Another theory, attributed to Laplace, Arago, and others, was that meteors were ejections from lunar volcanoes. But these explanations were not altogether satisfactory in their application. The truth is, that men had commenced to theorize before they had begun to observe and accumulate facts. They had learnt little or nothing as to the numbers, directions, and appearances of meteors, and therefore possessed no materials on which to found any plausible hypothesis to account for them. _Meteoric Apparitions._—The occasional apparition of brilliant detonating fireballs, the occurrence of remarkable star-showers, the precipitation upon the Earth’s surface of stony masses, were facts which could be verified from many independent sources, and they set men thinking how to account for the strange and startling freaks of nature as exhibited in such phenomena. But though records existed of exceptionally large meteors and of meteor-showers, the descriptions were imperfect and failed in the most important details. The observers were usually unprepared for witnessing such events, and gave exaggerated and inaccurate accounts of what they had seen. The vivid brightness of a fireball (overpowering the lustre of the stars, and even vieing with the Moon in splendour), the flaming train left in its wake (curling itself up into grotesque shapes, as it drifted and died away), the form of the nucleus with its jets and sparks, and the final explosion, with the reverberations it caused, were all alluded to by the enthusiastic observer; but it was only in rare cases that the more valuable features were placed on record. The _direction_ and _duration_ of the meteor’s flight amongst the stars were facts of greater significance than the mere visible aspect of the object; but they were seldom regarded. Hence the early observations proved of little weight in inducing just conceptions as to the phenomena of meteors. There is, perhaps, no celestial event which can compare, as regards its striking aspect and interesting features, with that of a meteoric display of the most brilliant kind. A large comet, a total solar eclipse, a bright display of aurora, have each their attractive and imposing forms; but the effect produced is hardly equal to that during the Earth’s _rencontre_ with a dense meteor-swarm. The firmament becomes alive with shooting-stars of every magnitude; their incessant flights are directed to every point of the compass for several hours; and the scene is so animated, and one of such peculiarly impressive and novel character, that it can never be forgotten by those who have been among its fortunate spectators.