Kx'temporaiieoia Teaft. — Trarjlt of a Cemst. 3J7 



■gfto'd and fine taHed. Wafliing does not fo effeflualiy free butter from the curd and butter- 

 milk, which it is necefiary to do in order to preferve it, as boiling or melting ; when then 

 fait is added to prevent the pure butyrous part from growing rancid, we certainly have the 

 he(t procefs for prcfcrving butter. The melting or boiling, if done with care, does not 

 difcolour ot injure the tafte. 



The prefervation of yea/l having been a fubjefl: of much refcarch in this country, the 

 following particulars may perhaps dcfcrve attention: — On the coa ft of Perfia my bread 

 Was maJe, in the Englifn manner, of good wheat flower,, and with the yeafl; generally ufed 

 there. It is thus prepared : Take a fmall tea-cup or vvine-gU fs full of fplit or bruifed 

 peafe, pour on it a pint of boiling water, and fet the whole iii a veflcl all night on the 

 hearth, or any other warm place ; the water will have a froth on its top next mornings 

 and will be good yeaft. In this cold climate, efpecially at a cold feafon, it fliould {land 

 longer to ferment, perhaps tiventy-four or forty-eight hours. 'I he above quantity made 

 me as much bread as two fixpenny loaves, the quality of -which was very good and very 

 light. 



VIII. 



Ohfervation of the Pajpige of a Comet over the Di/k of the Sun, By Citizen DanGOS* 



o. 



°N the 1 8th of January 1798, Dangos obferved a black, round, and well terminated 

 tody, which crofled the difk of the fun. The tirtie of Its paflage laded 20 minutes. He 

 thinks' it could be nothing but a comet. He tecolle£ls having obferved a Cmilar phenome- 

 non in 1784. 



Lalande remarks, that Mercury and Venus have been well obferved crofling the folit 

 difk in the form of black fpots ; but that comets had never been in that fituation *. 



* Tliis notice, which is taken from the Journal de Phyfique for February 1798, leaves much to be defiredk 

 What might be the diameter of the fpot; whether its courfe was dircft or retrograde, with its inclination :o 

 the ecliptic, or to the folar axis ; and particularly the chord it defcribcd ; are objefts of enquiry, concerning 

 which we fliall probably learn more in future, when a fuller account fliall appear. If we admit that it was a 

 comet, and, by way of obtaining a rough notion or gCefs of its diftance, we fuppofe it to have defcribed a 

 whole diameter of the fun, we fliall, from the time and the angular fpace, deduce, that it was about feventy 

 times nearer the fun than our planet. This, on the fuppofition of its being near the perihelion, which how- 

 ever is mere fuppofition, would rank it among thofe comets which approach the neareft to that luminary. (See 

 a Table of the elements of a confiderable number of comets in Pingie's Cometographie, which is copied irtto 

 Hutton'sDiftionary, article Comet.) 



If we confider how very feldom the inferior planets, Venus and Mercury, crofs the fun, notwithftanding 

 their fliort periods, and the little inclination of their orbits, it will be lefs furprifing that the comets, though' 

 very numerous, ftiould not often be found together with the earth in the line of their nodes; or that an 

 unforefeen etent, of fuch fliort duration, fliouId fcarcely ever meet the eye of the aftronomcr. N. 



Vol. U.~NoY. 1798. 3 A IX. 



