"Oft shalt thou see, ere brooding storms arise, Star after star glide headlong down the skies, And, where they shot, long trails of lingering light Sweep far behind, and gild the shades of night."--_Virgil._ FEW subjects of astronomy have excited a more general interest, for several years past, than those extraordinary exhibitions of shooting stars, which have acquired the name of meteoric showers. My reason for introducing the subject to your notice, in this place, is, that these small bodies are, as I believe, derived from nebulous or cometary bodies, which belong to the solar system, and which, therefore, ought to be considered, before we take our leave of this department of creation, and naturally come next in order to comets. The attention of astronomers was particularly directed to this subject by the extraordinary shower of meteors which occurred on the morning of the thirteenth of November, 1833. I had the good fortune to witness these grand celestial fire-works, and felt a strong desire that a phenomenon, which, as it afterwards appeared, was confined chiefly to North America, should here command that diligent inquiry into its causes, which so sublime a spectacle might justly claim. As I think you were not so happy as to witness this magnificent display, I will endeavor to give you some faint idea of it, as it appeared to me a little before daybreak. Imagine a constant succession of fire-balls, resembling sky-rockets, radiating in all directions from a point in the heavens a few degrees southeast of the zenith, and following the arch of the sky towards the horizon. They commenced their progress at different distances from the radiating point; but their directions were uniformly such, that the lines they described, if produced upwards, would all have met in the same part of the heavens. Around this point, or imaginary radiant, was a circular space of several degrees, within which no meteors were observed. The balls, as they travelled down the vault, usually left after them a vivid streak of light; and, just before they disappeared, exploded, or suddenly resolved themselves into smoke. No report of any kind was observed, although we listened attentively. Beside the foregoing distinct concretions, or individual bodies, the atmosphere exhibited _phosphoric lines_, following in the train of minute points, that shot off in the greatest abundance in a northwesterly direction. These did not so fully copy the figure of the sky, but moved in paths more nearly rectilinear, and appeared to be much nearer the spectator than the fire-balls. The light of their trains was also of a paler hue, not unlike that produced by writing with a stick of phosphorus on the walls of a dark room. The number of these luminous trains increased and diminished alternately, now and then crossing the field of view, like snow drifted before the wind, although, in fact, their course was towards the wind.