56 ANNUAL EECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



with an extremely thin cloud, and there could be distinguish- 

 ed with great clearness from his point of view the general 

 outline of the Alps, and even the summit of Mount Blanc, ele- 

 vated 4800 meters above the sea. He observed that from 

 half-past eight to nine o'clock in the evening, during which 

 he paid especial attention to the matter, he did not see a sin- 

 gle shooting-star, and, as others know they were visible in 

 all other portions of Europe, he concludes that there could 

 not have been a single one that penetrated into the atmos- 

 phere to a point 4800 meters high. At this altitude and at 

 that time he computes that there must have been 0.55 of the 

 atmosphere above Mount Blanc, and, consequently, the numer- 

 ous meteors which were at this time shooting through the 

 air had all become extinct after having traversed this same 

 0.55 of its thickness. In general, Dufour remarks that, in 

 the course of many years, he has never yet observed a single 

 shooting-star below the clouds. 6 B, 1873, 497. 



RECENTLY DISCOVERED COMETS. 



The third comet of 1873 was recently announced as having 

 been discovered by Borelli on the 19th of August. The 

 fourth comet, which has by some been mistakenly assumed 

 to be the same as Borelli's, was discovered by Paul Henry 

 at Paris on the 24th of Ausjust. The fifth comet is now an- 

 nounced, and is none other than the periodic comet of Faye-, 

 for the discovery of which an ephemeris had been computed 

 by Mr. Plummer. The large disaccordance between Mr.Plum- 

 mer's ephemeris and the actual position of the comet has 

 somewhat retarded its discovery, but it is now announced as 

 having been found by Mr. Stephan, the director of the ob- 

 servatory at Marseilles. The position of the comet is two 

 hours of right ascension in advance of Plummer's ephemeris. 

 12^,1873,371. 



biela's comet. 



In reference to Biela's comet, which was believed to have 

 broken into two portions in the year 1845, and to have sub- 

 sequently disappeared in a great number of smaller portions, 

 appearing as a shower of meteors in the year 1872, Klinker- 

 fues has published a short study, in which he maintains that 

 the original Biela's comet described a somewhat different 



CD 



