For the Oriental believer, the shooting stars are the fiery darts hurled by the angels at the evil spirits or genii when the latter are caught eavesdropping at the gates of heaven. This legend is to be found in the Koran, and is referred to by Moore in his “Paradise and the Peri,” in the lines: “Fleeter than the starry brands Flung at night from angel hands, At those dark and daring sprites Who would climb th’ empyreal heights.” According to a Lithuanian myth as told by Grimm in his _Deutsche Mythologie_, the spinstress Werpega spins the thread of a child’s life at birth, and each thread ends in a star. When death approaches, the thread breaks and the star falls to earth, quenching its light. In Galicia, the province northeast of Hungary, the peasants believe that when a star falls to earth it is at once transformed into a rarely beautiful maiden with long, glittering, golden hair. She is supposed to exert a magical influence on all who come in contact with her, but the effect is evil unless certain words are uttered ere the star falls to earth. From this superstition doubtless springs the custom of “wishing” while a shooting star is seen gliding swiftly eastwards. The wish will surely come true, it is said, if fully expressed before the star fades from view. Finally, we have the fanciful idea suggested in the following lines by Fiona Macleod: “A star was loosed from heaven; All saw it fall, in wonder, Where universe clashed universe With solar thunder.” CHAPTER NINE DID LIFE FIRST COME TO THIS EARTH IN A METEOR? Among the most startling suggestions recently thrown out by men of science, not one, perhaps, has seemed more amazing to the general public than the idea put forward by Sir William Thomson in the able address with which he inaugurated the meeting of the British Association (1871)—that life on the earth may have had its origin from seeds borne to our planet by meteors, the remnants of former worlds. —R. A. PROCTOR.