> 292 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



On October 9th, Schmidt, of Athens, announced the discovery of a 

 small companion comet, 4 southwest of the large one, and moving 

 parallel with it. So far as w r e know, no one else has observed this 

 comjDanion, though it was carefully looked for at Washington, Prince- 

 ton, and elsewhere. On October 21st, however, Mr. Brooks, of Phelps. 

 New York, observed either the same or another one, some 8 south 

 and east from the large comet. Like Schmidt's companion it was very 

 faint (though large), and we have seen no observations of it from 

 other sources. We have no means of ascertaining whether these at- 

 tendants accompanied the comet on its way to the sun as separate 

 objects, or w T hether they are fragments detached from the main body. 

 Mr. Brooks seems to think that the nebulous mass observed by him 

 was in some way connected with the faint envelope and streamer just 

 spoken of, which is not unlikely. 



When the writer first saw the comet, on September 19th, it was 

 impossible, with the great twenty-three-inch equatorial, to make out 

 much except the nucleus itself. The comet was so near the sun that 

 the object-glass could not be screened from the direct sunshine, which 

 filled the w T hole field with glaring light. The finder of the instrument 

 is itself, however, a powerful telescope of five inches aperture, and this 

 was perfectly screened by the great tube, so that it furnished an 

 admirable view of the beautiful object. To the naked eye the comet 

 looked like some white-winged bird in swift flight toward the sun. 

 The telescope showed the wings to be long, curved streams flowing 

 backward from each side of the head backward, that is, with refer- 

 ence to the sun ; but they were, of course, really in advance of the 

 comet, which at this time was receding from the sun. The head of 

 the comet had for its center a small round and brilliant nucleus, not 



well defined, but rather a nebulous 

 star, some 4" in diameter ; in front 

 of this at a distance of perhaps 30" 

 was an " envelope," and there was 

 a second one at a distance of 2' or 

 3'. They were connected by a pair 

 of eccentric circular arcs, and these 

 arcs, coalescing with the outer en- 

 velope and prolonged, formed the 

 skeleton of the " wings." Back 

 of the nucleus, traces of the usual 

 dark stripe could be detected. Fig. 



Fig. 2. Head of Comet September 19 2 presents the main features in Ollt- 

 5-mcn Telescope. ,. x _, .,. 



line, and every one will notice its 

 close resemblance to Brodie's picture of Coggia's comet as seen on 

 July 13, 1874. (The picture alluded to forms the frontispiece of 

 Chambers's " Descriptive Astronomy," third edition.) 



On the next day the comet was seen at Princeton for a few mo- 



