Untitled article by W. B. HERRON

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, November 12, 1867

THE EXPECTED STAR SHOWER OF NOV.

By W. B. HERRON

13th, 1867.

Would you like to see a great shower of falling stars, such as that wonderful “rain of fire” which astonished and alarmed the world in 1833? Be on the look-out, then, on the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th of November, 1867. Another great shower is expected about that time, and, if it comes, you will be very sorry not to have seen it. It will be well to watch also on the night previous, as it is possible that the greatest display may occur then, instead of the 13th.

That these great star showers are periodic, is placed beyond a question, by their regular recurrence on certain dates and at certain intervals. Of the four great November showers, falling like rain in a rain-storm, in the lifetime of the present generation, and since the darkening of the sun in 1780, two of them, which were visible only from the eastern continent, occurred,—the first on the 13th of Nov., 1832; and the second on the 14th of Nov., 1866—just thirty-four years and one day apart. The two which were seen in America occurred,—the first on the 12th of Nov., 1799; and the second on the 13th of Nov. 1833; and these also were just thirty-four years and one day apart, and all occurred on the nights of the 12th-14th of November.

There is therefore much reason to look for a third grand shower in America at the end of another period of thirty-four years and one day,—that is, on the night of Nov. 13th—14th, 1867, or thereabout. And, as the great shower of 1832, which was seen only on the eastern continent, was followed the next year, 1833, by a greater one in America, so the grand shower of 1866 on the eastern continent, may be followed by a grander one in America in 1867.

Thirty years ago, Dr. Olbers, the great German astronomer, who first drew attention to the periodicity of these showers, said:—“Perhaps the inhabitants of the earth must wait till 1867 before they see the wonderful phenomenon again in all its splendor, as in 1799 and 1833.” And not a few of the astronomers of Europe are looking to the 13th of Nov., 1867, with the same expectation. But if the display shall be visible only in the western hemisphere, as we think it may, the European star-gazers will be disappointed in the same manner as the star-gazers in America were last year. A few days will determine.

Watch for it, dear reader, if you would behold one of the grandest of celestial phenomena, and one of the foretold “signs” by which we are to know that the coming of the Lord and “the end of the world” is drawing near. W. B. HERRON. Boston, Mass.