Cornels. 219 



near the head of Aquarius. I used a five-feet achromatic, with 

 a power of 80, and saw the object very distinctly. It was 

 about 16° above the horizon. On August the 23d I again saw it, 

 at the same hour as before. It had moved nearly 8° from its 

 former situation on the 19th. On the 25th, the twilight and a 

 considerable haze near the horizon obscured the comet; and no 

 other opportunity of seeing it offered during the remainder of 

 the month. From the remarks I made on the 19th, it seemed 

 to be considerably further advanced than the position given in 

 Bode's Table. In the winter of 1828 we may expect a return, 

 and a more commodious view of this extraordinary body. 



Your obedient servant, 

 Winterdyne, Sept. 13, 1825. M. 



To the Editor of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 

 Sir, 



On Thursday morning of the 8th instant, about 2 o'clock, 

 I discovered a comet in the face of Taurus, nearly opposite to 

 Aldebaran and the Hyades, with a Dollond's night-glass. It 

 was not then visible to the naked eye, nor had it the least ap- 

 pearance of a nucleus. It appeared like an oval burr of va- 

 pourish light, similar to some of the nebulae. With achro- 

 matic or reflecting telescopes, of small or large power, no- 

 thing could be made of it ; but the less the magnifying power 

 the better. The I'ight ascension was 59*10 and north decli- 

 nation 16"30. The tail in opposition to the sun. 



Since that time the weather has been so exceedingly unfa- 

 vourable, that only few and short opportunities have presented 

 themselves for further observation. This morning (of the 18th) 

 I occasionally had views of it, as it is now become very conspi- 

 cuous to the naked eye; so that from two till four I was enabled 

 to notice the progress it had made, and its apparent path. Its 

 direction is nearly fi'om north to south ; and it is evidently ap- 

 proaching the sun in its perihelion. To the naked eye the 

 tail appears more than a degree in length, but still no nu- 

 cleus is visible either with glasses or without : the head is 

 well defined, spherical, and of an uniform phosphoric appear- 

 ance. The tail is irregular, and the fixed stars are easily seen 

 through it. 



Since I first discovered it, the advance from nortli to south 

 has been from 10 to 12 degrees. It now forms nearly an 

 ecjuilateral triangle with the Pleiades axxd. Aldebaran, or a very 

 small triangle with the star marked A and a smaller one. From 

 the short times of seeing it I think the motion irregular, being 

 more rapid at one period than another. When I first ob- 



E c 2 served 



