| OCR Text |
Show MioollntrMara. lonJott rullle Oplnhn J The abootliiR atira are email bodtos, welnbliifr, at miat, n few pounds, nnd rontlittuir. mainly of Iron und carbon. They traverse eie In awnnns. aud al.o revolve nrouud Ihe sun In ioni;, eliitlcjtl courxa llliu the cornels. When these llttlo bodlea enter Ihu larth'aotblt, they are deflected toward Ihu tnrlb, and great nuaibera are seen In ittlniilM lilxht. Their briiihtiuas la duo to tlio bout ungendered uy the omrKyof their luntiou. rhelr fed la uuormous, vlx. 1.) kllomtterau ticond, whiluthuul uf thu earth ou Ita orlitlsonly H kllomelcra a sooon I, I irward. CousHiuetitly when a shower ufthrui approachtHi tbo enrth III the ill-rcctlou ill-rcctlou olhk tltn lo Ita course, the Initial sneel ls7Jkllomctera a second, when tiny follow on ita course they uln 10 kllometrra it tecond on It, their mean rate of nproacli beiu ij lo 40 kilometers n mon I, The Irlcllou eni,endera a trmpurattiru of .!,oou ilejnua Celslua, ttiHect to which they btirrt Into riirce, Ifunler theu i ondltl ma their ulutniicu Is not vapor-lied, vapor-lied, they put through and Inborn! the upper atiata of our atmospberu and pirtuu their jroncr courso around the sun; but na urulotboy aro vapor In d, In which cam tho vufiur mliKlca with the atmosi ben, to fall later aa mctco-rlodiist, mctco-rlodiist, In Ibis nnuiier we come In contact nnuiislly with Ml inllllardaef shouting stira, which add eouslderably to thu cailh'a niUitiiK'i, J. very y oar ahootlng stirs present thu mtiitlnteriKtliigapeciatlHiiu thu night of Aintustloth, and friquontlynlinon thu two folluwloir nliihle, lfihn nlxht la di ir, an I Ihu oli-ervatlon Is not illn turbed by the inooulUbt, one tuny count buu Ireda and eveu thousands of t ailing stats during these tluee nlxlits, i nil tomlntt frum apparently Ihe same ipmrter ( I the hecvens Ihe couttella-lloliol couttella-lloliol Perieus The fac t that the oarlll takie thieo days to pats through the thiwer of eh toting atnra all ir in n measure meas-ure of the enormous pnce the oi i upyi thetnoleeo I hat the) cross curort It at Unlit unities to the tarlb'a e uti. I heir otbli Is a lotitf one, and ror-resound ror-resound with that of the ttreat comet of ISIJ, whlo'i remohaa dlstanie of 7,loi,tNAVHSlklloiiiiieralrom tbn sun npironihiuir. It et InUrvali of l'.'l )iaia Thlt Itunieme orbit apieais to ko full nt ahiiullmt stars. A nether date equally Intere-tlnc for Ihe ubterv-allon ubterv-allon uf shoollmr stnra Is N'nve ler 14 h Un this dale they nre even more numiruiiathan on August loth. At Interval uf thlilj-thrie j'ars IKy fall oi. Ibis date is thick n si o fleki s, ro hundnd nil 1 forty thousand are 1 1 stimuli,! lubavv fillca on A leomlur U,IH'n,llnM leuuuienon rrateJ Itlell In Ifi 10, an I wo Pk forward to Ita ri-iiirnnculn ri-iiirnnculn 16111 Iho Noeemter shied lug stars nt in ar lonomu tut of Ihetv n lli 1'ntlull lira. The toulse i f tills group lomspoult lo that ot Hits tomct ot 1S91, lirar til iirhlt ol Urahus, nt ndlalntico of S.HIO kilometers kilome-ters In m tho run, which It np ra Lea every thlrt) -three years III the year I2S A.I). in sci'int, under the Itillu-ence Itillu-ence of the nttriKtlon ot Uranus, wosdefcctel tromlts orlrlnal eourse, anluiajQ a member of the eolar rysteni The two datia above metillom-l nre tut, liowee r, Ihn only iit.es on wl Irh thoollng stars In const lerablu numbeia miy ls olnn-rvil Atuonc; illura, Novimlier i7lh may be niiiitloiiiii; for nn Ibis da), In 157 J, Mil again lu l)7o,iitlcsit a huulred thousatiJ h iot-lugrt iot-lugrt rs Here lirved. In Home, whrrulwnami the lallir date, the ihiiiominn excltel Kit tl tnterist, au I even the I'opu was evlduilly uotwholly uumivoJ; fir soiuo days later, win u I had the honor of UllifJ recelxelty his Holiness, his first worda went "1)11 )eu see the golden shower of Danae?" The slluwt r of fixed etsni of Ik7d waseniluly un-eiilcd un-eiilcd ly the atlronoti ers. Ihe) In I leen uiutli disturbed ut the lost of llela'a cornel, which, niter Us discovery, dis-covery, slsallly Hindu lis apiierance at Intervala of sir and u half yenra until 1S41, lu accurdance with Hi eo nputed eoursi. On this ociasl.ni, while ur- autlig Its course on inuniKiuui wnuu-nr) wnuu-nr) nth, It r lit lulo tviu leeea, diverging from -ach oilier at they l nr-sued nr-sued tlnlriverolciurfe. Ilollicom-eta Ilollicom-eta wen. visible on their return In H52, but they were ale and tA led, nnd moietnin 2U0i,0iai kllometeia apart. It waa Iho last sight; from Hint date Ihu llela oomet haa nevur len tieu ngsln, 11 la vanished, annihilated, burst up Into ahootlng stars. Were this nit so It must lisvo bis ilel tho earth's orbit ou hoveniber 27, 182, end ftcttinll) have come lu contact with It. Ihe abjve-mc'Kt'oned shower ol liars, anil the conclusion was that these small lio lies were Ihe remains of the lleli come1, n conclusion unquestionably confirmed b) tho obtervnlluiii ef ocmlir27,lbS. nils, tliin, Isbtia of the lalitt con-cluslousof con-cluslousof science: Shooting itaia are tho franuiuula ot slilriroJ comets. Comets, In fsct, nrn comparatively ihorl lived ho ilea, few of them (erslsl-lug (erslsl-lug be) mid n few thi usaud yeais, an 1 the smaller ones fur a much less erlod onl), whllo thu uurr-lloti of a lauit Ilka our earth extenda to inlllluna of years. Tho gn t comets which frightened our nncislora would doubt-li doubt-li a bu found to ha e lost much i f their brilliancy If weooul I seu an I IdiUI'y them; for, dtirliif II elr lourso around the sun, liny eiiuunually throw eft vnpnrand fragments, and are thus lot slxully aubleet lo diminution. |
