Mr. Squire on the Comet of 1825. 55 
question merely for the sake of victory, and too candid to 
hesitate a single moment in expressing my conviction, what- 
ever may have been my previous opinions, or however my 
credit may seem to be pledged in their support. 
Bath, Dec. 5, 1825. 
VIII. On the Comet of 1825. By Tuomas Sguire, Esq. 
To the Editor of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 
Sir, 
ITHOUT entering into the nature of those chaotic com- 
pounds of elementary substances, or rather incipient 
worlds called comets, of which we, perhaps, are less acquainted. 
than with their motions; yet, nevertheless,,I think it may 
truly be said that no part of astronomy is more in its. infancy 
than that which relates to the eccentric and anomalous mo- 
tions of these erratic bodies, which are occasionally and at very 
uncertain periods observed to visit the bounds of our solar 
vata when passing through the perihelion parts of their 
orbits. 
Should you, Mr. Editor, think the. following computations 
and remarks, which relate to the comet of 1825 (that first ap- 
peared about the beginning of September), entitled to a place 
in your scientific Journal, they are truly at your service. 
On the supposition of a parabolic orbit, this comet must 
have passed from the northern to the southern side of the 
ecliptic about the 22d of August; but it was not visible to the 
naked eye until the 7th of September, when it was seen in the 
constellation Taurus, near Aldebaran and the Hyades ; at which 
time its distance from the sun was 1°871, and from the earth 
1-407. On the 12th of the same month at 1 A.M. its anomaly 
was 69° 34! 38, its distance from the sun 1:8229, and from the 
earth 1-2391, having also a geocentric longitude of 60° 40! 19", 
and a southern latitude of 6° 34/ 29". Again, on the 17th, the 
comet’s distance from the sun was 1°767, and from the earth 
1105. It continued thus to approach the earth in a lateral di- 
rection till the 12th of October, when by computation it ap- 
pears to have come nearest to the earth, at which time it was 
a very conspicuous object in the heavens; when, at midnight, 
its distance from the sun was 1°525756, and from the earth 
only 61471: its geocentric longitude was 35° 8! 11", and lati- 
tude 35° 51' 35" south. Hence it was then in the southern 
part of the constellation Cetus. Therefore at this time it must 
have been vertical between the parallels of 20 and 21 degrees 
south, a little before two o’clock that morning, according se 
the 
