during the prevalence of an aurora on the
Siberian coast, the passage of a meteor never failed to extend the
luminosity to parts of the sky previously dark;[1225] and an enhancement
of electrical disturbance may well be associated with the flittings of
such cosmical atoms.

A singular incident connected with the meteors of 1872 has now to be
recounted. The late Professor Klinkerfues, who had observed them very
completely at Gottingen, was led to believe that not merely the debris
strewn along its path, but the comet itself must have been in immediate
proximity to the earth during their appearance.[1226] If so, it might be
possible, he thought, to descry it as it retreated in the diametrically
opposite direction from that in which it had approached. On November 30,
accordingly, he telegraphed to Mr. Pogson, the Madras astronomer, "Biela
touched earth November 27; search near Theta Centauri"--the
"anti-radiant," as it is called, being situated close to that star. Bad
weather prohibited observation during thirty-six hours, but when the
rain clouds broke on the morning of December 2, there a comet was, just
in the indicated position. In appearance it might have passed well
enough for one of the Biela twins. It had no tail, but a decided
nucleus, and was about 45 seconds across, being thus altogether below
the range of naked-eye discernment. It was again observed December 3,
when a short tail was perceptible; but overcast skies supervened, and it
has never since been seen. Its identity accordingly remains in doubt. It
seems tolerably certain, however, that it was _not_ the lost comet,
which ought to have passed that spot twelve weeks earlier, and was
subject to no conceivable disturbance capable of delaying to that extent
its revolution. On the other hand, there is the strongest likelihood
that it belonged to the same system[1227]--that it was a third fragment,
torn from the parent-body of the Andromedes at a period anterior to our
first observations of it.

In thirteen years Biela's comet (or its relics) travels nearly twice
round its orbit, so that a renewal of the meteoric shower of 1872 was
looked for on the same day of the year 1885, the probability being
emphasised by an admonitory circular from Dunecht. Astronomers were
accordingly on the alert, and were not disappointed. In England,
observation was partially impeded by clouds; but at Malta, Palermo,
Beyrout, and other southern stations, the scene was most striking.