642 BIRKKI.AM). Till-. M )RW1 ( ,IAN Al'RORA POLARIS KXPI-.MITM IN, 1 QO2 1903. 



"I'. S. Mr. II. (.'. RKKVI , of Lorcntxville, under date of 22nd May, lias sent me a letter convevine 

 the same idea. lie says: 'Whatsoever nature the stress between the Sun and the comet may be which 

 causes the repulsion of the tail .... the same stress must also exist between the Farlh and tin- count 

 .... I'nder these circumstances the Earth could not possibly pass through the comet's tail'." 



Dr. CIIAS. F. JUKITX. of the Government Analytical Laboratory, Capetown, under date of 2ist Mav 

 1910, writes:- - 



"The last time that I saw the nucleus previous to transit was on the morning of Tuesday, the 

 1 7th. The nucleus was then not far from the H Arietis, and the tail stretched right awav to the nuih- 

 bourhood of the H Afjtiilae. 



"(.)n Wednesday, the i8th, the sky was entirely overcast. The comet could therefore not be seen. 



"On Thursday, the igtli, at 5 a. m., i. e. while the transit, as originally expected, was supposed, to 

 be in progress, and the Farth in course of passage through the tail, the tail was longer and wider than 

 ever .... extending right into the Milky Wav, the northern edge of the tail grazing / Pegasi. But this 

 tune the main tail was Hanked bv two attendant shorter shafts of light. The fainter of these was north 

 ol the main tail, and inclined more to the north than even the main tail did; the brighter of the two 

 subsidiary tails stood up almost vertical from the north-eastern horixon, and seemed to extend some 8" 

 or 9" above Venus, the planet, which was right in the middle of the beam, twinkling through it like a 

 fixed star. Between this tail and the principal one there was <i distinct circular-pointed wedge of dark 

 sky. These two fainter tails were apparently between 15" and 20" long. The appearance of the lime 

 bruins of liiflit produced on me exactly the impression of the mouth ol a great transparent cone into 

 which the Farth was rushing. Imagine a stupendous glass filter funnel, down the sides of which, from 

 stem to edge, three streaks of luminous material had been painted; t/n-v convrrgrti toward* the horizon 

 ami diverged towards tin- :cnilh. The continued bast: of the three beams extended along the north- 

 eastern horixon some 35". 



"On Thursday evening the comet was not yet visible in the west, but on Friday morning, the igth, 

 the main tail was still practically in its former position, although somewhat fainter. Its northern com- 

 panion had disappeared, but the southern subsidiary tail was more distinct than before, and also longer, 

 while the dark wedge separating it from the principal shaft of light was better defined than on the pre- 

 vious morning." 



Father K. (ioi.TX, of the Bulawayo Observatory, writing on the 2ist May, says: - 



.... "Might it not be that the tail was more westwards than we expected, and that we passed 

 it during the day on the igth, and that the taint tail we saw on the 2Oth was a stiranii'r itistinc/ f ruin the 

 main tail. The slight curvature which was noticeable when the comet passed near Venus makes me think 

 that the Farth mav also have had some kind of repelling effect on the tail which would have sent it a 

 little further west than anticipated and account for our delayed passage" .... 



Mr. W. II. FINLAY, M. A., writes that he and Professor Rn>(,K, observing at Blocmlbntcin, saw tin- 

 tail near A(|uila undergo a rupture on the morning of i8th igth May, and that he considers this was 

 due to the tail meeting the Farth's atmosphere and being unable to penetrate it. 



"It will be remembered (see Circular No. 3! that the eastern or morning tails were actually seen 

 here on the morning of the 2 1 st Mav, almost exactly three; days after the transit of the comet across 

 the sun's disk (see sketch fig. 237). At that time the north branch of the morning tail ended in 20 h. 

 R. A., whilst the head was in 6 h. R. A. and the end of the western tail in 8 h. R. A., or roughly the 

 angular distance from the end of one tail to the other was 240". But there was then no connection 

 between the comet and the eastern tails. It is highly probable that a rupture had occurred and this 



