Show THE LEONID SHOWER the of the lh expected expect ett leonid shower to appear in III america last week wae was the source of much disappointment both bath to the astronomers mid and to that portion of at the general public which had bad become interested in the matte mattele for three successive mornings in tome come part of 0 this country or canada a few meteors were seen but not all of ot them were leonids some of them proceeded from other radiant point points than the sickle the display was only a trifle more brilliant than that ot of the average cl clear t night jn da any other month mon of ithe year no nor r was it essentially more impressive than tham the show ot of last november when merely the advance guard of 0 the leonids was looked for european observers fared fiut little better than american rican in la england france austria and germay a sharp watch was maintained and und the weather seems to have been fully as favorable as on this side of the otherwise it would have been impossible to detect even the few meteors mentioned la ill the cable dispatches A somewhat obscure statement comes from russia about the panic which was created in tn several villages by the meteoric display critically examined some weak spots can call be found in that story and inasmuch as it Is 1 not corroborated by definite tidings of a genuine shower elsewhere in europe and as it Is asserted on recognized authority that nothing whatever was seen in india it Is excusable to entertain a little scepticism in tn regard to the abundance of the meteors which caused the alleged panic it if the earth really entered the densest part of the leonid swarm at all practically one halt half of the globe would be bombarded and not merely a small patch A number ot of theories have been advanced to explain the very limited character 0 of f the display this year perhaps the most reason reasonable aGle of them thern Is that the swarm was not fully due at the time when the earth crossed the orbit of the leonids the period of this famous celestial dusl dust cloud Is officially put at thirty three and a quarter years and it was a rather sanguine expectation perhaps that anticipate il the arrival of the densest part ot of it this tall fall precisely sixty six years after atter the encounter of 1823 1833 however the predictions which the astronomers have in regard to tho the event were put forward with caution and with reservations nothing positive was promised though much was hoped for the movements of the moon have been watched so long and with such care that it is feasible to predict within a minute or even a second ua when it will pass between the earth and the sun ana and to say lust just how much of the solar surface will thus be obscured but it la ls much inore more difficult to obtain the data wherewith to forecast a me shower the chief scientific value of a mei teor beor shower Is s the chance which it offers tor for studying the de depth arth of the earths atmosphere atmos A meteor I 1 Is 8 mer merely C y a tiny lit bit of mineral matter invisible and aud incalculably cold flying through space As boonas it enter enters tho lie aadla aerial envelope of the globe friction almost instantly raises it to candescence the velocity of the Leon leonids fils Is greater than that of some other meteors they lieve their own motion through space and they meet the earth carth almost head on hence the speed with which they fly through thear the ar air is the result of the toni combination A heir motion and th tho earths and they tae tire fire at L u little greater altI altitude than other aerolites aero lites |