, 1875-03-21
MVENTING 4 METEOR,


"Talkiog OF meteors, said old Capt. Harbot
tie, Tive read Of and seen many Of them ii
my time, and very wonderful phenomona the,
were TOO. But, /" added he, With peculiar smile
II think re1uomber one of which none OF tn.
Astronomers hare ever given En- account which
| Was at al sa:isfactory,-to mg mind, 1t an]
| rate''
| Curiosity to hear tho yarn tho old salt VA.
t evidently prepared to spin Was At once eagerly
| expressed. and, lighting our cigars, re went on
| deck to enjoy the moon snd tbs story together.
'tIn my younger days" slid the Captain, II
commanded ~ foe ship rs crer carried the
merchant flag. She VAS cir per~built, and sailed
like the winds, and. though We paid special
attention to the comfort OF passengers, VIC had
stowaRe enough in the hold for pretty profitable
ca1goes ~ wel. At that time ran regularly
from Liverpool to New York, and the passage
list OF the Della was always full. Yon see this
was before tho steam lines wero thought OF, and
our trips we're looked On as wonders Of speedy
navigation. Well. about the time / AN speaking
OF, ne used to have annual exhibitions OF the
most beautiful aad brilliant mateors that have
ever been recorded, and they always appeared
at the sSme timo Of year, SO that it got to be
quite matter OF ordinary expectation that ia
the second week Of November, or there
abouts, something Of the sort Was EURO to
be seen. This kind OF thing ran on, if
I remember rightly, for about eight or niue
years, aud as the open sea afforded the best pos
sitle view had many passenger who tooa tie
voyage u much to be ablo TO see these wonders
to the bess advantage as for anv other object.
But Of all the meteoric displays OF those times,
there WIS none a. all comparable to tia: which
took place on the night Of the 18th November,
Af-IHt 7
it in my life. Volumes Of shooting stars fell like
. fnow-siorm, leaving long. luminous lines along
their course through the heavens which lasted
for considerable time; and these, before they
we're quito dinlmed, were lnterspcrsel wlth eno1-
nous fre-bAlls which dart.d ouk every now and
most magnificent achievement IN p51otechnic
art wero beng carried on. Soma Of these
blazing spheres seemed to outriyA the moon As
far in magnitude IS they did in bEilliancy, and
considerable time, Illuminating tao sky and the
Sea 10 degree, and preaontlng an effect which
can never hope adequately to describe. In many
instances these resp1endeut bodies fo1sook the
spherical form and showed themselves in all
manner Of shapes, soma of which would puzzio
the mathematic.ans to name; but, whatever out
line they assumed their amazing sp1endor con-
tinued uniiininished and unlmpa1red.
"You may be sure atl this kind OF thing VAS
nuts for the astronomers. who went into their
observations with will, and Who flied the news-
Of whst ve. aud they had soen, and
constructed theories upon theories to &C.
count for them. The distance from the !
earth Of the source OF these phenomena was |
pretty generally allowed to be some two or three !
say), and no we're told Of aunuIar zones COM !
posed Of streams Of such Ike meteor1o bodies !
running IN sort Of counter current agaluht |
each OF her and getting mixed and dispersed at
the various points Of contact. / confess that
having never gone farther into astr9nomy than
thorough knowledse Of navigation. did not |
concern myself much about tue causes Of these
things; only know I Was very sorTy when they
began to grow less frequent. for they put little
buaiaess in my way. Is told you st tue STAT.
4 year or TWO after theae heavenly displays
had entirely ceased, m1ddle-aged gentleman
from Yorkshire had just begun to become aWare
If their having once existed. He had been cn-
,1osaed, good man, for all tho previous years Of |
lis LIFE in business, and had never allo* him.
,elf sufficient leisure therefrom to inquire into
2r care for what WAS going On 10 tho world, pro-
7ided it had no connection with the manufacture
Lud sale Of broadcloth for to this sole pursuit
lad al the powers Of his contemplat1ve mind
,een hitherto directed. Hs had now retired
nth handsome competence, aud why should be
lot look about hiul7
"Just 80, gentlemen, why not? It happened
hat one Of my former passengers, holng gen
leman Of mora than ordinary literary attaln-
aents, had written and published 1noet graphic
description OF ono Of the November phenomena
Fhich he had witnessed from the deck Of tho
)ella, Capt. Harbottle,-that vas me, you sec.
and this bad by some accident fallen under the
otice Of the gentleman from iorkahile e. Leia1re
nd means being now both ample, lr. Leeds de-
armined on voyage to New York and 70 return
! tue Della- Circumstances have convinced me
bat Mr Leeds uss fully Of the opinion that ;
leteor;o display was part Of tbs programme IN
very voyage from New York in ths clipper. ahip
leila THIS ut 1eas: is my IMPRESSION. ! may
~ wrong but you shall judge Tor youreelves.
I'VE we're advertised to leave New YORK on
10 1st November, and as the Della Was model
punctualty, as veil as Of e7efsthinG elsa, We
'ok onr departure on that ver5 day: We nd no.
need hardly say, WAS tho gentleman from York
11re. He came provided with manv astro-
omical t1eatisas, and no end Of pamphlets and
.wsnane1a. the latter ali having data (at tic
Nv laIegt' two years anterior to tIaa. Of our
.essnt yoyses, Mr. Leeds kept his stateroom