THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE, 795 



by Mr. Tebbutt, of Kew South Wales, Australia, on May 22d. During 

 the interval between these two dates it had moved northward through 

 an arc of more than 60, which rapid motion accounts for its sudden 

 apparition in our northern sky. 



The relative situation of the orbits of the comet and the earth will 

 be best understood by the perspective view of a model of the two 

 orbits constructed to scale (Fig, 2). This model was executed, from 

 elements computed by Messrs. Chandler and Wendell, of Harvard 

 College Observatory, by Ensign S. J. Brown, U. S. N., who kindly 

 placed it at the service of the writer. 



In this cut, the horizontal plane represents the position of the 

 earth's orbit, and the plane cutting this at a lai'ge angle represents the 

 plane of the comet's orbit. The comet moved from below, which is 

 the southern side, up through the plane of the earth's orbit to the 

 northern side. The dates indicate the positions of the earth and 

 comet at different times in their respective orbits. It passed its peri- 

 helion point just before passing through the plane of the earth's orbit. 



The orbit of the comet is inclined to the plane of the earth's orbit 

 at an angle of 63. Its perihelion distance is 0*77 of the earth's dis- 

 tance from the sun. It arrived at its perihelion June 16th, and was 

 nearest the earth June 19th, when its distance from the earth was 0*28 

 of the earth's distance from the sun. 



The nucleus attained fully the brightness of a first-magnitude star, 

 and the length of the tail was variously estimated at from 20 to 30. 

 This comet is still faintly visible to the naked eyfi (August 22d). 



At first it was suspected that this comet was identical with that of 

 1807, but later investigation disproved this supposition. 



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THE CONjS^ECTIOX OF THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 



WITH MEDICmE.-^ 



Bt Peofessok T. H. HUXLEY. 



THE great body of the theoretical and practical knowledge which 

 has been accumulated by the labors of some eighty generations, 

 since the dawn of scientific thought in Europe, has no collective Eng- 

 lish name to which an objection may not be raised ; and I use the 

 term "medicine" as that which is least likely to be misunderstood; 

 though, as every one knows, the name is commonly applied, in a nar- 

 rower sense, to one of the chief divisions of the totality of medical 

 science. 



* Address at the International Medical Congress, by Professor T. H. Huxley, LL. D., 

 Secretary to the Royal Society. 



