Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-24
METEoRIC SHOWER OF '3s.
Graphic Description of That Famous
Gall of stars"

Gall of stars
The New England Magazine for January,
1884, has an account OF the remarkable
display OF shooting stars on the night of
November 13, 1888 The periodicity of the
display had not then been observed, al
though II is remarked as a curious coinci-
dence that the meteoric shower of 1899,
equaling that Of 1888 in brilliancy, occurred
on the night of November IL. The writer
adds prophetically that philosophy. in her
ripper age, may draw many important in
ferences from these remarkable coinci-
dences. A correspondent of the Boston
Transcript, copied the following passages
from the article:
THE general description Of the phenom-
enon is that of innumerable meteors in
rapid succession, and for long space Of
time, darttng down THE heavens, filling
them with light, leaving behind long trains
of brightness, and exploding in the most
brilliant coruscations.s The least excited OBJ
servers speak Of the heavens beng streakec
with living fre-of the atmosphere above
and around rolling up and kidding into
innumerable balls of rolling fre'-and other
comparisons equally emphatic. 1t may
be doubted whether any description has
surpassed in accuracy and impressiveness
that Of the old negro in Virginia. who
remarked: 1T Is awful, indeed, sir, it looked
like ripe crabapples falling from the trees.
when shaking them for cider The meteors
differed in size and brilliancy, some SEEM
ing little more than mere points, others
were larger and brighter than Jupiter or
Venus. Prof. Omstead of New Haven
mentions one as large as the moon. Two
also are recorded as seen at Richmond, Va.
of uncommon size, which exhibited very siu-
gular and beautiful appearances. Both were
about the size OF a six-inch globe one Of
these darted to the northeast leaving be-
hind 1t train apparently 200 or 300 yards
in length ana threw sparks in every d.
rection, until it exploded in 1000 brilliant
particles. 1t continued in its path of light
while sixty-three were counted by the OBJ
server. The other, equal in size, shot to
the southeast and continued in it's course
while 1877 were counted. cracking noise
attended both. In Newton. N. j., one OBJ
server reported a dark spot, like a cloud
which gradually grew darker; and smaller,
ntilsft burst and produced brilliant and
extended flash of light Another person at
the same place saw body of light in the
east resembling disc OF the sun, seen
through cloudy atmosphere This grad
until 1t finally disappeared In Warren, O.,
a luminous spot was observed in the north
east, resembling the new mCon 1t then
assumed the appearance OF the italic S, was
exceedingly brilliant, and apparently fifteen
or twenty feet in length. The most sin
gular of these meteors was that which,
In some Of the accounts, is called the SER
pent, and is described by Prof. Olmstead.
a tyhi oh hot off
west direction and exploded near the star
Capella, in the Goat. This left, Just be-
hind, the place of it's explosion, a long
train OF light of peculiar beauty. 1t was
at first straight, but it soon began to con-
tract in length and extended in breadth
Till 1t assumed the appearance of a serpent
folding itself up, and at last appeared like
small luminous cloud of vapor. This
cloud was carried by the wind to the south
east, opposite to the direction of the meteor
and remained in sight several minutes"
The duration of the shower was about
six hours. beginning soon after midnight
and continuing until the day yelled the
meteors, as it did the stars. The phenome-
non was observed all over the limited
States and the writer thinks 1t likely that
1t was also seen in Europe, as was the
shower OF 1893. He says that the current
of testimony is against any audible ex-
plosions, and yet many observers report a
sound as of firearms, and at Charleston,
S. c., meteor exploded with the noise of
a cannon. The best observers of that time,
like Prof. Olmstead, reported that the me-
teors all seemed to proceed from a fixed
point In the heavens, and like the radii
of circle followed the arch of the sky"
None crossed the track OF the other and
there was really no such wild shooting as
appeared to the excited imaginatons OF
some observers. AS to velocity it was
computed that II they were sixty miles
from the earth they would have moved
at the rate of twenty miles a second. The
writer speculates at length as to the
origin OF the meteors, suggesting the theory
that they are thrown off from some solid
body in a state of intense ignition and
then knocking this theory in the head by
saying that such a body must be luminous
and visible itself. On the whole he pre-
fers the hypothesis that the earth is pass
ing through the tail of a comet. Prof.
Caswell OF Brown university thought that