PROGRESS OF METEORIC ASTRONOMY IN AMERICA. 299 
to designate those bodies which appear in such periodic 
showers as those of November 13-14, August 6-10, etc., but 
which, like the first named, are, almost without exception, 
entirely consumed before they reach the earth. 
These bodies have received, at various times, a great 
variety of names, such as “ Fiery Tears of St. Lawrence,” 
“ Fire-balls,” “ Bolides,” “Aerolites,’ “ Meteoroids,” etc., most 
of which have been coined to suit the fancy or ambition of 
some aspiring author. The only definite knowledge we have 
of this class of bodies before they reach the surface of the 
earth is obtained .with the spectroscope, and the results from 
observations with that instrument indicate that all these 
bodies are similar in composition, and their spectra are the 
same as that obtained from those masses that have reached 
the surface of the earth before destruction. 
There appears to be, therefore, no reason for using but two 
names—the one, meteor , for those bodies that are consumed 
before they reach the earth; and the other, meteorite , for the 
solid iron or stony substances that succeed in storming our 
atmospheric barriers, reaching the surface of the earth intact 
and bringing our only material messages from the depths 
beyond. 
Sporadic meteors as well as meteorites move apparently 
in all directions. Meteors that appear in showers seem to 
emanate from pretty well defined points in the heavens, each 
separate shower having its own radiant, and in most c&ses 
the bodies are not condensed in a single compact mass, but 
are scattered along the orbit in which they move. 
This orbit has been determined for several of the showers 
with considerable accuracy. 
From the testimony of the meteors themselves nothing is 
known of their origin. The theories of a terrestrial or a 
lunar volcanic origin are easily shown to be absurd, while 
the so-called theories that place their origin in other por¬ 
tions of the solar system are mere idle speculations. 
37-Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash., Vol. 11. 
