, 1866-11-13
THE MkTEOnlC SHOWER.
observations Last Night 1T the Chicago
un1veTzltY.

The fAct thai an unusual display OF meteor,, o,
st falling stars," might be looked for this yasr
about the tah Of November, has been announced
Tor rome time, and awakened much tnsc,eat la
ths general public Is we'll u IN professional and
These singular phenomena have for centuries beeu
.aho5 y unnsnal iaplsy y fsr h.ek The year i'd
Understandings OF ts Causes md nature. Again #
wss ss especially no'ltcd IN 1eo2; again November
W Mn 5G Il Ers9pe 1s I'D Aees In The evening
= I'd sS IT, ,sss ae =,
many y a fostJ-ei9ht weru counted By IN
os's9s 81 So9surr IT, III hn1se' IT, On The on,ag
Nere NA,bIe throughout North Amer1cM II
being eAtitaated that two hundred thousand Were
sssa res1Y !, s,9sls st1ton IN e It ~. time IN
6een noted, but tho most extraordinary Numbers
pfoiesaor loomta thinks, have appeared in cycles
That during the psesent year repetition of Tic
great shower would take place.
Inefe ncteoric Displays hare alwaJa been
they have been Of curiosity and perpicdty to The
learned. ThG iotmer hare considered ihem Is
po5te1fs OF d!sasse1s, war, peetIlence, even the
extreme terror At sight Of the v1sitanon Scicrce.
howeyes, has laid Ii hand On The mysteries Of lhe
heavens, and rrduced even tbs motions OF com:ls
Of these ncsy showers has been predicted and 10
called - surely a th2t Of an ctl,p5e,
oul A9Aoslt1es arc divided a TO the ex1ct nalurt
olmsted. Of New Raven, supposes them +io con
stst Of combustible matter because they arc seen
TO take are md hn.n 10 the atmosphere, and are
fail toward the easlh with tumensc velocity. few.
Ike Wad fred from piece OF artillery
Another theory apparently 4 Wild one. Ia that
these bodies are portions OF the snn, thrown oil
IN IT, revolutions and sent whlrling into space,
Arago's theory, IN which Professor Stafford olthc
Chicago University conclde., ID that each Of these
i Iae's0Ts T. fs an indspeadsnt material 6od}, rcvo's;
By the earth. at this tisna of the year coming
within the course Of their revolutions. The dense
bodies arc thus attracted, perhaps, from theEf
they are sometimes found ii tbe form of ia,mea.e @
and many buried ef into lho astnown sesfons q
space IN nct. science has not attained to exact
nefs On the nature OF these singular phcnomeus.
and tbe oheerses y 1t uperty to select the theory
Proirtsor sa5ofd, The astranoncr Of the Chicago
IhiEefslkJ, m3ds arrangements Lat ulght 10 note
me eIpested display IN this region, Some sixty
divided up into leliefs. each squat doing duty for
about tNo hours. They were stationed 81 lwos on
the eide Of The Observatory, and othcrs on the
to note Tic rumber 81 ne:eora md the po.ps oi
the heavens in which they were observed. tbs
night was reasonably favorable for the enterprise
= snd II O'Clock, ninety mrteors were noted,
though It was not expected that the display
wonld be very great before midnight. Thfs nnri-
yer "a much greater than y recorded as haring
hundred and twenty nine only being noted in tout
and half hours. They appeared last night to
come mostly from the constellation Leo. IA the
east And to move In nearly horizontal direction,
though many fell oblique1y and perpeudleularly,
and the direction varied As tho constellation
changed tts position.
From eleven 10 ono o'clock oEer one hundred
aud htty were couuted, still principally In the
northeast, and tho number WIS eviaenty tncress-
lug.
At one o'clock our reporter WAS obliged to
leave, and the number observed In the following
hours, which were really ihc most favorable,
not be gisen pntil Tomorrow.
The dtsrlay, though perhaps not so interesting
10 The general public n WAS expected, was etii!
very noteworthy, and turned the thoughts
more rererently md fntel'igently towards the
the astronomer found nsw food Tor study aud neN
demonstrations Of tho laws Of aeisnee and uaturr