ii., p. 183.
We shall, no doubt, in time, discover other periodically appearing streams,*
probably about the 22d to the
p. 126
25th of April, between the 6th and 12th of December, and, to judge by the
number of true falls of a?‘rolites enumerated by Capocci, also between the
27th and 29th of November, of about the 17th of July.
[footnote] *On the 25th of April, 1095, "innumerable eyes in France saw
stars falling from heaven as thickly as hail" ('ut grando, nisi lucerent,
pro densitate putaretur'; Baldr., p. 88), and this occurrence was regarded
by the Council of Clermont as indicative of the great movement in
Christendom. (Wilken, 'Gesch. der Kreuzz??ge', bd. i., s. 75.) On the 25th
of April, 1800, a great fall of stars was observed in Virginia and
Massachusetts; it was "a fire of rockets that lasted two hours." Arago was
the first to call attention to the "train??e d'astero?•des," as a recurring
phenomenon. ('Annuaire', 1836, p. 297.) The falls of a?‘rolites in the
beginning of the month of December are also deserving of notice. In
reference to their periodic recurrence as a meteoric stream, we may mention
the early observation of Brandes on the night of the 6th and 7th of
December, 1798 (when he counted 2000 falling stars), and very probably the
enormous fall of a?‘rolites that occurred at the Rio Assu, near the village
of Macao, in the Brazils, on the 11th of December, 1836.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261