150 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



not able to confirm his discovery till January 20. From tlie 22d to the 

 25th the comet was a beautiful object to tlie naked eye — a narrow, 

 straight, sharply defirued, graceful tail, over 40 degiees loug, shiuiug 

 with a soft starry light against the dark sky, beginning, apparently, 

 without a head, and gradually widening and fading as it extended up- 

 wards. At the Cape of Good Hope it was observed from January 22 

 to 28, the loug, straight tail recalling the comet of February, 1880. The 

 Revista do observatorio for February, published by ])r. Cruls at llio 

 Janeiro, gives a sketch of the comet made on January 24. The nucleus 

 was then somewhere beyond' the bright star ar Gruis, invisible in the 

 haze of the horizon, and the tail stretched up beyond f:i Hydrae, a nar- 

 row ribbon 52 degrees in length and about half a degree in width. As 

 far as we' have been able to learn the comet was not seen at all in the 

 northern hemisphere, and was not followed in the southern hemisphere 

 beyond the end of January. 



Unfortunately, also, no well defined nucleus, or even the slightest 

 coudensatiou as a point of observation could be made out at any of the 

 observatories at which the comet was visible, and from the rough ob- 

 servations which were obtained it is impossible to determine the orbit 

 with any degree of precision. The earlier dispatches suggested the 

 identity of the new comet with the great comet of 1880, apparently on 

 the ground of a general similarity of tlie circumstances of the api)arition, 

 and on the fact that the line of sight nearly intersected the orbit of the 

 comet of 1880 5 but Mr. Chandler, who has made a critical discussion of 

 all the observations obtained, has been unable to reconcile them with an 

 orbit similar to that of the group of great comets of 1843, 1880, and 1882; 

 the orbit that he obtains bears a closer resemblance, in fact, to those of 

 the comets of 1G80 and 1689. The unavoidable uncertainty in the ob- 

 servations must, however, leave the question of identity unsettled. 

 The extremely small perihelion distance is worthy of notice, and may, 

 perhaps, account for the lack of nucleus. Indeed, if we accept the orbit 

 computed by Dr. Oppenheim (q=0.0047), the comet must have ploughed 

 through the surface of the sun itself. 

 Comet 1887 II : 



= Comet 1) 1887. 



Discovered by W. R. Brooks, at Phelps, New York, 

 on the evening of January 22, 1887, in the constella- 

 tion Draco. In the early part of February it reached its greatest north- 

 ern declination, 80°, then went south again, and was last observed 

 by Plummer at Orwell Park, on April 23. From the time of discovery 

 it increased gradually in brightness till about the middle of February, 

 when it was described as a bright telescopic object about 3' in diam- 

 eter with well marked central condensation of the tenth magnitude. 

 According to the yet unfinished investigation of Dr. Stechert the orbit 

 shows a well-marked ellipticity. — 



Discovered by Barnard at Nashville on the night 

 of February 16, 1887, in 8'' right ascension, and 15° 



Comet 1887 III; 

 = Comet d 1887. 



south declination, a very faint nebulous object with rapid motion to- 



