POPULAR ASTRONOMY. 



445 



not observed. Its next appearance was 

 at the end of November, 1845. ' l was 

 observed during the winter, and on 

 January [3, [846, it was noticed at 

 Washington that the comet had be- 

 come double. At first the part that 

 seemed to have been thrown off was 

 comparatively faint, but gradually it 

 brightened, until in February it had 

 become as bright as the original mass 

 from which it had separated. Most 

 wonderful of all, there was sometimes 

 visible a faint misty band connecting 

 the two comets, although their dis- 

 tance apart was more than 200,000 

 miles. And this band or bridge, occa- 

 sionally oscillated, swinging one way 

 and then the other, as if the tw r o com- 

 ets had been attached to the ends of 

 a rigid bar which was swung slightly 

 to and fro. Each of the comets devel- 

 oped a tail of its own. In 1852 back- 

 came the twin comets, one becoming 

 visible nearly three weeks before the 

 other was seen. By this time they had 

 got much farther apart, their distance 

 from one another being now no less 

 than a million and a half miles. Both 

 passed round the sun and they disap- 

 peared in September. At the times 

 when they should have been seen when 

 due again in 1859 and [866 no glimpse 

 of them was caught, but in 1872, when 

 again due, instead of the comets a bril- 

 liant shower of meteors, believed to be 

 travelling in their track burst over the 

 earth, radiating from near the star 

 Gamma in Andromeda. It is generally 

 believed that the original comet of 

 Piela has been entirely disintegraded 

 into meteors, principally by the action 

 of the sun. These meteors were seen 

 again in 1892. The same fate is sup- 

 posed to await all comets that travel 

 regularly round the sun. It may be 

 one reason why all the periodical com- 

 ets which come back every few years 

 are relatively inconspicuous ; each time 

 that they venture near the sun forces 

 act upon them tending to their disin- 

 tegration, and thus after many returns 

 but a remnant of the original comet is 

 left. All of the great meteor showers 

 are known to be travelling in the 

 tracks of comets, and in some cases 

 the comets from which they have orig- 

 inated have not entirely disappeared, 



but come back also at regular intervals. 

 Recent!) Mr. Denning, the well-known 

 English student of meteors, has pointed 

 out that there seems to be a small 

 meteor swarm following Halley's Com- 

 et in its orbit, indicating that that 

 comet, too, is slowly going to pieces. 

 Idie form of Halley's Comet, and the 

 extent of its tail have varied surpris- 

 ingly every time it has reappeared, 

 and astronomers are very curious to 

 see how it will look on the present 

 return. With its long period, about 

 j6 years, it has resisted longer the 

 forces of disintegration that have al- 

 most dissipated some of its compeers 

 which come back every six or seven 

 years. There are no great meteor 

 showers in the month of March, but 

 five minor showers are known, two of 

 which may be seen in the evening, 

 ddie first of these occurs during the 

 nights from the 5th to the 10th, radia- 

 ting from a point between the head of 

 Taurus and Auriga. They are de- 

 scribed as "slow and bright." The 

 second shower occurs on the 20th, ra- 

 diating from a point above Coma 

 Berenices. Its meteors appear as 

 "swift streaks." The observation of 

 meteors is something especially suited 

 to amateurs, requiring no instruments. 

 All that is necessary in order to give 

 value to the observations is to notice 

 carefully the apparent track of the 

 meteors among the stars, and their 

 peculiarities of appearance. These ob- 

 servations become very fascinating as 

 soon as the observer has convinced 

 himself that the flight of the meteors 

 is governed by laws as fixed as those 

 that prescribe the motions of the plan- 

 ets in their orbits. 



CITY 



VIOLETS. 



:v KM MA I'KIKCK, XKW YORK 



Violets blue look up at you 

 Through their grassy veils, 



And far away as one can see. 

 Their azure beauty trails. 



Blue of Heaven, blue of love, 

 They have their message sweet, 



And breathe its dear significance 

 Right at our very feet. 



