proceeding from the North, which, after making a rapid descent, in the manner of a rocket, suddenly burst, and scattering its particles into various beautiful forms, vanished in the atmosphere. This was succeeded by others all similar to the first, both in shape and the manner of its ultimate disappearance. The whole display terminated at ten o'clock, when dark clouds, which continued up till a late hour, overspread the earth, preventing any further observations."--_Milner's Gallery of Nature_, p. 142. In 1838, November 12th-13th, meteors were observed in unusual numbers at Vienna. One of extraordinary brilliancy, having an apparent magnitude equal to that of the full moon, was seen near Cherburg. On several other returns of the November epoch the number of meteors observed has been greater than on ordinary nights; the distinctly marked exhibitions, however, up to 1866, have all been enumerated. THE SHOWER OF NOVEMBER 14, 1866. The fact that all great displays of the November meteors have taken place at intervals of thirty-three or thirty-four years, or some multiple of that period, had led to a general expectation of a brilliant shower in 1866. In this country, however, the public curiosity was much disappointed. The numbers seen were greater than on ordinary nights, but not such as would have attracted any special attention. The greatest number recorded at any one station was seen at New Haven, by Prof. Newton. On the night of the 12th, 694 were counted in five hours and twenty minutes, and on the following night, 881 in five hours. This was about six times the ordinary number. A more brilliant display was, however, witnessed in Europe. Meteors began to appear in unusual frequency about eleven o'clock on the night of the 13th, and continued to increase with great rapidity for more than two hours; the maximum being reached a little after one o'clock. The Edinburgh _Scotsman_, of November 14th, contains a highly interesting description of the phenomenon as observed at that city. "Standing on the Calton Hill, and looking westward," the editor remarks,--"with the Observatory shutting out the lights of Prince's Street--it was easy for the eye to delude the imagination into fancying some distant enemy bombarding Edinburgh Castle from long range; and the occasional cessation of the shower for a few seconds, only to break out again with more numerous and more brilliant drops of fire, served to countenance this fancy. Again, turning eastward, it was possible now and then to catch broken glimpses of the train of one of the meteors through the grim dark pillars of that ruin of most successful manufacture, the National Monument; and in fact from no point in or out of the city was it possible to watch the strange rain of stars, pervading as it did all points of the heavens, without pleased interest, and a kindling of the imagination, and often a touch of deeper feeling that bordered on awe.