this fancy. Again, turning eastward, it was possible now and then to catch broken glimpses of the train of one of the meteors through the grim dark pillars of that ruin of most successful manufacture, the National Monument; and in fact from no point in or out of the city was it possible to watch the strange rain of stars, pervading as it did all points of the heavens, without pleased interest, and a kindling of the imagination, and often a touch of deeper feeling that bordered on awe. The spectacle, of which the loftiest and most elaborate description could but be at the best imperfect—which truly should have been seen to be imagined—will not soon pass from the memories of those to whose minds were last night presented the mysterious activities and boundless fecundities of that universe of the heavens, the very unchangeableness of whose beauty has to many made it monotonous and of no interest."

The appearance of the phenomenon, as witnessed at London, is minutely described in the Times of November 15th. The shower occurred chiefly between the hours of twelve and two. About one o'clock a single observer counted 200 in two minutes. The whole number seen at Greenwich was 8485. The shower was also observed in different countries on the continent.

The Meteors of 1866 compared with those of former Displays.

The star shower of 1866 was much inferior to those of 1799 and 1833.3 With these exceptions, however, it has, perhaps, been scarcely surpassed during the last 500 years. Historians represent the meteors of 902 as innumerable, and as moving like rain in all possible directions.4 The exhibition of 1202 was no less magnificent. The stars, it is said, were seen to dash against each other like swarms of locusts; the phenomenon lasting till daybreak.5 The shower of 1366 is thus described in a Portuguese chronicle, quoted by Humboldt: "In the year 1366, twenty-two days of the month of October being past, three months before the death of the king, Dom Pedro (of Portugal), there was in the heavens a movement of stars, such as men never before saw or heard of. At midnight, and for some time after, all the stars moved from the east to the west; and after being collected together, they began to move, some in one direction, and others in another. And afterward they fell from the sky in such numbers, and so thickly together, that as they descended low in the air, they seemed large and fiery, and the sky and the air seemed to be in flames, and even the earth appeared as if ready to take fire. That portion of the sky where there were no stars, seemed to be divided into many parts, and this lasted for a long time."

The following is Humboldt's description of the shower of 1799, as witnessed by himself and Bonpland, in Cumana, South America: "From half after two, the most extraordinary luminous meteors were seen toward the east.... Thousands of bolides and falling stars succeeded each other during four hours. They filled a space in the sky extending from the true east 30° toward the north and south. In an amplitude of 60° the meteors were seen to rise above the horizon at E. N. E. and at E., describe arcs more or less extended, and fall toward the south, after having followed the direction of the meridian. Some of them attained a height of 40°, and all exceeded 25° or 30°.... Mr. Bonpland relates, that from the beginning of the phenomenon there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three diameters of the moon, that was not filled at every instant with bolides and falling-stars.... The Guaiqueries in the Indian suburb came out and asserted that the firework had begun at one o'clock.... The phenomenon ceased by degrees after four o'clock, and the bolides and falling-stars became less frequent; but we still distinguished some toward the northeast a quarter of an hour after sunrise."

Discussion of the Phenomena.

Since the memorable display of November 13th, 1833, the phenomena of shooting-stars have been observed and discussed by Brandes, Benzenberg, Olbers, Saigey, Heis, Olmsted, Herrick, Twining, Newton, Greg, and many others. In the elaborate paper of Professor Olmsted, it was shown that the meteors had their origin at a distance of more than 2000 miles from the earth's surface; that their paths diverged from a common point near the star Gamma Leonis; that in a number of instances they became visible about 80 miles from the earth's surface; that their velocity was comparable to that of the earth in its orbit; and that in some cases their extinction occurred at an elevation of 30 miles. It was inferred, moreover, that they consisted of combustible matter which took fire and was consumed in passing through the atmosphere; that this matter was derived from a nebulous body revolving round the sun in an elliptical orbit, but little inclined to the plane of the ecliptic; that its aphelion was near that point of the earth's orbit through which we annually pass about the 13th of November—the perihelion being a little within the orbit of Mercury; and finally that its period was about one-half that of the earth. Dr. Olmsted subsequently modified his theory, having been led by further observations to regard the zodiacal light as the nebulous body from which the shooting-stars are derived. The latter hypothesis was also adopted by the celebrated Biot.

The fact that the position of the radiant point does not change with the earth's rotation, places the cosmical origin of the meteors wholly beyond question. The theory of a closed ring of nebulous matter revolving round the sun in an elliptical orbit which intersects that of the earth, affords a simple and satisfactory explanation of the phenomena. This theory was adopted by Humboldt, Arago, and others, shortly after the occurrence of the meteoric shower of 1833. That the body which furnishes the material of these meteors moves in a closed or elliptical orbit is evident from the periodicity of the shower. It is also manifest from the partial recurrence of the phenomenon from year to year, that the matter is diffused around the orbit; while the extraordinary falls of 1833, 1799, 1366, and 1202, prove the diffusion to be far from uniform.

Elements of the Orbit.

Future observations, it may be hoped, will ultimately lead to an accurate determination of the elements of this ring: many years, however, will probably elapse before all the circumstances of its motion can be satisfactorily known. Professor Newton, of Yale College, has led the way in an able discussion of the observations.6 He has shown that the different parts of the ring are, in all probability, of very unequal density; that the motion is retrograde; and that the time, during which the meteors complete a revolution about the sun, must be limited to one of five accurately determined periods, viz.: 180·05 days, 185·54 days,