Page:In the high heavens.djvu/302

 in my work entitled "In Starry Realms," I need not now do more than refer to what has been there said.

Of this connection between cometary orbits and revolving swarms of meteors, many other instances could be cited. I may refer to the remarkable lists published by the British Association, in which, beside the name of the comet or the designation which astronomers had affixed to it, the meteoric swarm with which the comet is associated is also given. The day of the year on which the earth crosses the track pursued by the comet is the day on which the shower of meteors appropriate to that comet is to be expected when the proper interval of entire years has elapsed. The position of the "radiant," or point on the heavens from which the meteors appear to diverge, is exactly that point in the sky where the comet would be seen as it approached the point of crossing over the earth's track by an observer stationed at the crossing. When a meteoric shower appears on the day that has been foretold from the attitude of the cometary orbit, and when the radiant from which the shooting-stars of that shower are directed also occupies the precise position on the sky which has been indicated by the comet, it is then impossible to refuse assent to the belief that the meteors and the comet are in direct association, even if we cannot distinguish that one is the cause, and the other the effect.

On these grounds it appears to be perfectly certain that the origin of the shooting stars which appear in swarms cannot be dissociated from the origin of the comets by which those swarms are accompanied. This fact seems to lead to a demonstration of the important truth that meteorites have no affinity whatever with the ordinary