallet , of the University of Virginia, 
read a paper 3 on “ The occluded gases of meteorites,” and 
another paper 4 by this author on the same subject appeared 
in 1875. 
In 1875 Prof. A. W. Wright , of Yale College, published an 
account 5 of some very carefully conducted experiments made 
to determine the character and quantity of the occluded 
gases of meteorites. 
From these experiments he derived results differing ma¬ 
terially from those obtained by other investigators. 
This paper was followed by three others 6 during 1875 and 
1876, in which Professor Wright reached the conclusion that 
the spectra of gases from meteorites were identical with the 
spectra of comets. 
In a lecture 7 at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Col¬ 
lege, on “The relation of Meteorites and Comets,” Prof. H. 
A. Newton , exhibiting a fragment from the meteoric stone 
which fell in Iowa February 12, 1875, very clearly presented 
his theory of the connection of these bodies. 
The principal points in the theory, together with some of 
the arguments, may be briefly stated as follows: 
Between the largest meteorite known and the faintest 
shooting-star that can be seen on a clear night with a telescope 
1 Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. XII, 401. 2 A. J. S., V 3 , 62.' 
3 Proc. Koyal Society, XX, 865. 4 A. J. S., X 3 , 206. 
5 A. J. S., IX 3 , 294. 6 A. J. S., X„ 44: XL, 253 ; XII 3 , 165. 
^ Nature, Vol. XIX, 315, 840. 
