he sky. When the radiant point is
overhead, the falling stars spread out and resemble a parachute of fire;
but when it is below the horizon, the stars ascend upwards like rockets
into the sky. The radiant point is fixed among the stars, so that at the
commencement of a shower it may be overhead, and before the termination
of the display it may have travelled below the horizon. The radiant is
usually named after the constellation in which it is observed.

The November meteors are called Leonids, because they radiate from a
point in the constellation Leo; those in Taurus are called Taurids; in
Perseus, Perseids; in Lyra, Lyraids; and in Andromeda, Andromedes,
because their radiant points are situated in those constellations.

The falling stars that have attracted most attention are those which
appear on or about November 13. Every year at this period they can be
seen in greater or less numbers, and on referring to numerous past
records it has been ascertained that a magnificent display of those
objects occurs every thirty-three years. The earliest historical
allusion to this meteoric shower is by Theophanes, who wrote that in the
year 472 A.D. the sky at Constantinople appeared to be on fire with
falling stars. In the year 902 A.D. another remarkable display took
place, and from that time until 1833 twelve conspicuous displays are
recorded as having occurred at recurring intervals of thirty-three
years. The grandest display of this kind that was ever witnessed
occurred in 1833. It was visible over nearly the whole of the American
continent, and, having commenced at midnight, lasted for four or five
hours. The falling stars were so numerous that they appeared to rain
upon the Earth, and caused the utmost consternation and terror among
those who witnessed the phenomenon, many persons having imagined that
the end of the world was at hand. The regular recurrence of these
meteoric displays has been satisfactorily explained by the assumption
that round the Sun there travels in an elliptical orbit with planetary
velocity a vast shoal of meteoric bodies some millions of miles in
length and several hundred thousand miles in breadth. The nearest point
of their orbit to the Sun coincides with the Earth's orbit, and the most
distant part extends beyond the orbit of Uranus. These bodies accomplish
a circuit of their orbit in 33-1/4 years. The Earth in her annual
revolution intersects the path of the meteors, and when this occurs some