[5] In 1202, "on the last day of Muharrem, 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."—Quoted by Prof. Newton, in Silliman's Journal, May, 1864.
[6] Am. Journ. of Sci. and Arts, May and July, 1864.
[7] The stream or arc of meteors is several years in passing its node. The first indication of the approach of the display of 1866 was the appearance of meteors in unusual numbers at Malta, on the 13th of November, 1864. The great length of the arc is indicated, moreover, by the showers of 931 and 934.
[8] Silliman's Journ. for Sept. and Nov., 1861.
[9] The numerical results here given are those found by Professor Newton. See Silliman's Journ. for March, 1865.
[10] The diameters of the asteroids are derived from a table by Prof. Lespiault, in the Rep. of the Smithsonian Inst. for 1861, p. 216.
[11] "It appears probable, from the researches of Schreibers, that 700 fall annually."—Cosmos, vol. i. p. 119 (Bohn's Ed.). Reichenbach makes the number much greater.
[12] New Concord is close to the Guernsey County line. Nearly all the stones fell in Guernsey.
[13] Cosmos, vol. i. p. 120.
[14] Leverrier's Annals of the Observatory of Paris, vol. i. p. 38.