The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-28
M Z T. 60 r S |!
~~>vNV>O~~~ONN~~~~~N~~~----
THE LAST lNSTALMENT.
How the Stars Fell in Eng
r land and Scotland.
A Magnificent Display-They are
Counted by the Thousand.
ETC., ETC., ETC.. Etc., Etc, Etc.

From our foreign files we are enabled TO pre-
sent our readers with the following graphic
accounts of the great meteoric shower of Novem-
Der the 14th, which did not come off In this part
of the world, but which did come off in foreign
lands:-
The MeteOric Shower as described by
the London "Times."
The Times fthe 18th has the following ac-
count of the display observed in the neighbor-
hood of Paddington Green:--
'The fiery shower foretold by the science of Ame-
November IN this year, was seen in ful splendor
Yesterday morning between the hours of IL ana g.
seen gliding q ong the sky from east TO west.
al he numbers il creased after IL O'Clock vita
great rapidlty. From Paddington Green, a fairly
open position, 207 meteors were counted betw cen
IL and II 80, and of these the greater number fell
after IL 20. The next hundred was counted during
the six minutes that sueceede d the balfhour Soon
alter th s 1t became impossible for two people to
count the whole that visible from thIs station
north OF Pa6dington Green and cleared itself Of
haze, he divergence OF the meteor paths from a
point within it became obvious, not merely in the
directions oil the streams that shot from or through
the zenith, but in those that left their phosphores
centseemng trails in the sky towards every point
Sometimes these rocket-like lines of light would
glide out ike sparks hvIng from an incanoescent
but with the distinctive features-frst, Of those lin
gering lines OF illuminated haze in their track; and
secondly Of @ their rarely tp as If theg 9rig
courses evidently diyerged.
sometimes the meteor was orange and almost red
in Its color, whereas the luminous trail seemed
most atNays probably bycontrast with the
rounding hight, of blush hue. In one spl endid
instance the trail, after having nearly disappeared.
together with the rockehead that had produced it,
became again lit up and visible concidently with
sort OF resusci alton of brightness The body of the
meteor. Now and then little illuminated puff.ball
would appear IN the middle of the constellation Leo,
generally more er less elongated or elliptic in form,
q N m nF lasQ afQnf and M . In
same time convergent from an imaginary point that
seemed about three degrees S. by E. OF the star
mated TO such point, wa simply star that waxed
and waned, and disappeared as one looked at It,
would dart with an angular, Jerking motion and
zig gag course hither and thther, but still as If
only about three meteors were seen during an
hour and halt to take direction manfesLlY op.
meteors which shot towards the western horizon
seemed more brilliant and larger in tn ir courses
regards the long lines Of light that fingered in the
paths of the meteors 1t seemed that generally they
were more dense and brightest towards the middle
of the visible paths OF the meteors while the meteor
itself seemed brightest just before its extinction,
effect posslb due to an obscuration In the middle
OF its course by matter thrown off from it. The
meteors seemed also to lose velocity as they went,
but this might have been the result OF perspective in
those passing through the zenith
was the ra pIdity with which the maximum of fire.
quency came on and went off again. About two
scarce as they were at twelve, though they con
inutd in smaller numbers till the verge of daybreak
From halfpast twelve or quarter to one unit
about a quarter-past half.past one, this heaven:
seemed yeritably alive with stars rushing in many
parts the sky in groups of two or three together
or in immediate succession on each other seeming
as though racing over the blue vault, except tina
their courses so rapidly diVerged."
Size, Color, and Number of the MeteOrs.
MIR. G. j. Symons writes to the 1imes:-
"The meteors were most numerous at II A. NJ.
when they were falling at the rate of one hundred
per minute-in fact the sky was scored in all drec
tlons with their tfains; the largest was not twice th
apparent brlliancY OF SIRIUS; the trains were. IL
some Instances, visible in two and haf-iDcl
telescope for two minutes. From to A, M. tn
meteors were not so large as before and after tina
hour, nor did they appear so uniform IN direction
two passed in parallel lines but opposite directions
! No lightning was seen unless it was at On. 35m
when two flashes of light were seen, but they wer
supposed to be from meteors in the north. esfimat
the total number visible at about seven or eigh
! thousand"
! G. J. Talmage, who saw the meteors from MT
Barclays observatory at Leyton, Essex, give
! the following tabular statement OF the numbe
| of meteors he COunted:--