Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 155 



the earth too ; and though its motion is now increasing towards the 

 north, in all probability it will finish by declining towards the south. 

 From its great elongation, it would seem the true path of the comet 

 is without that of Venus, and that it is either between us and the sun, 

 or on the other side of the sun. In the former case, its real motion is 

 direct, in the latter retrograde ; but judging from the appearance of 

 the body, I should think it is between us and the sun. 



Whether this be the comet said in the Morning Herald to have been 

 predicted by the Chinese, or that of 1770, which Mr. J. T. imagines 

 it might be, or indeed any one of the comets which have yet appeared, 

 the present observations are not sufficient to determine. However, 

 its great elevation above the ecliptic, and its long train, which mark it 

 for a comet of a long period, are not, I conceive, favourable to an iden- 

 tity with that of 1770. 



On the 7th I find it was south about 20 h 21 m A. M., and rose about 

 20' after 5 j on the 18th it was south 10' before 9, and rose at about 

 33' after 3 j on the 30th it will be south about 8' after 7, and rise 

 about half-past 1. Its place on the 18th differed, I see, only 13' in 

 right ascension, and about half a degree in declination, from the place 

 it should have had by my computations from the observations of Sir 

 James South and myself on the 9th and 7th. Should it therefore 

 proceed as it has, on the 25th, it will be in about 244 --ds right as- 

 cension, and 6-fds south declination - } and on the 30th, in 239 

 right ascension, and 5 south declination : hence it may be easily 

 found. Since the 18th I have not seen it. 



Jan. 26. I this morning saw the comet for the last time I expect 

 that I shall see it. It is diminished in splendour wonderfully since the 

 18th. At that time it was beautifully brilliant, but a little after 5 this 

 morning it was totally invisible to the naked eye. The great light of 

 the moon, no doubt, had some influence in this j but at 6, and a 

 quarter after, when the moon had been for some time down, it could 

 be seen by the eye at intervals only, and then as a very small star, 

 destitute of any of the appendages of a comet. Even when viewed 

 through a telescope, with a power of about 30, both before and after 

 the setting of the moon, it merely exhibited a nebulous appearance, 

 without, as far as I could discover, any tail or well-defined nucleus. 



From these circumstances it may easily be imagined, that it was 

 impossible to ascertain its place by the sextant. As far as I could 

 judge, it was very little to the right of a straight line joining e Ophi- 

 uchi, and 17 or v Ophiuchi, by Bode's Catalogue. It seemed to be 

 better than one-third of the distance of these stars from v, and not 

 far from, but to the right of, a small star, I believe 16 Ophiuchi, which 

 appeared in the field of the telescope. Its position appeared not to 

 differ from the place my computation would have given it, except that 

 1 thought it was more to the south. 



It is, however, evident that this body will no longer be a subject 

 for even tolerably good instruments, but must be left to such powerful 

 means as are possessed by the fixed observatories. One thing which 

 surprises me is, that in so short a period as 19 days it should have 



X2 had 



