The New York herald., 1874-08-10

and 30 we almost despair of King Caucus be-
ing near the end of his reign.
Tho Earth Amid the August A1eteos
Streams.
The earth is now rapidly nearing the mar.
gin Of the great August meteor stream which
has of late years excited SO much astronomic
inquiry On the 10th inst we approach
belt of meteors which exceed in number and
splendor those of the November period, but,
unlike the latter is not directly crossed. The
harbinger Of the August stream was seen on
the night of the Cd, as magnificent meteor
of dazzling brilhance, and, no doubt, the
present phenomenon will attract much atten-
ton. In 1867 one Of the most astonishing
meteoric displays was connected with the first
comet of 1866, and since that time the scien.
tific minds of the day have settled down upon
the conviction that the comets belong to the
meteor systems The established identity
of some cometary orbits and meteors
appears to entitle this to the dig.
nifty of actual discovery. II this be
admitted the August meteors are Of
6uIpdc6luk 0utA uOouSys 440 IVOV0ms
Der showers, brilliant as they are, have been
associated with comet Of insignificant di-
mensions, while those of the present month
have been referred to comet of extraordinary
size. The inference drawn by astronomers,
therefore, is that during the autumnal display
we are passing through small meteoric sys-
tenn, but in August we verge only on the bor-
der Of very much larger system and only sec
its outliers. During the present recurrence Of
this phenomenon it may prove that the comet
lately visible was the nucleus Of the August
system, and new clew may be furnished by
which to identify the. seemingly different and
disconnected wonders.
The popular apprehension felt in former
ages from the approach Of the brighter comets
has not been entirely lacking, when it was
known the earth was about to interscct tho
great meteoric streams. The enormous size
of some asrolites, shot from space into the
earth's atmosphere and penetrating OCCASION
ally to its crust, has invested the meteoric
shower with an interest sometimes coupled with
alarm. The celestial rocket may be very en-
gaging to the eye, but it is not pleasant to
think Of the blazing mass, sometimes Of
almost asteroidal size and Of several tons
weight, within few miles, falling earthward
with velocity fifty times that of railway
train. There is no doubt, however, that the
resistance of our atmosphere develops sufa-
cient heat by friction to fuse and vaporize tho
shooting star, 80 that it reaches the earth in
dissipated form. The number of solid
aerolites actually striking the earth with
violence and peril TO man is very small In
England only twenty are recorded, and this is
very small proportion, considering that every
year our planet intersects or grazss more than
hundred of these densely crowded meteor
streams. Out Of the twenty British aerolites
only four fell during the month of August,
their descent occurring between the
4th and 9th days. The only cause
for apprehension has been the earth's
attraction, and it has been supposed
this was influential in drawing these flying
masses toward u.s. But astronomers have con-
clusively disposed of such hypothesis,
since the solar attraction is proved all-control-
ling within the vast domain of the solar sys-
tenn. The meteoric families sweeping through
space in obedience to solar attraction rush
by the points where their track is closest to
the earth's orbit as unchecked as the express
train by village station. As great astrono-
mer tells us, such meteoric body coming
from the stellar depths toward the sun could
no more be turned aside by the earth's attrac-
ton than railway train could be caused to
leave the rails by the attraction of toy mag
net.
The forthcoming display of meteoric fire.
works may, therefore, be composedly studied,
and, it is to be hoped, with new disclosures to
our attentive star gazers and scientists.
Our COMMERCIAL RELATIONS. According
to the annual report on the commercial rela-
tions between the United States and foreign
nations, which has just been issued, our inn
portation and expectation may be considered
as in favorable condition. Canada has
benefited considerably by the withdrawal of
the Reciprocity Treaty, to judge from the vast
business she has been enabled to do with the
mother country, and the stupidity of our ma
tional legislation still gives the balance of