e number of flakes which we perceive in the
air during an ordinary shower of snow."--_"Popular Astronomy,"
p. 536._

This affords us a better idea of the scene than the estimate of 34,640
stars an hour, which was made by Professor Olmsted after the rain of the
stars had greatly abated, so that he was able to make an attempt at
counting.

Dr. Humphreys, president of St. John's College, Annapolis, said of the
appearance at the Maryland capital:

"In the words of most, they fell _like flakes of
snow_."--_American Journal of Science, Vol. XXV (1834), p.
372._

Nothing less than this could have presented the counterpart of the
prophetic picture.

Thoughtful hearts were solemnized by the unwonted spectacle. Prof.
Alexander Twining, civil engineer, "late tutor in Yale College," giving
his views as to the nature of the flaming visitants from space, wrote:

"Had they held on their course unabated for three seconds
longer, half a continent must, to all appearance, have been
involved in unheard-of calamity. But that almighty Being who
made the world, and knew its dangers, gave it also its
armature--endowing the atmospheric medium around it with
protecting, no less than with life-sustaining, properties....

"Considered as one of the rare and wonderful displays of the
Creator's preserving care, as well as the terrible magnitude
and power of His agencies, it is not meet that such occurrences
as those of November 13 should leave no more solid and
permanent effect upon the human mind than the impression of a
splendid scene."--_American Journal of Science, Vol. XXVI
(1834), p. 351._

Multitudes felt that the great Creator had spoken to men in this notable
wonder of His heavens. Again and again in the records and reminiscences
of that time, testimony is borne to the fact that observers were
impressed with the likeness of the scene to that described in the divine
prophecy as one of the signs of the end of the world.

The Prophetic Picture Reproduced

The New York _Journal of Commerce_ emphasized the exactness of detail
with which the prophecy described the scene as it appeared in 1833. This
is the apocalyptic picture, as the ancient prophet saw it in vision:

"The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her
untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6:13.

A correspondent of the _Journal of Com