294 



Editorial Notices. 



Vol. VII. 



600,000 miles of its centre. The present comet, accord- 

 ing to the calculations of our fellow-townsman, Pro- 

 fessor Kendall, was on the 26th of second month last, 

 when nearest the sun, but about 800,000 miles from its 

 centre. Now the sun's semi-diameter is about 440,000 

 miles: both these comets then, must at one time have 

 been considerably nearer to the surface of the sun, than 

 the length of his semi-diameter! The earth's distance 

 from the sun, is about 96,000,000 of miles: our late 

 visitant therefore, when nearest, must have approach- 

 ed within btj- part the distance that we ourselves 

 are, from that great centre of our system! With what 

 amazing velocity must it have been hurried on, to pre- 

 vent its gravity from forcing it to the body of the sun! 

 We dwell with astonishment on the inconceivable ra- 

 pidity with which these bodies whirl round the sun, 

 at the instant of their perihelion passage. That of the 

 comet of 1680, was such, that if continued, it would 

 have carried it ten times round the sun in one day: 

 and the present comet, it is said, would have gone five 

 times round the sun in the same time. In fact, it did 

 go half round in about four hours — from two hours be- 

 fore, to two hours after reaching its nearest point. 



Professor Kendall and S. C. Walker, have computed 

 the elements of this comet with great care, and find 

 they do not agree with those of any one on record : it 

 is therefore, in all probability, to be hailed as a new 

 visitant, within the limits of our system. Its train or 

 tail, was very remarkable for its extent— stretching 

 according to Professor Loomis, of the Western Reserve 

 College, Ohio, " over 45 degrees in length." " The nu 

 cleus, or head," continues the Professor, " was much 

 smaller than might have been expected from its train 

 — it was nearly circular — its outline ill defined, as 

 usual, and increasing in brightness towards the centre." 



Time was, when the appearance of so strange a vis- 

 itor flaming through the heavens, spread terror and 

 consternation abroad. That time, we trust, has in a 

 great measure passed away. " Throughout the econo- 

 my of nature," says Professor Olmsted, "all powers 

 are so balanced, that each keeps the other in check." 

 The same universal law which draws the stone to the 

 earth and retains the moon in her place, exerts its in- 

 fluence over every motion of the comet, and having 

 been given by the Supreme Intelligence, is a guaranty 

 that order and harmony shall prevail, as well in the 

 most remote regions of space, as within the limits of 

 our own comparatively narrow system. 



Professor Vince, in his Astronomy, says that "from 

 the beginning of our era to this time, it is probable, 

 according to the best accounts, there have appeared 

 about 500 comets." It is remarked by a writer from 

 Brown University, in a communication to the Provi- 

 dence Journal, dated the 9th ult., that of this number, 

 "the orbits of about 140 have been computed. The 

 orbits are nearly all of a parabolic form— that is, the 

 path of the comet does not return into itself." In re- 

 lation to the comet of 1080, which Sir I. Newton be- 

 lieved to have gone on" in a parabola, never to return, 

 Encke, the great German astronomer, " lias round tint 

 a periodical return of 14,000 years, would correspond 

 better with the observations, than the supposition 

 that it had moved away in a parabola!" 



"Three comets only,"— we quote acain from the 

 anonymous writer from Brown University — '• are 



known to revolve in ellipses, and to return at regular 

 intervals:— they are the following: 



"1. Halley's, which has a period of 76 years. It 

 passed its perihelion on the 16th of November, 1835," 

 having arrived there within two days of the time as- 

 signed for its return, by Pontecoulant, a distinguished 

 French astronomer. "It will not again return till the 

 year 1911. 



"2. Encke's, which has a period of about 1207 days. 

 This was last seen in the spring of 1842. Its next re- 

 turn will be in the summer of 1845.* 



"3. Biela's, having a period of about 6J years, or 

 more exactly, 246] days. Its last return was in 1839. 

 The next will be in 1846." 



We regret to learn, as we do from the U. S. Gazette, 

 that " the only astronomical establishments in the U. 

 States, capable of furnishing observations of any value 

 by the side of the European, are the High School Ob- 

 servatory of this city, in charge of Professor Kendall, 

 and the Hudson Observatory, under Professor Loomis, 

 in Ohio." This, we think, ought not to be so. And 

 we trust, that for the credit of our country, cause for 

 the complaint, will not much longer be suffered to 

 exist. 



Oi'R friend, H.L. Ellsworth, Commissioner of Patents, 

 will please accept our thanks for his late Report to con- 

 gress, showing the operations of his office during the 

 year 1842. The labour and care incident to throwing 

 before the country such an amount of interesting mat- 

 ter, only remotely connected with the duties of his de- 

 partment, show an industry and zeal in the cause, 

 worthy of a high public officer. That part of the Re- 

 port which has reference to the agricultural statistics 

 of the country, particularly attracted our attention, 

 and we regret our inability at this time, to draw more 

 largely from it. 



Our present population may be set down at about 

 19,000,000 of souls. From an estimate of crops for the 

 past year, we learn that more than 441.000,000 of bush- 

 els of Indian corn— 150,000,000 bushels of oats— 102, 

 000,000 bushels of wheat, and 135,000,000 bushels of 

 potatoes, were harvested. Of these, Tennessee grew 

 the greatest amount of Indian corn, to wit: about 

 one-eighth of the whole. New York was the greatest 

 producer of oats, having grown about one-sixth of the 

 whole. Ohio was the greatest grower of wheat, her 

 produce being about one-fourth of the whole; while 

 New York again bears the palm in the production of 

 potatoes. Her yield was more t han 36,000,000 of bush- 

 els—nearly treble that of Pennsylvania, the next largest 

 grower of this root — and more than one-third as many 

 as all the other States. Mississippi is the greatest 

 grower of cotton— South Carolina, of rice— Virginia, 

 of tobacco, and Louisiana of sugar: and— which is 

 well worthy of remark,— Vermont, Ohio and Connec- 

 ticut, are the next greatest producers of this article 1 



* "The positions of this comet," says Gunimere, in 

 his Astronomy, " at its recent return in 1842, as ob- 

 served on several evenings by Professor Kendall, in 

 Philadelphia, were found to be within 30" of space 

 of its positions, as given in Encke's Ephemeris, pre- 

 viously computed. This affords a striking evidence of 

 the accuracy of the investigations and computations 

 of its orbit and motion." 



