The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-12-08
TIE WONDERS OF STAR
SHOWERS.

'>>|S J
there have been remarkable star show
ers in the years 1899, 1888 and 1866.
The shower of 1899 was we'll seen by
Humboldt and Bonpland at Cumana
in South America. Bonpland stated
that all through the display there was
not space in the sky equal to three
diameters of the moon that was not
necessarily filled with shooting stars
and fireballs One observer, who OBJ
served it at sea off the coast of Florida,
describes the phenomenon as "grand
and awful; the whole heavens appear
ed as if Illuminated by sky rockets
which disappeared only by the light
of the sun after daybreak. The me-
teors, which at one instant of time ap-
peared as numerous as the stars, flew
in all possible directions, except from
the earth, towards they inclined more
or less, and some of them descended
perpendicularly over the vessel I was
in, 80 that | felt in constant dread of
their falling on u.s.
During the shower Of 1888, which
was probably the finest on record,
Olmsted and another observer esti-
mated the number of meteors that ap-
peared as 240, 900 in nine hours. Ma
jor Strikland, in his work "Twenty-
seven Years in Canada West" thus
describes this wonderful star shower:
| think it was on November IA, 1888,
that | witnessed one of the most splen-
did spectacles in the world. My wife
awokc me between two and three
O'Clock in the morning to tell me that
it lightened incessantly. immediate
ly arose and looked out of the window,
when l was perfectly dazzled by
brilliant display of falling stars. AS
this extraordinary phenomenon did not
disappear, we dressed ourselves and
went 70 the door, where we continued
to watch the beautiful shower of fire
till after daylight. These bodies be-
came visible in the zenith, taking the
northeast in their descent. Few of
them appeared to be of lesser size than
a star of the first magnitude; very
many among them seemed larger than
Venus. Two of them in particular
appeared half as large as the Moon. l
should think, without exaggeration,
that several hundred of these beautiful
stars were visible at the same time, all
falling in the same direction, and leav-
ing in their wake a long stream of fire.
This appearance continued without in
termisson from the time | got up un-
til after sunrise. No description of
mine can give an adequate idea of the
magnificence of this scene, which |
would not willingly have missed.
This remarkable phenomenon occurred
on clear and frosty night, when the
ground was covered with about an inch
of show Another observer says
"Within the scope that the eye conld
contain more than twenty could be
seen at time, shooting in every di-
rection- Not cloud obscured the
broad expanse, and millions of meteors
sped their way across it on every point
of the compass. Their coruscations
were bright, cleaning, and incessant,
and they fell thick as the flakes in the
early SHOWS of December. One was
witnessed which left a steady path of
light that was clearly discerniblc for
more than ten minutes after the ball
had exploded. Compared with the
splendor Of this celestial exhibition,
the most brilliant rockets and fire
works Of art bore less relation than the
twinkling OF the most tiny star to the
broad glare of the SUM- This great |
shower created ,lsternation among
the nc~r,cs o. South Carolina, and
planter describes the scene as follows
Il was suddenly awakened by the
most distressing cries that ever fell on
my ears Shrieks of horror and cries
for mercy | could hear from most of
the negroes of the three plantations,
amounting IN all to about 600 or 500.
While earnestly listening for the
cause, | heard faint noise near the
door calling my name. | arose, and
taking my sword, stood at the door.
At this moment heard the same voice |
still hpSepchinU me to rise and SaVinU