The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-11-21 00:00:00

THE NOVEMBEtt STAR-SHOWER.

The magnificent display of falling stars seen on the
morning of Not ember 14, 1866, led many to watch,
last Novend ar, for a recurrence of the phenomenon,
(says the D,tily Arms). Astronomers were not very
positive, indeed, in asserting the probability that the
shower would be seen. The full moon was shining,
too, throughout the morning of Novembsr 14, and a
haze overspread the sky towards the hour at which
the display was expected to attain its maximum of
brilliancy ; so that even if stars had been falling in con-
siderable numbers few could have been seen. -But as
a matter of fact, had the night been ever so clear, we
should have seen no shower; for it is now well known
that the display took place elsewhere. The sun had
risen two hours in England when the earth commenced
her passage through the denser strata of meteoric
bodies.
It cannot be considered that astronomers were very
far out in their reckoning. In fact, those who are
most f. asiliar with the doubts which at present hang
over our knowledge of the November star system are
rather surprised at the close coincidence which existed
between the estimates of our astronomers and the re-
corded event than at the fact that the display did not
take place precisely at the expected hour. In 1866
astronomers had been far less happy in their calcula-
__
thins, notwithstanding the splendour of the display
THE SEPARATION OF WESLEYANS which rewarded those who watched on the morning of
i November 14. It was confidently anticipated that the
FROM THE CHURCH.
shower would be seen to the best advantage in
The following extract from "The Relations of John America ; and so doubtful were the astronomers as to
Wesley rind of Wesleyan Xlethodists to the Church of the exact holm of the display in England, that Mr.
England, by the Rev. Jai If. Rigg. au," stay interest sops Alex. Herschel (who was justly recognised as the
of our mailers who probably have been watching the progress leading English authority in the matter) pronounced
of opinion In ecclesiastical matters : . the 13th as the dty on which the shower was most
It is now the policy of Churchmen to allege that likely to take place.
Wesley was a Churchman to the last, and tint if Last year, as we have said, astronomers were bold
Wesleyans were consistent the would be Churchmen enough to announce, though not with absolute cer-
too. Fifty, even thirty, years ago Churchmen took tainty, the probable hour at which the display would
very different ground, and argued that Wesley was, attain its greatest brilliancy. That hour was 7.20 am.,
throughout all his active career, a "schismatic " and November 14. The event, while justifying the general
no other than a Dissenter, whatever he might fancy accuracy of their calculations, occurred long enough
himsed to be. The facts are quite as much in favour after the hour named to prevent observers iit England
of this view as if that now set forth by our modern from seeing ally save a few straggling meteors which
Churchmen. Truth, however, tai the %hole gains lay on the confines of the meteoric stratum throng
through these discussions. Feeling and opinion ; which the earth was presently to pass.
oscillate from one extreme to another; but there is pro- 1
gross notwithstanding towards an equitable and corn. Putting prediction on one side, let us pass on to speak
prehensive settlementof the question. Churchmen now a few words shout the remarkable discoveries which
admit that the corruption andsupineness of their Church astronomers have made during the past two years re-
in the middle of the last century were such as to specting the November meteors.
justify irregularities; tney admit, moreover, and When we watched the display of November Li,
lament that Wesley. and his people were coarsely 1806, we had but faint conceptions of the magnificence
and often Cruelly driven out from a communion in of the scheme to which the stars we saw belonged.
which he and his brother, mist honestly and Astronomers themselves had been unwilling to accept
intensely, and many of his people very seriously, the theory that the recurrence of periodic maxima
desired to reniain. Further still, they justify by some three times in a century indicated that the zone of
the schemes and proposals which, even at the present meteors had that enormous extension which cones.
day, they set forth for the comprehension of Methodism, ponds to a period of revolution of thirty-three years.
notwithstanding its separate existence for fifty years It was shown that if the meteors really revolved in
past, those ideas and hopes as to the possibility of such a period th-ir orbital motions must carry them
retaining Methodism within the Church, if the bishops far out in space beyond the orbit of the distant planet
and clergy had but been willing, which the Wesleyans Uranus. '1 herefore astronomers attempted to show
ventured to indulge. All ads is to for good; It is that the meteors may possibly revolve in an orbit some-
eminently satisfactory to Methodists ;it is acccorn- what smaller than that of our own earth, the richest
pauied with many indications of Chris' ian candour and part of the zone encircling round in ltss than a year,
kindliness on the part of Churchmen which ought to but encountering our earth once only in thirty-three
be frankly and cordially acknowledged and recipro- . years. But the calculations of Adams have proved
rated. It remains only for them to learn two things— beyond all possibility id doubt that the 7.01113 of meteors
that Wesley ceased to be a High-Churchmen fifty really has the enormous extension indicated by the
years before his death, and that Wesleyan Methodism former view. The meteors which we watched in 1366
cannot be absorbed Methodism, as I have had come from beyond the orbit of Uranus, and we
noted in an early part of this pamphlet, if it were to might almost say that they`were connected by a con.
be "reconciled" to the Church of England, would Crowns stream of their companions with these for
have to part company with the other Christian distant regions of space which lie between the orbits of
churches and communions throughout the world. Uranus.and Neptune.
The liberty of friendship and co-operation which But this is not all. One of the most suggestive (Un-
it now enjoys would have to be given up. From coveries ever made by astronomers is associated in an
a large and wealthy place, where almost all evan- intimate manner with the November shooting-star
gelical churches can meet, i would have to retire into system. We believe th it the Italian Schiaparelli was
a 'cry strait room. But what I would par, icularly the first to notice that the August meteors seem to
ask Churchmen to consider is, that the genius id travel in the track of the great comet of 1862. The
Methodism so Anglican Episcopacy are mctually coMcidence between the meteor zone and the orbit of
repellent and exclusive. In the Church of England that comet was sufficiently close, when a certain as-
everything depends upon and descerds from the sumption was made respecting the paths of the
muuster, or, as they say, "the priest." This is not meteors. The assumption was permissible—at least

.... . .„ _
The Admiral had rritld,
" lie can't go wrong wlm lays his ship
Along a foeman's side !"
Straigbt at the Santa A ana
Banal .•;nerreign spol,
And fought till all the hostile fleet
Were captured, sunk, or tied !
To-day there lives at Folkestone
A bent seafaring lean,
Worn down with penury, and year,
Beyond life's wonted span !
Who is this wlete-hair'd skipper,
ill-clad and pinch'd for food
'Tis Kennic,lo, once midshipman
With Nelson's collingwood
A bombshell at Trafalgar
The middy's eye struck out,
And gave him nine-and-thirty wounds,
Whose scars he hears about !
Bethink yon, then, kind Britons,
Of Captain Kennicott,
That he al Id die in want, would be
A scandal Mei a blot !—Judy.