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Every reader of this book must frequently have seen what is familiarly called a "shooting star"—an object like a star, which darts through the heavens a greater or less distance, and then disappears. These objects are, in astronomy, called by the generic name of meteors. They are of every degree of brightness, but the brighter they may be, the more rarely they appear. One who is out much at night will seldom pass a year without seeing such a meteor of striking brilliancy. Once or twice in a lifetime he will see one that illuminates the whole sky with its light.

On almost any clear night in the year a watcher may see three or four or even more meteors in the course of an hour. Sometimes, however, they are vastly more numerous, for example, between the tenth and fifteenth of August, more and brighter ones than usual will be seen. On a number of occasions in history they have coursed the heavens in such numbers as to fill the beholders with surprise and terror. There were remarkable cases of this kind in 1799 and 1833. In the latter year, especially, the negroes of the South were so terrified that the recollection of the phenomenon is brought down by tradition to the present day.