the star Capella, left, just behind the place of explosion, a phosphorescent train of peculiar beauty. This train was at first nearly straight, but it shortly began to contract in length, to dilate in breadth, and to assume the figure of a serpent drawing itself up, until it appeared like a small luminous cloud of vapor. This cloud was borne eastward, (by the wind, as was supposed, which was blowing gently in that direction,) opposite to the direction in which the meteor itself had moved, remaining in sight several minutes. The point from which the meteors seemed to radiate kept a fixed position among the stars, being constantly near a star in Leo, called Gamma Leonis.

Such is a brief description of this grand and beautiful display, as I saw it at New Haven. The newspapers shortly brought us intelligence of similar appearances in all parts of the United States, and many minute descriptions were published by various observers ; from which it appeared, that the exhibition had been inarked by very nearly the same characteristics wherever it had been seen. Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class. It strikingly evinced the progress of knowledge and civilization, that the latter class was comparatively so small, although it afforded some few examples of the dismay with which, in barbarous ages of the world, such spectacles as this were wont to be regarded. One or two instances were reported, of persons who died with terror; many others thought the last great day had come; and the untutored black population of the South gave expression to their fears in cries and shrieks.

After collecting and collating the accounts given in all the periodicals of the country, and also in numerous letters addressed either to my scientific friends or to myself, the following appeared to be the leading facts attending the phenomenon. The shower pervaded near

ly the whole of North America, having appeared in nearly equal splendor from the British possessions on the north to the West-India Islands and Mexico on the south, and from sixty-one degrees of longitude east of the American coast, quite to the Pacific Ocean on he west. Throughout this immense region, the duration was nearly the same. The meteors began to attract attention by their unusual frequency and brilliancy, from nine to twelve o'clock in the evening; were most striking in their appearance from two to five; arrived at their maximum, in many places, about four o'clock; and continued until rendered invisible by the light of day. The meteors moved either in right lines, or in such apparent curves, as, upon optical principles, can be resolved into right lines. Their general tendency was towards the northwest, although, by the effect of perspective, they appeared to move in various directions.

Such were the leading phenomena of the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. For a fuller detail of the facts, as well as of the reasonings that were built on them, I must beg leave to refer you to some papers of mine in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth volumes of the American Journal of Science.

Soon after this wonderful occurrence, it was ascertained that a similar meteoric shower had appeared in 1799, and, what was remarkable, almost at exactly the same time of year, namely, on the morning of the twelfth of November; and we were again surprised as well as delighted, at receiving successive accounts from different parts of the world of the phenomenon, as having occurred on the morning of the same thirteenth of November, in 1830, 1831, and 1832. Hence this was evidently an event independent of the casual changes of the atmosphere; for, having a periodical return, it was undoubtedly to be referred to astronomical causes, and its recurrence, at a certain definite period of the year, plainly indicated some relation to the revolution of the earth around the sun. It remained, however, to

develope the nature of this relation, by investigating, if possible, the origin of the meteors. The views to which I was led on this subject suggested the probability that the same phenomenon would recur on the corresponding seasons of the year, for at least several years afterwards; and such proved to be the fact, although the appearances, at every succeeding return, were less and less striking, until 1839, when, so far as I have heard, they ceased altogether.

Mean-while, two other distinct periods of meteoric showers have, as already intimated, been determined; namely, about the ninth of August, and seventh of December. The facts relative to the history of these periods have been collected with great industry by Mr Edward C. Herrick; and several of the most ingenious and most useful conclusions, respecting the laws that regulate these singular exhibitions, have been deduced by Professor Twining. Several of the most distinguished astronomers of the Old World, also, have engaged in these investigations with great zeal, as Messrs. Arago and Biot, of Paris; Doctor Olbers, of Bremen ; M. Wartmann, of Geneva; and M. Quetelet, of Brussels. But you will be desirous to learn what are the conclusions which have been drawn respecting these new and extraordinary phenomena of the heavens. the inferences to which I was led, as explained in the twenty-sixth volume of the American Journal of Science,' have, at least in their most important points, been sanctioned by astronomers of the highest respectability, I will venture to give you a brief abstract of them, with such modifications as the progress of investigation since that period has rendered necessary.

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The principal questions involved in the inquiry were the following:-Was the origin of the meteors within the atmosphere, or beyond it? What was the height of the place above the surface of the earth? By what force were the meteors drawn or impelled towards the earth? In what directions did they move? With what velocity? What was the cause of their light and

heat? Of what size were the larger varieties? At what height above the earth did they disappear? What was the nature of the luminous trains which sometimes remained behind? What sort of bodies were the meteors themselves; of what kind of matter constituted; and in what manner did they exist before they fell to the earth? Finally, what relations did the source from which they emanated sustain to our earth?

In the first place, the meteors had their origin beyond the limits of our atmosphere. We know whether a given appearance in the sky is within the atmosphere or beyond it, by this circumstance: all bodies near the earth, including the atmosphere itself, have a common motion with the earth around its axis from west to east. When we see a celestial object moving regularly from west to east, at the same rate as the earth moves, leaving the stars behind, we know it is near the earth, and partakes, in common with the atmosphere, of its diurnal rotation: but when the earth leaves the object behind; or, in other words, when the object moves westward along with the stars, then we know that it is so distant as not to participate in the diurnal revolution of the earth, and of course to be beyond the atmosphere. The source from which the meteors emanated thus kept pace with the stars, and hence was beyond the atmosphere.

In the second place, the height of the place whence the meteors proceeded was very great, but it has not yet been accurately determined. Regarding the body whence the meteors emanated after the similitude of a cloud, it seemed possible to obtain its height in the same manner as we measure the height of a cloud, or indeed the height of the moon. Although we could not see the body itself, yet the part of the heavens whence the meteors came would indicate its position. This point we called the radiant; and the question was, whether the radiant was projected by distant observers on different parts of the sky; that is, whether it had any parallax. I took much pains to ascertain the truth of this matter, by corresponding with various

observers in different parts of the United States, who had accurately noted the position of the radiant among the fixed stars, and supposed I had obtained such materials as would enable us to determine the parallax, at least approximately; although such discordances existed in the evidence as reasonably to create some distrust of its validity. Putting together, however, the best materials I could obtain, I made the height of the radiant above the surface of the earth twenty-two hundred and thirty-eight miles. When, however, I afterwards obtained, as I supposed, some insight into the celestial origin of the meteors, I at once saw that the meteoric body must be much further off than this distance; and my present impression is, that we have not the means of determining what its height really is. We may safely place it at many thousand miles.

In the third place, with respect to the force by which the meteors were drawn or impelled towards the earth, my first impression was, that they fell merely by the force of gravity; but the velocity which, on careful investigation by Professor Twining and others, has been ascribed to them, is greater than can possibly result from gravity, since a body can never acquire, by gravity alone, a velocity greater than about seven miles per second. Some other cause, beside gravity, must therefore act, in order to give the meteors so great an apparent velocity.

In the fourth place, the meteors fell towards the earth in straight lines, and in directions which, within considerable distances, were nearly parallel with each other. The courses are inferred to have been in straight lines, because no others could have appeared to spectators in different situations to have described arcs of great circles. In order to be projected into the are of a great circle, the line of descent must be in a plane passing through the eye of the spectator; and the intersection of such planes, passing through the eyes of different spectators, must be straight lines. The lines of direction are inferred to have been parallel, on account of their apparent radiation from one point, that