The Arkansas advocate., 1836-12-23

F-A LL1NG STARS.
 In the Scotsman of the 29lh of July, 1855 we gave an account of the extraordinary fall of me;eors over space of thousand miles in North Aiferiea or, tbe 18th of November, 1883. similar phenomenon was observed in 1881 again in 1882 in Ohio and at Oren burg in Russia; by Humboldt also in 1799; and all about the same period namely, the middle of Noyen- Der. In 1853; he shower Of meteors continued inc whole nights and 1t was observed that they seemed to iadate from one point. This point did not sniff with the change of he earhs position on its axes but fol- lowed the apparent motion of the stars in other words it confirmed fixed in part of the heavens Gin ga- ma Leonis.) Their height from the earth was esma- ted at 2000 miles, From these and other facts Pro- lessor 0lmstead of Yale College concluded that the falling stars were portions of nebslo or body of fine combustabe vapour, probably like the tail of comet, revolving round the in six months which portions were detached from the rest by the earths attraction and failing With immense aPidty, took fire whenfeach- ed our atmosphere.
 The subject has not escapedthe attention of Af Ar- ago, whose profound knowledge of physics entities his opinion to great weight He has adverted to 1t in a paper of which we have translation in the Ednburg philosophical Journal for July. He mentions obsei- vattons made in France in November 1885, confrma- tory fthe periodical occurrence of the meteors re- Jeots the idea oftheir originating within the atmosphere and alludng o the grand display of them in America ln 1855 says, It is scarcely possible present any other mode of explaining the astonishing appear ance of these bodes than by supposng that, besides the large planets there round the sun yriads of small bodes which are not visible except when they penetrate into atmosphere, and there become in-
 famed that some of these asteroids move in q cersin sense Tn groups, and others are insulated"
 Agaln he says. All these facts tend more and more to confirm n the belief that there exists zone com posed of millions of smaH bodes whose orbits meet the plane of be ecptic towards the point which the earth occupies every year from the lth to the 18th of No vember. Y iS planetary ,eorld jatst beginning 10 De rereated 10 us M Arago's idea is hat millions of gobues, small parcels of nebuous matter, circu- late round the sun in coftee whirlpool, which es the eafth's path about the middle of November ; and some of these, drawn from their course by the earths attraction, take fire when they reach the anos- phere, and assume the form of shooting stars He suggests that they should be looked for at the opposite point of the ecptic about inc end of April and audss to observation of Messef. who saw, in June, TIT at midday, "a prodlgoas number of black globules pass across the for about five minutes.a Might not these be asteroids This hypothesis explains the facts better than Professor Olmsteads; for we may suppose millions of these small nebulous bodies reye wing al all distances and round the sun, but dis tributed aneqHaY moving singy, some groups circular trains, and coming in contact with the earth at any point o it's orbit less frequently, less more abundant in that part of space through which il s moving at the time. We would thus account for the occasional appearance of allng stars at all seasons of the year, The old notion that they were trains of hy drogen other conabuslibe gas existing in the atmosphere, and accideny infamed, found to be un- tenabe.