CHAPTER VIII.
SHOOTING-STARS.—METEORS OF NOVEMBER 14.
Although shooting-stars have doubtless been observed in all ages of the world, it is only within the last half century that they have attracted the special attention of scientific men. A few efforts had been made to determine the height of such meteors, but the first general interest in the subject was excited by the brilliant meteoric display of November 13, 1833. This shower of fire can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The meteors were observed from the West Indies to British America, and from 60° to 100° west longitude from Greenwich. As early as 10 o'clock on the evening of the 12th shooting-stars were observed with unusual frequency; their motions being generally westward. Soon after midnight their numbers became so extraordinary as to attract the attention of all who happened to be in the open air. The meteors, however, became more and more numerous till 4, or half past 4, o'clock; and the fall did not entirely cease till ten minutes before sunrise. From 2 to 6 o'clock the numbers were so great as to defy all efforts at counting them; while their brilliancy was such that persons sleeping in rooms with uncurtained windows were aroused by their light. The meteors varied in apparent magnitude from the smallest visible points to fire-balls equaling the moon in diameter. Occasionally one of the larger class would separate into several parts, and in some instances a luminous train remained visible for three or four minutes. No sound whatever accompanied the display. It was noticed by many observers that all the meteors diverged from a point near the star Gamma Leonis; in other words, their paths if traced backward would intersect each other at a particular locality in the constellation Leo. In some parts of the country the inhabitants were completely terror-stricken by the magnificence of the display. In the afternoon of the day on which the shower occurred the writer met with an illiterate farmer who, after describing the phenomena as witnessed by himself, remarked that "the stars continued to fall till none were left," and added, "I am anxious to see how the heavens will appear this evening; I believe we shall see no more stars." A gentleman of South Carolina described the effect on the negroes of his plantation as follows:—"I was suddenly awakened by the most distressing cries that ever fell on my ears. Shrieks of horror and cries for mercy I could hear from most of the negroes of the three plantations, amounting in all to about 600 or 800. While earnestly listening for the cause I heard a faint voice near the door, calling my name. I arose, and, taking my sword, stood at the door. At this moment I heard the same voice still beseeching me to arise, and saying, 'O my God, the world is on fire!' I then opened the door, and it is difficult to say which excited me the most,—the awfulness of the scene, or the distressed cries of the negroes. Upwards of a hundred lay prostrate on the ground,—some speechless, and some with the bitterest cries, but with their hands raised, imploring God to save the world and them. The scene was truly awful; for never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell towards the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same."
At the time of this wonderful meteoric display Captain Hammond, of the ship Restitution, had just arrived at Salem, Massachusetts, where he observed the phenomenon from midnight till daylight. He recollected with astonishment that precisely one year before, viz., on the 13th of November, 1832, he had observed a similar appearance (although the meteors were less numerous) at Mocha, in Arabia. It was found, moreover, as a further and most remarkable coincidence, that an extraordinary fall of meteors had been witnessed on the 12th of November, 1799. This was seen and described by Andrew Ellicott, Esq., who was then at sea near Cape Florida. It was also observed by Humboldt and Bonpland, in Cumana, South America. Baron Humboldt's description of the shower is as follows:—"From half after two, the most extraordinary luminous meteors were seen toward the east. Thousands of bolides and falling stars succeeded each other during four hours. They filled a space in the sky extending from the true east 30° toward the north and south. In an amplitude of 60° the meteors were seen to rise above the horizon at E.N.E. and at E., describe arcs more or less extended, and fall toward the south, after having followed the direction of the meridian. Some of them attained a height of 40°, and all exceeded 25° or 30°. Mr. Bonpland relates, that from the beginning of the phenomenon there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three diameters of the moon, that was not filled at every instant with bolides and falling stars. The Guaiqueries in the Indian suburb came out and asserted that the firework had begun at one o'clock. The phenomenon ceased by degrees after four o'clock, and the bolides and falling stars became less frequent; but we still distinguished some toward the northeast a quarter of an hour after sunrise."
This wonderful correspondence of dates excited a very lively interest throughout the scientific world. It was inferred that a recurrence of the phenomenon might be expected, and accordingly arrangements were made for systematic observations on the 12th, 13th, and 14th of November. The periodicity of the shower was thus, in a very short time, placed wholly beyond question. The facts in regard to the phenomena of November 13, 1833, were collected and discussed by Olmsted, Twining, and other astronomers. The inquiry, however, very naturally arose whether any trace of the same meteoric group could be found in ancient times. To determine this question many old historical records were ransacked by the indefatigable scientist, Edward C. Herrick, in our own country, and by Arago, Quetelet, and others, in Europe. These examinations led to the discovery of ten undoubted returns of the November shower previous to that of 1799. The descriptions of these former meteoric falls are given by Professor H. A. Newton in the American Journal of Science, for May, 1864. They occurred in the years 902, 931, 934, 1002, 1101, 1202, 1366, 1533, 1602, and 1698. Historians represent the meteors of A.D. 902 as innumerable, and as moving like rain in all directions. The exhibition of 1202 was scarcely less magnificent. "On the last day of Muharrem," says a writer of that period, "stars shot hither and thither in the heavens, eastward and westward, and flew against one another like a scattering swarm of locusts, to the right and left; this phenomenon lasted until daybreak; people were thrown into consternation, and cried to God the Most High with confused clamor." The shower of 1366 is thus described in a Portuguese chronicle, quoted by Humboldt: "In the year 1366, twenty-two days of the month of October being past, three months before the death of the king, Don Pedro (of Portugal), there was in the heavens a movement of stars such as men never before saw or heard of. At midnight, and for some time after, all the stars moved from the east to the west; and after being collected together, they began to move, some in one direction and others in another. And afterward they fell from the sky in such numbers, and so thickly together, that as they descended low in the air they seemed large and fiery, and the sky and the air seemed to be in flames, and even the earth appeared as if ready to take fire. That portion of the sky where there were no stars seemed to be divided into many parts, and this lasted for a long time."
The Showers of 1866-9.
The fact that all great displays of the November meteors have taken place at intervals of 33 or 34 years, or some multiple of that period, had led to a general expectation of a brilliant shower in 1866. In this country, however, the public curiosity was much disappointed.[22] The numbers seen were greater than on ordinary nights, but not such as would have attracted any special attention. The greatest number recorded at any one station was seen at New Haven by Professor Newton. On the night of the 12th 694 were counted in five hours and twenty minutes, and on the following night, 881 in five hours. A more brilliant display was, however, witnessed in Europe. Meteors began to appear in unusual frequency about 11 o'clock on the night of the 13th, and their numbers continued to increase with great rapidity for more than two hours; the maximum being reached a little after 1 o'clock. A writer in Edinburgh, Scotland, thus describes the phenomenon as observed at that city:—"Standing on the Calton Hill, and looking westward,—with the observatory shutting out the lights of Princes Street,—it was easy for the eye to delude the imagination into fancying some distant enemy bombarding Edinburgh Castle from long range; and the occasional cessation of the shower for a few seconds, only to break out again with more numerous and more brilliant drops of fire, served to countenance this fancy. Again, turning eastward, it was possible now and then to catch broken glimpses of the train of one of the meteors through the grim dark pillars of that ruin of most successful manufacture, the National Monument; and in fact from no point in or out of the city was it possible to watch the strange rain of stars, pervading as it did all points of the heavens, without pleased interest and a kindling of the imagination, and often a touch of deeper feeling that bordered on awe." At London about 1 o'clock a single observer counted 200 in two minutes. The whole number seen at Greenwich was 8485. The shower was also observed in different countries on the continent.
In 1867 the display was generally observed throughout the United States. From the able and interesting reports of Commodore Sands and Professors Newcomb, Harkness, and Eastman, we derive the following facts in regard to the shower as seen at Washington, D. C.: