Chapter XVIII: Appendix: A

The Meteors of November 14th.

The _American Journal of Science and Arts_ for May, 1867 (received by the author after the first chapters of this work had gone to press), contains an interesting article by Professor Newton "On certain recent contributions to Astro-Meteorology." Of the five possible periods of the November ring, first designated by Professor N, it is now granted that the longest, viz., 33-1/4 years, is most probably the true one. The results of Leverrier's researches in regard to the epoch at which this meteoric mass was introduced into the solar system, are given in the same article. This distinguished astronomer supposes the group of meteors to have been thrown into an elliptic orbit by the disturbing influence of Uranus. The meteoric stream, according to the most trustworthy elements of its orbit, passed extremely near that planet about the year 126 of our era; which date is therefore assigned by Leverrier as the probable time of its entrance into the planetary system. This result, however, requires confirmation.

Although the earliest display of the November meteors, so far as certainly known, was that of the year 902, several more ancient exhibitions may, with some probability, be referred to the same epoch. These are the phenomena of 532, 599, and 600, A.D., and 1768, B.C. (See Quetelet's Catalogue.) The time of the year at which these showers occurred is not given. The _years_, however, correspond very well with the epochs of the maximum display of the November meteors. The intervals arranged in consecutive order, are as follows:

From B.C. 1768 to A.D. 532, 69 periods of 33·319 years each.
" A.D. 532 to " 599·5, 2 " 33·750 "
" " 599·5 to " 902, 9 " 33·614 "
" " 902 to " 934, 1 " 32·000 "
" " 934 to " 1002, 2 " 34·000 "
" " 1002 to " 1101, 3 " 33·000 "
" " 1101 to " 1202, 3 " 33·667 "
" " 1202 to " 1366, 5 " 32·800 "
" " 1366 to " 1533, 5 " 33·400 "
" " 1533 to " 1698, 5 " 33·000 "
" " 1698 to " 1799, 3 " 33·667 "
" " 1799 to " 1833, 1 " 34·000 "
" " 1833 to " 1866, 1 " 33·000 "

The first three dates are alone doubtful. The whole number of intervals from B.C. 1768 to A.D. 1866 is 109, and the mean length is 33·33 years.

The perturbations of the ring by Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, are doubtless considerable. It is worthy of note that--

14 periods of Jupiter are nearly equal to 5 of the ring.
9 " Saturn " " 8 "
23 " Uranus " " 58 "

This group or stream has its perihelion at the orbit of the earth; its aphelion, at that of Uranus. (See diagram, p. 24.) It must therefore produce star-showers at the latter as well as at the former. Our planet, moreover, at each encounter appropriates a portion of the meteoric matter; while at the remote apsis of the stream Uranus in all probability does the same. The matter of the ring will thus by slow degrees be gathered up by the two planets.

B.

Comets and Meteors.

The recent researches and speculations of European astronomers in regard to the origin of comets and of meteoric streams, have suggested to the author the propriety of reproducing the following extracts from an article written by himself, in July, 1861, and published in the _Danville Quarterly Review_ for December of that year:

"Different views are entertained by astronomers in regard to the _origin_ of comets; some believing them to enter the solar system _ab extra_; others supposing them to have originated within its limits. The former is the hypothesis of Laplace, and is regarded with favor by many eminent astronomers. It seems to afford a plausible explanation of the paucity of large comets during certain long intervals of time. In one hundred and fifty years, from 1600 to 1750, sixteen comets were visible to the naked eye; of which eight appeared in the twenty-five years from 1664 to 1689. Again, during sixty years from 1750 to 1810, only five comets were visible to the naked eye, while in the next fifty years there were double that number. Now, according to Laplace's hypothesis, patches of nebulous matter have been left nearly in equilibrium in the interstellar spaces. As the sun, in his progressive motion, approaches such clusters, they must, by virtue of his attraction, move toward the center of our system; the nearer portions with greater velocity than the more remote. The nebulous fragments thus introduced into our system would constitute comets; those of the same cluster would enter the solar domain at periods not very distant from each other; the forms of their orbits depending upon their original relative positions with reference to the sun's course, and also on planetary perturbations. On the other hand, the passage of the system through a region of space destitute of this chaotic vapor would be followed by a corresponding paucity of comets.

"Before the invention of the telescope, the appearance of a comet was a comparatively rare occurrence. The whole number visible to the naked eye during the last three hundred and sixty years has been fifty-five; or a mean of fifteen per century. The recent rate of telescopic discovery, however, has been about four or five annually. As many of these are extremely faint, it seems probable that an indefinite number, too small for detection, may be constantly traversing the solar domain. If we adopt Laplace's hypothesis of the origin of comets, we may suppose an almost continuous fall of primitive nebular matter toward the center of the system--the _drops_ of which, penetrating the earth's atmosphere, produce _sporadic_ meteors; the larger aggregations forming comets. The disturbing influence of the planets may have transformed the original orbits of many of the former, as well as of the latter, into ellipses. It is an interesting fact that the motions of some luminous meteors--or _cometoids_, as perhaps they might be called--have been decidedly indicative of an origin beyond the limits of the planetary system.

"But how are the phenomena of _periodic_ meteors to be accounted for, in accordance with this theory?

"The division of Biela's comet into two distinct parts suggests several interesting questions in cometary physics. The nature of the separating force remains to be discovered; 'but it is impossible to doubt that it arose from the divellent action of the sun, whatever may have been the mode of operation.'

"'A signal manifestation of the influence of the sun,' says a distinguished writer, 'is sometimes afforded by the breaking up of a comet into two or more separate parts, on the occasion of its approach to the perihelion. Seneca relates that Ephoras, an ancient Greek author, makes mention of a comet which before vanishing was seen to divide itself into two distinct bodies. The Roman philosopher appears to doubt the possibility of such a fact; but Keppler, with characteristic sagacity, has remarked that its actual occurrence was exceedingly probable. The latter astronomer further remarked that there were some grounds for supposing that two comets, which appeared in the same region of the heavens in the year 1618, were the fragments of a comet that had experienced a similar dissolution. Hevelius states that Cysatus perceived in the head of the great comet of 1618 unequivocal symptoms of a breaking up of the body into distinct fragments. The comet when first seen in the month of November, appeared like a round mass of concentrated light. On the 8th of December it seemed to be divided into several parts. On the 20th of the same month it resembled a multitude of small stars. Hevelius states that he himself witnessed a similar appearance in the head of the comet of 1661.'[34] Edward Biot, moreover, in his researches among the Chinese records, found an account of 'three dome-formed comets' that were visible simultaneously in 896, and pursued very nearly the same apparent path.

"Another instance of a similar phenomenon is recorded by Dion Cassius, who states that a comet which appeared eleven years before our era, separated itself into several small comets.

"These various examples are presented at one view, as follows:

"I. Ancient bipartition of a comet.--_Seneca, Quæst. Nat._,
_lib. VII. cap. XVI._

"II. Separation of a comet into a number of fragments, 11
B.C.--_Dion Cassius._

"III. Three comets seen simultaneously pursuing the same orbit,
A.D. 896--_Chinese records--Comptes Rendus_, tom. xx. 1845, p.
334.

"IV. Probable separation of a comet into parts, A.D.
1618.--_Hevelius_, _Cometographia_, p. 341.--_Keppler_, _De
Cometis_, p. 50.

"V. Indications of separation, 1661.--_Hevelius_,
_Cometographia_, p. 417.

"VI. Bipartition of Biela's comet, 1845-6.

"In view of these facts it seems highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the process of division has taken place in several instances besides that of Biela's comet. May not the force, whatever it is, that has produced _one_ separation, again divide the parts? And may not this action continue until the fragments become invisible? According to the theory now generally received, the periodic phenomena of shooting-stars are produced by the intersections of the orbits of such nebulous bodies with the earth's annual path. Now there is reason to believe that these meteoric rings are very elliptical, and in this respect wholly dissimilar to the rings of primitive vapor which, according to the nebular hypothesis, were successively abandoned at the solar equator; in other words, that the matter of which they are composed moves in _cometary_ rather than _planetary_ orbits. May not our periodic meteors be the _debris_ of ancient but now disintegrated comets, whose matter has become distributed around their orbits?"

C.

Biela's Comet and the Meteors of November 27th-30th.

At the close of Chapter IV. it was suggested that the meteors of November 27th-30th might possibly be derived from a ring of meteoric matter moving in the orbit of Biela's comet. Since that chapter was written similar conjectures have been started in the _Astronomische Nachrichten_[35] by Dr. Edmund Weiss and Prof. d'Arrest. The latter attempts to show that the December meteors may be derived from the same ring. The question will doubtless be decided at no distant day.

D.

The First Comet of 1861 and the Meteors of April 20th.

Recent investigations render it probable that the orbit of the first comet of 1861 is identical with that of the meteors of April 20th. The orbit is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For a full description, see Silliman's Journal for January and April, 1834 (Prof. Olmsted's article). Also a valuable paper, in the July No. of the same year, by Prof. Twining.

[2] Physique du Globe, Chap. IV.

[3] Professor Olmsted estimated the number of meteors, visible at New Haven, during the night of November 12th-13th, 1833, at 240,000.

[4] Conde says, "there were seen, as it were lances, an infinite number of stars, which scattered themselves like rain to the right and left, and that year was called 'the year of stars.'"

[5] In 1202, "on the last day of Muharrem, stars shot hither and thither in the heavens, eastward and westward, and flew against one another like a scattering swarm of locusts, to the right and left; this phenomenon lasted until daybreak; people were thrown into consternation, and cried to God the Most High with confused clamor."--Quoted by Prof. Newton, in Silliman's Journal, May, 1864.

[6] Am. Journ. of Sci. and Arts, May and July, 1864.

[7] The stream or arc of meteors is several years in passing its node. The first indication of the approach of the display of 1866 was the appearance of meteors in unusual numbers at Malta, on the 13th of November, 1864. The great length of the arc is indicated, moreover, by the showers of 931 and 934.

[8] Silliman's Journ. for Sept. and Nov., 1861.

[9] The numerical results here given are those found by Professor Newton. See Silliman's Journ. for March, 1865.

[10] The diameters of the asteroids are derived from a table by Prof. Lespiault, in the Rep. of the Smithsonian Inst. for 1861, p. 216.

[11] "It appears probable, from the researches of Schreibers, that 700 fall annually."--Cosmos, vol. i. p. 119 (Bohn's Ed.). Reichenbach makes the number much greater.

[12] New Concord is close to the Guernsey County line. Nearly all the stones fell in Guernsey.

[13] Cosmos, vol. i. p. 120.

[14] Leverrier's Annals of the Observatory of Paris, vol. i. p. 38.

[15] "This is a remarkable example of a stone arriving on the earth with a temperature approaching that of the interplanetary spaces. Aerolites containing much iron, a substance which conducts heat well, get thoroughly heated by their passage through the atmosphere. But the stony aerolites, containing less iron, conducting heat badly, preserve in their interior the temperature of the locality from which they fall; their surface only is heated, and generally fused. When the stones are large, the _excessive cold_ of their interior portion, which must be nearly that of interplanetary space, is remarked; but when small, they remain hot for some time."--_Dr. Phipson._

[16] Silliman's Journal, September, 1864.

[17] The same explanation is given by T. M. Hall, F.G.S., in the Popular Science Review for Oct. 1866.

[18] This list contains nothing but _aerolites_. In the Edinburgh Review for January, 1867, we find the following statements: "Out of the large number of authentic aerolites preserved in mineralogical collections, two only--one on the 10th of August, and one on the 13th of November--are recorded to have fallen on star-shower dates. On the other hand, five or six meteorites, on the epoch of the 13th-14th of October, belong to a date when star-showers, so far as is at present known, do not make their appearance." The inaccuracy of the former statement is sufficiently apparent. In regard to the latter we remark that Quetelet's Catalogue gives one star-shower on the 14th of October, and another on the 12th.

[19] The date of this remarkable occurrence is worthy of note as a probable aerolite epoch. From the 12th to the 15th of March we have the following falls of meteoric stones:

1. 1731, March 12th. At Halstead, Essex, England.
2. 1798, March 12th. At Salés, France.
3. 1806, March 15th. At Alais, France.
4. 1807, March 13th. At Timochin, Russia.
5. 1811, March 13th. At Kuleschofka, Russia.
6. 1813, March 13th-14th. The phenomena above described.
7. 1841, March 12th. At Grüneberg, Silesia.

Numerous fire-balls have appeared at the same epoch.

[20] The innermost or semi-transparent ring of Saturn appears to be similarly constituted, as the body of the planet is seen through it without any distortion whatever.

[21] Origin of the Stars, p. 173.

[22] Origin of the Stars, p. 184.

[23] Since the above was written Prof. Ennis has informed the author that, without making any estimate of his own, he adopted the density of Jupiter's first satellite as given in Lardner's _Handbook of Astronomy_.

[24] Origin of the Stars, p. 77.

[25] Youman's Correlation and Conservation of Forces, p. 244.

[26] Iowa Instructor and School Journal for November, 1866, p. 49.

[27] A recent hypothesis in regard to the temporary star of 1572 has been proposed by Alexander Wilcocks, M.D., of Philadelphia. See Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. of Phila. for 1859.

[28] Gautier's Notice of Recent Researches relating to Nebulæ.--Silliman's Journal for Jan. 1863, and March, 1864.

[29] Outlines of Astronomy, Art. 442.

[30] A learned and highly interesting examination of this hypothesis will be found in a memoir "On the Secular Variations and Mutual Relations of the Orbits of the Asteroids," communicated to the Am. Acad. of Arts and Sciences, April 24th, 1860, by Simon Newcomb, Esq.

[31] For an explanation of the origin of the asteroids according to the nebular hypothesis, see an article by David Trowbridge, A.M., in Silliman's Journal for Nov. 1864, and Jan. 1865.

[32] H. C. Sorby, F.R.S.

[33] Harte's Trans. of Laplace's Syst. of the World, vol. ii., note vii.

[34] Grant's Hist. of Phys. Astr., p. 302.

[35] Nos. 1632 and 1633.

PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., Phila.

_Will be sent by Mail, post-paid, on receipt of price._

NEW AMERICA.

By WILLIAM HEPWORTH DIXON, Editor of "The Athenæum," and author
of "The Holy Land," "William Penn," etc. With Illustrations
from Original Photographs. Third Edition. Complete in one
volume, Crown Octavo. Printed on tinted paper. Extra Cloth.
Price $2.75.

In these graphic volumes Mr. Dixon sketches American men and women, sharply, vigorously, and truthfully, under every aspect. The smart Yankee, the grave politician, the senate and the stage, the pulpit and the prairie, loafers and philanthropists, crowded streets and the howling wilderness, the saloon and the boudoir, with women everywhere at full length--all passes on before us in some of the most vivid and brilliant pages ever written.--_Dublin University Magazine._

ELEMENTS OF ART CRITICISM.

A Text-book for Schools and Colleges, and a Hand-book for
Amateurs and Artists. By G. W. SAMSON, D.D., President of
Columbian College, Washington, D. C. Second Edition. Crown 8vo.
Cloth. Price $3.50.

This work comprises a Treatise on the Principles of Man's Nature as addressed by Art, together with a Historic survey of the Methods of Art Execution in the departments of Drawing, Sculpture, Architecture, Painting, Landscape Gardening, and the Decorative Arts. The _Round Table_ says: "The work is incontestably one of great as well as unique value."

HISTORY OF THE U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION.

Being the General Report of its Work on the War of the
Rebellion. By CHARLES J. STILLÉ, Professor in the University of
Pennsylvania. One vol. 8vo. Cloth, beveled boards. Price $3.50.

TERRA MARIÆ; or, Threads of Maryland Colonial History.

By EDWARD D. NEILL, one of the Secretaries of the President of
the United States. 12mo. Extra Cloth. Price $2.00.

COMING WONDERS, expected between 1867 and 1875.

By the REV. M. BAXTER, author of "The Coming Battle." One vol.
12mo. Cloth. Price $1.00.

_LIPPINCOTT'S PRONOUNCING GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD_,

OR GEOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

Revised Edition, with an Appendix containing nearly ten thousand new notices, and the most recent Statistical Information, according to the latest Census Returns, of the United States and Foreign Countries.

Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazetteer gives--

I.--A Descriptive notice of the Countries, Islands, Rivers,
Mountains, Cities, Towns, etc., in every part of the Globe,
with the most Recent and Authentic Information.

II.--The Names of all Important places, etc., both in their
Native and Foreign Languages, with the PRONUNCIATION of the
same--a Feature never attempted in any other Work.

III.--The Classical Names of all Ancient Places, so far as they
can be accurately ascertained from the best Authorities.

IV.--A Complete Etymological Vocabulary of Geographical Names.

V.--An elaborate Introduction, explanatory of the Principles of
Pronunciation of Names in the Danish, Dutch, French, German,
Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Welsh Languages.

Comprised in a volume of over two thousand three hundred
imperial octavo pages. Price, $10.00.

FROM THE HON. HORACE MANN, LL.D.,

_Late President of Antioch College_.

I have had your Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World before me
for some weeks. Having long felt the necessity of a work of
this kind, I have spent no small amount of time in examining
yours. It seems to me so important to have a comprehensive
and authentic gazetteer in all our colleges, academies, and
schools, that I am induced in this instance to depart from my
general rule in regard to giving recommendations. Your work has
evidently been prepared with immense labor; and it exhibits
proofs from beginning to end that knowledge has presided over
its execution. The rising generation will be greatly benefited,
both in the accuracy and extent of their information, should
your work be kept as a book of reference on the table of every
professor and teacher in the country.

Transcriber's Notes:

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Text uses both "star shower" and "star-shower"; not changed here.

"Keppler" is spelled that way in this text.