CHAPTER XXI 

 ASTRONOMY IN THE ARCTIC 



READING M'Clintock's journal of his successful search 

 for relics of the Franklin Expedition, it interested 

 me to alight on the following entry for September 15th, 

 1858: "While in the vicinity of Bellot Strait, two 

 nights ago, a comet was observed just beneath the 

 constellation of the Great Bear ; a series of measure- 

 ments was commenced for determining its path." 

 This comet which M'Clintock's gallant company 

 sighted was none other than Donati's, one of the 

 grandest objects of its kind known to astronomic 

 science. 



Donati, the Italian astronomer, discovered it at 

 Florence on June 2nd, 1858, when, as the late Ellard 

 Gore said, it was a " small glimmering nebulosity." In 

 a little over a week subsequent to the comet being 

 seen from the polar regions, it had become fairly con- 

 spicuous, nearly equal, indeed, to a star of the first 

 magnitude. It was visible at that time half an hour 

 after sunset. It rapidly increased in brightness until, 

 during the first week in October, it had become an 

 object of great magnificence. One who saw it, re- 

 marked, " Few more picturesque celestial effects have 



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