"In view of these facts it seems highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the process of division has taken place in several instances besides that of Biela's comet. May not the force, whatever it is, that has produced _one_ separation, again divide the parts? And may not this action continue until the fragments become invisible? According to the theory now generally received, the periodic phenomena of shooting-stars are produced by the intersections of the orbits of such nebulous bodies with the earth's annual path. Now there is reason to believe that these meteoric rings are very elliptical, and in this respect wholly dissimilar to the rings of primitive vapor which, according to the nebular hypothesis, were successively abandoned at the solar equator; in other words, that the matter of which they are composed moves in _cometary_ rather than _planetary_ orbits. May not our periodic meteors be the _debris_ of ancient but now disintegrated comets, whose matter has become distributed around their orbits?" C. Biela's Comet and the Meteors of November 27th-30th. At the close of Chapter IV. it was suggested that the meteors of November 27th-30th might possibly be derived from a ring of meteoric matter moving in the orbit of Biela's comet. Since that chapter was written similar conjectures have been started in the _Astronomische Nachrichten_[35] by Dr. Edmund Weiss and Prof. d'Arrest. The latter attempts to show that the December meteors may be derived from the same ring. The question will doubtless be decided at no distant day. D. The First Comet of 1861 and the Meteors of April 20th. Recent investigations render it probable that the orbit of the first comet of 1861 is identical with that of the meteors of April 20th. The orbit is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic. FOOTNOTES: [1] For a full description, see Silliman's Journal for January and April, 1834 (Prof. Olmsted's article). Also a valuable paper, in the July No. of the same year, by Prof. Twining. [2] Physique du Globe, Chap. IV. [3] Professor Olmsted estimated the number of meteors, visible at New Haven, during the night of November 12th-13th, 1833, at 240,000. [4] Conde says, "there were seen, as it were lances, an infinite number of stars, which scattered themselves like rain to the right and left, and that year was called 'the year of stars.'" [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.