they ought to do, if tangential to the earth in her orbit; but on the same phenomenon occurring in 1799, when the earth was in precisely the same part of her orbit, Humboldt says distinctly, "the direction (of the meteors) was very regular from north to south." How could this possibly happen, and at the same time be moving tangentially to the orbit? There is also another fact of importance not duly weighed in forming such a theory. In 1833 the meteors evidently differed in velocity; one class, consisting of luminous points, passed like a shower of fire with great velocity to the westward, another class were like large fire-balls with luminous trains moving with less rapidity, while a third class consisted of nebulous patches which remained stationary for a long time, and frequently emitting large streams of light. These last, at least, do not deport themselves as planetary bodies moving 2,000 miles per minute. But the fact still remains, that unusual displays have occurred about the 12th and 14th of November; and also as a general thing when there are no unusual displays, the meteors are more abundant about this time. Let us try if we can reconcile these facts with the theory of vortices. We will first confine our remarks to the increased number of meteors about November 12th and 14th. The cosmical matter composing the zodial light, or at least the lighter parts of it, is continually driven outwards by the radial stream, just as the matter of a comet's tail is stripped from the nucleus. This matter becomes involved in the terral vortex by descending the poles, and is again passed out along the equatorial plane. The form of the zodial light, as seen edgewise, gives a lenticular form for the stratum of planetary particles composing it, and its central plane has been considered as coinciding with the plane of the sun's equator. At the orbit of the earth, this lenticular space is narrowed to a very thin stratum, but undoubtedly reaches beyond the earth's orbit with a rapidly diminishing density. As the axis of the sun is inclined about 7° to the ecliptic, and the ascending node is in the 20th degree of Gemini, the earth can only pass through the plane of the sun's equator about the 12th of December and the 12th of June. If, therefore, the central plane of the vortex coincides with the plane of the sun's equator, meteors ought to be more numerous about the dates above mentioned. But the observed times are on November 12th and 13th. Now, from actual measurements, a computation has been made by M. Houzeau, that the elements of the zodial light are materially different from those of the sun's equator. He fixes the node of the light (according to Mr. Hind) in 2° heliocentric longitude, subject to an uncertainty of 12° or 13°, and its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic, 3° 35′, subject to an uncertainty of about 2°. The truth is, astronomers have argued the coincidence of the two planes from