The world is thus pelted on all sides day and night, year after year, century after century, by troops and battalions of shooting stars of every size, from objects not much larger than grains of sand up to mighty masses which can only be expressed in tons. In the lapse of ages our globe must thus be gradually growing by the everlasting deposit of meteoric débris. Looking back through the vistas of time past, it becomes impossible to estimate how much of the solid earth may not owe its origin to this celestial source. The first and most important truth with regard to the recurrence of the meteors is their occasional appearance in what are known as “meteoric showers.” During such displays it sometimes happens that shooting stars in shoals break forth simultaneously, so as to produce a spectacle which we now regard as of the utmost beauty and interest, but which in earlier times has often been the source of the direst terror and dismay. Let me, for the sake of illustration, give some account of one of these great showers of shooting stars. In the year 1866 I occupied the position of astronomer to the late Earl of Rosse. The memorable night between November 13th and 14th, 1866, was a very fine one; the moon was absent—a very important consideration in regard to the effectiveness of the display. The stars shone out clearly, and I was diligently examining some faint nebulæ in the eye-piece of the great telescope, when a sudden exclamation from the attendant caused me to look up from the eye-piece just in time to catch a glimpse of a fine shooting star, which, like a great sky-rocket, but without its accompanying noise, shot across the sky over our heads. The great shooting star which had already appeared was merely the herald announcing the advent of a mighty host. At first the meteors came singly, and then, as the hours wore on, they arrived in twos and in threes, in dozens, in scores, in hundreds. Our work at the telescope was forsaken; we went to the top of the castellated walls of the great telescope and abandoned ourselves to the enjoyment of the gorgeous spectacle.