Imperial Institute of France, 61 



of expression rather than in effect, and the explanation 

 given for the phnenoinena of attraction and repulsion was 

 deemed inadequate. The theory oF excitation was after- 

 wards exaiiiined, and ar2iie<l to be independent of diiinnished 

 pressure between the cylinder and rubber, or of any refic'c- 

 tive nt)v\'er of the amaii^ani. Concernint!" the cluir2;ingr of 

 the Lcyden phial, it was observed that the vibrations in 

 which the charging depends, by counteracting, shonid de- 

 stroy each other. Some arguments against the opinion 

 that points do show the dirt-elioa of the electric fluid, were 

 then adduced; and the reading concluded by showing that 

 notwithstanding the hvpothesis disclaims the doctrine of 

 accunuilation and diminution, yet that both states must be 

 Inferred bv legitimate deductions from the remaining prin- 

 ci[iles of the hypothesis. 



lERRATnM in th'j proceedings of the Kirwauian Society for May, for 

 Eclfs's hypothesis read Eeles's, througliout.J 



IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 



{Continued from vol. xxxix. p. 403. J 



ASTfiONOMV. 



Comets. — Two comets were di-covered in 1811, in the 

 South of Fiance : they have been mo>t minutely observed 

 and calculated by the astronomers of Paris. The first, 

 which was announced without any person paying the 

 slightest attention to it, latterly excited much of the public 

 attention, from the instant of its acquiring a tail of severaJ 

 degrees in kngth. The seccwid has not as ytt e.Kcited any 

 great sensation, nor is it calculated to do so, because it i.s 

 not yet visible except uith a telescope, and because, as it is 

 removing from tiie eanh and the sun, it must gradually di- 

 minish until it escapes ahoijether from our view. 



The first was discovered at Viviers on the 26ih of March 

 1811 by M. Flaiigeroues, corres|)onditig member of tiie 

 Imperial Institute, who comnumited his first observations. 

 The (iomtt was then very feeble in point of light, without 

 a tail or any apparent nucleus. This last circumstance 

 rendered it very difficult of oliservation. On the iQlhof 

 April, M. Burckhardt succeeded in seeing it with the 

 searcher of his telescope, but in the telescope itself it was 

 invisible, liecause it magnified too nuieti. We notice this 

 fact in order to spare some troul)le to the curious in fuliu'e, 

 numbers having tlocked to the Imperial Observatory last 

 Ociober, to see the con»et in our hirire telescopes, when they 

 might have seen it more distinctly at home with the smallest 



glasses. 



