466 -^'<?"' Cumet. 



sphere. Tt is not visible by the naked eye ; with very good 

 glasses, its nucleus, the light of which is vivid, is seen sur- 

 rounded with a light cloud, but not the slightest trace of a 

 tail is to be seen. 



" It was announced that, on the 4th of November, at 

 7 P. M. there was seen at Berne, in the direction of E.N. E. 

 a comet above the horizon ; and it was added, that the tail 

 was turned directly on the side of the horizon. It will not 

 be unnecessary to remarkj«that these indications cannot in 

 any measure relate to the comet discovcretl by M. Pons, 

 first, because on the 4th of Novcnd)cr this coaiet was still 

 below the horizon at eight at night, and next, because it 

 rises in the S-E. and has no tail. It is probable that the 

 astronomer of Berne mistook the nebulus of Andromeda 

 for a comet." 



This additional sublime stranger w as seen on the evenings 

 of the 22d and Sad of December at the Glasgow Observa- 

 tory. Its position has varied considerably m declination 

 from that given by the French astronomers for the 5th of 

 December. It is now very near the equator. Its appear- 

 ance, when viewed in the ten feet Hcrschelian, with a 

 power of 250, is extremely beautiful. The nebulous eo- 

 nietary mass is condensed, appears bright, notwithstanding 

 the vicinity of the moon. There is at present a fine double 

 star a little to the south-west of it. The rapidity of its 

 motion is evident, even in the common telescope, in the in- 

 terval of one day. Its situation has been carefully deter- 

 mined on both evenings by a series of azimuths and altitudes 

 with the great astrcmomical circle constructed by Mr» 

 Troughton. It is still in the extended constellation Eridanus. 



M. Vauquelin has constructed tables, by the inspeetioa 

 of which, the proportion of concentrated sulphuric acid 

 contained in any mixture of that acid and water, indicated 

 by the difTerent degrees of the areometer, may be correctly 

 ascertained. This is sometimes of considerable importance 

 to the manufacturer of sot'a, and to other consumers of 

 this acid, since diluted acid is often more advantageously 

 employed, and the quanthy of concentrated acid is not ex- 

 actly in proportion to the degree of the areometer, on ac- 

 count of the mutual penetration which takes place at the 

 moment of combination of the acid with water; a circum- 

 stance which occasions such manufacturer to pay a greater 

 price for the weaker acids than is proportioned to the quan- 

 tity of real acid they contain. This table is the result of 



man y 



