November 14, 1867

The New York Times published an account of the observation from the Vassar Observatory of the great meteor shower, the Leonids:

Observations at the Vassar College at Poughkeepsie

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, Wednesday, Nov. 14—1. A.M.

The observations began at 10:20 P. M. The light of the moon makes it impossible to see faint meteors, but he number of brilliant ones is unusually large. In the hour from 11:20 to 12:20 about six of these were seen in the neighborhood of the Great Bear and Leo.

About 12 o’clock two very bright ones passed directly across the Great Bear.

Between 12 and 1 o’clock five were seen to pass among the stars of Orion, with long trains; one in the Constellation Cygnus, and one brighter than Syrius, without train, was seen near the northern horizon, while one near Castor left a train which remained a minute, and another in Cassiopea was accompanied by a very broad train.

The association of the Leonids, observed for nearly a thousand years, with the Comet Tempel-Tuttle was under discovery at the time of this observation.