ASTRONOMY. 301 



and an enlargement of the continnons spectrnni in the green and blue, 

 but was able to make no measures. Had determinations of the posi- 

 tions of these lines been possible, we might have had much verj- inter- 

 esting information. 



The tail of the comet has throughout resembled that of the 1843 comet, 

 it being nearly straight and very brilliant. M. Cruls represents it 

 as being about 30° long about ten days after perihelion. M. Ricco 

 gives its breadth as varying on different days from l'^ 48' to 2° 28'. 

 The southern edge has appeared stronger and brighter than the north- 

 ern, sometimes remarkably so, and, though nearly straight, it is slightly 

 convex towards the south. The nucleus, circular at first, has shown a 

 strong tendency to lengthen, and M. Ricco has observed it as double. 



Astronomers will continue to seize on every possible opportunity of 

 ■watching this most remarkable and interesting object as long as it re- 

 mains within our view, even without the stimulus afibrded by the ex- 

 pectation of seeing it plunge into the sun, as it has been confidently 

 prophesied it will shortly do. If it should turn out as here suggested, that 

 the present is but its second return, in modern times at least, we may 

 have to wait longer for the final catastrophe than is perhaps generally 

 expected ; and the present behavior of the comet would perhaps seem to 

 indicate that its fate will be accomplished rather by a gradual disinte- 

 gration than by a sudden headlong plunge into the solar orb. — Observa- 

 tory^ 1882, Kovember. 



The comet of May 17, 1882. — M. Tr<5pied, in an account of his observa- 

 tions made in Egypt during the total solar eclipse of May 17, which was 

 communicated to the Academy of Sciences on the 19th instant, has the 

 following interesting note : 



" Towards the middle of totality, I perceived to the right of the sun, 

 a streak of light, slightly curved at the lower part, having a singular 

 appearance and in evident discordance with the rest of the corona. I 

 did not for an instant suppose that it could be a comet, and only recog- 

 nized its nature an hour after the eclipse on comparing my sketch with 

 one of the photographs obtained by Dr. Schuster. That photograph 

 plainly showed the nucleus at a distance from the edge of the sun a 

 little greater than the diameter of that body; the direction of the tail 

 agreed well with what I had drawn, but I had stopped the streak at 

 much too short a distance from the edge. I did not, however, believe 

 that it would be allowable for me to change anything in my drawing." 



The sketch referred to is copied in the Comptes rendus of the above 

 sitting of the Academy. M. Tripled further remarks: 



"The brightness of the comet appeared to me the same as that of the 

 external parts of the corona." 



The position of the observing station, as provisionally determined by 

 M. Tripled, is in longitude 1'^ 57™ 40^ east of Paris, and latitude 20^ 

 33' 21", where the middle of totality occurred at 8^^ 31™ 53« a. m. local 

 nean time. M. Tripled says in the week following the eclipse he searched 



