The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-17
THOSE METEORS.

| A grand celestial parade of meteors | is scheduled for November IA, and three
 years must elapse ere the last meteor in the procession passes out of sight. When the path of the meteors crosses
 that of the earth the earth passes ob- liquely through the stream, and is ex- posed to the downpour of meteors for
 several hours. We greeted few mem
 and look forward to a view of the rear
 guard in the year 1900 The members
 of this celestial army are known by the
 name of the Leonids, since their paths traced backward all radiate from a
 point in the constellation Ito, Their
 uniform is green and blue, and they march in double quick time, with a
 speed averaging twenty-six miles a second.
 AS 1t happens we are hastening to meet the Leonids, and as a result of the combination of their speed with ours (which is nineteen miles a second) that of the Leonids is equivalent to forty or fifty miles second. They make their presence known to us by means of vid- i'd and persistent flashes of light sas they dash recklessly into the air sur rounding our planet and lombard us with their celestial artillery. Battal- ions of Leonids are marching in widely extended ranks, about 100000 miles across, by a concerted plan along prescribed track nearly 2,000,000 miles in span), under orders sealed perhaps forever to human intelligence. At eve " return there are dtserters from the ranks, worn out by this tremendous journey, lasting over thirty-three years.
 On the coming occasion there may be some Leonids who enjoyed a brief glimpse of planet earth as they has tened by it on their way in 1893 and 1866, and at the parade in 1899 they may decide to become better acquainted with our planet As a consequence the com- panies and columns of the Leonids will be broken and gaps are soon taken, and the companies and columns become as compact as ever. Meanwhile the ar dor of the deserters diminishes some what as they plunge into the shield of air protecting Us from such intruders; they encounter numberless obstacles in the way, particles of air, and battle ensues between the deserters from the ranks of motors and the particles, re- sultng in victory for the latter and dis astrous defeat for the former.
 The method of distinguishing the Leo nids is simple. All that is necessary is to recognize at the outset the sickle shaped group of stars, rising shortly before midnight somewhat to the north of the east point Any meteor which travels athwart the heavens on a path whose prolongation backward passes through the middle of the sickle may be regarded as almost certainly belonging to the November system. It will be quite certain the meteors not fulfilling this condition do not belong to that system. sf
 (Professor Pickering of Harvard)
 The predicted time of maximum of the Leonids is November 15, at eighteen hours Greenwich mean time, and as the Leonids will not visit us again for thir- ty-three and a quarter years, no pains should be spared to secure the best possible observations. The most useful that can be made by anna teurs are those which will serve to de- | tern1ine the number of meteors visible | per hour throughout the entire dura- ton of the shower. In this way many observations were secured last | year-New York Herald