For the definite discovery of the
track in which these bodies revolve, we are indebted to the labours
of Professor Adams, who, by a brilliant piece of mathematical work,
completed the edifice whose foundations had been laid by Professor
Newton, of Yale, and other astronomers.
Meteors revolve around the sun in a vast swarm, every individual
member of which pursues an orbit in accordance with the well-known
laws of Kepler. In order to understand the movements of these
objects, to account satisfactorily for their periodic recurrence, and
to predict the times of their appearance, it became necessary to
learn the size and the shape of the track which the swarm followed,
as well as the position which it occupied. Certain features of the
track could no doubt be readily assigned. The fact that the shower
recurs on one particular day of the year, viz., November 13th,
defines one point through which the orbit must pass. The position on
the heavens of the radiant point from which the meteors appear to
diverge, gives another element in the track. The sun must of course
be situated at the focus, so that only one further piece of
information, namely, the periodic time, will be necessary to complete
our knowledge of the movements of the system.
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