The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-06


as whole, instead Of persisting in the
observation and study of these luminous
bodies one by one
The most striking feature of the curious
phenomenon We are examining, is the occur
renee of extraordinary displays of shooting
stars Brandes relates that, on the 9th of
December, 1898, while travelling to
Breme in public conveyance, he counted
four hundred and eighty through one of the
diligence windows; from which he reckons
that at least two thousand must have ap-
peared in the heavens during the course of
the night.
In the night from the 18th to the 10Th of
November, 1799-the above dates are impor-
tant to note-Humboldt and Bonpland wit
messed, at Cumana, in South America, per-
feet shower of shooting stars. The phenome-
non, already remarked in the evening,
acquired great intensity in the middle of the
night, and continued to increase until in
the morning, when it gradually diminished
until daylight. Bonpland says that there was
not portion of the sky equal in extent to
three times the moons diameter, which was
not every instant full of shooting stars. The
inhabitants of Cumana were frightened at
this unusual sight. The Oldest amongst them
remembered that the great earthquakes of
1766 had been preceded by similar pheno-
menon.
measure forgotten, when O fresh shower of
shooting stars was observed in America on
the 18th of November, 1888. Professor
Olmsted, of New Haven, published O. very
important memoir on the subject. Calcu-
lating from the data sent to him, he estimated
the number of shooting stars, which were
seen at certain spots during the nights of the
10Th and 18th of November, at more than two
hundred thousand. The numerous accounts
recorded of this event, and the publicity
given to it by the journals, recalled the gene
raj attention in this direction, and everybody
began to watch the case more carefully than
hitherto. Regular observations of shooting
stars were organized, and little by little there
resulted from them clearer idea of the
general course and march of the phenomenon.
In Olmsteds opinion, the grand November
display was periodical, and ought to recur
every year at the same epoch. 1t was ascer-
tained, in fact, that every year, about the
10Th and 18th of November, there was a very
marked increase in the number of shooting
stars appearing in the sky; but that was far
from reproducing the extraordinary spectacle
beheld in America in 1888. In 1887, the
astronomer Olbers wrote - Perhaps we
shall have to wait till 1867 before we wit
ness repetition of the magnificent phe-
nomenon presented to our view in 1899
and 1885" a bold prediction which We
saw completely realized year sooner,
namely, in 1866. The remembrance, by
the inhabitants of Cumana, in 1893, of the
grand shower of shooting stars beheld in
1766, doubtless contributed not little to
Oilers belief in the periodical return OF o
like exhibition every thirty y-three or thirty
four years.
But even in its reduced proportions in the
years following 1888, the November phe-
nomenon was not the less interesting TO study.
And soon afterwards NJ. Quetelet announced
to the Academic of Brussels that the
night of the 10th of August rivalled,
in respect to the number of its shoot
ing stars that of the 18th of Novem-
ber. The facts fully confirmed his assertion;
and the more closely tbey were observed, the
more importance they gave to these periodi-
cal meteoric displays.
The first singular circumstance remarked
was, the variation Of the intensity of the
phenomenon at different epochs Of the same
year. An dRlUdL gGTj0tiOH was soon indubi-
table. Afterwards, by watching what takes
place, not during the course of an entire
year, but every night, it was found that even
in this short interval of time, there is a
manifest variation in the frequency of shoot
ing stars. This gives us djurllal
four hours. Moreover, although these
so-called stars are seen to shoot from
every quarter of the heavens, close examina-
tion shows that the different quarters do not
furnish equal quantities of shooting stars.
There is also, in this ressect, variation,
which is called the d2GmuttdL variation. For
instance, great many more shooting stars
start from the east than from the west; while,
on the other hand about as many come from
the north as from the south.
The existence of these variations, annual,
Ahxl fl..
time the stumbling block of the astro-
nomical, or cosmical, theory of shooting
stars; namely, the theory which attributes
the phenomenon to the earth's successfully
encountering, while travelling through space,
a multitude of small bodies dispersed in it.
These variations were the ground on which
some philosophers refused to acknowledge
shooting stars to be anything else than at
mospheric meteors, entirely originated and
developed in the atmosphere which surrounds
the earth. Thus, Humboldt, in his Cosmos, u
says-''It is difficult to guess what influence
q more advanced hour of the night can ex-
ercise on these phenomena. If it were es-
tablished that, under different meridians,
shooting stars began to be visible at a fixed
hour, we should be obliged to admit Gf we
wish to maintain the astronomical theory
the pposition-improbable in itself-that
certain hours of the night, or rather of the
morning, are more favorable TO the infamma-
ton of shooting stars, and that, during the
preceding hours, some of them remain in
visible.
In fact, if the phenomenon of shooting
stars be occasioned by the earths meeting
multitude of small bodies dispersed 10
space, what can be more natural than to
admit that these encounters take place as
much at one date as at another-as much at
one hour of the night as at any other hour OF
the night; in short, that the phenomenon
will occur without any periodical variation?