CHAPTER II. 



RECENT ADDITIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF COMETS. 



SECTION I. 



THE GREAT COMET OF 1843. 



MODERN astronomers were generally agreed that the 

 ancient accounts of comets were greatly exaggerated; 

 for, said they, since we have had careful and scientific 

 observers, the appalling comets of antiquity have dis- 

 appeared. What then shall we say of a comet in the 

 nineteenth century, rivaling the noonday splendor of the 

 sun? 



On Tuesday, the 28th of February, 1843, a brilliant 

 body resembling a comet, situated near the sun, was seen 

 in broad daylight, by numerous observers in various parts 

 of the world. It was seen in each of the New England 

 States (except, perhaps, Rhode Island), in Delaware, at 

 Halifax, N. S., in Mexico, in Italy, and it is said also in 

 the East and West Indies. It was seen in New England 

 as early as half-past seven in the morning, and continued 

 till after 3 P. M., when the sky became considerably ob- 

 scured by clouds and haziness. The appearance was that 



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