XXXIV NOTES. 



T. ii. p. 22.) Respecting the conjectured identity of this comet with the 

 recent great comet of 1843, see Schum. Astr. Nachr. 1843, Nr. 476 and 

 480. In Persian, the expression, nizehi ateschln (fiery spear or lance), is also 

 used for the rays of the rising or setting sun, in the same way as nayazik, 

 according to Freytag's Arabic Lexicon, signifies " stellec cadentes." The com 

 parison of comets with lances and swords was, however, very common in the 

 middle ages in all languages. The great comet, which was seen from April 

 to June 1500, was always spoken of by the Italian writers of the day under 

 the title of il Signer Astone. (See my Examen critique de 1'Histoire de la 

 Geographic, T. v. p. 80.) The many conjectures which have been made, 

 that Descartes (Cassini, p. 230; Mairan, p. 16), and even Kepler (Delambre, 

 T. i. p. 601), were acquainted with the zodiacal light, appear to me quite 

 untenable. Descartes speaks very obscurely (Principes, iii. art. 136, 137) 

 of the origin of tails of comets : " par des rayons obliques qui, tombaut sur 

 diverses parties des orbes planetaires, viennent des parties laterales a notre 

 ceil par une refraction extraordinaire;" also how comets' tails might be 

 seen, morning and evening, "comme une longue poutre," if the sun is 

 between the comet and the earth. This passage is no more to be interpreted 

 as referring to the zodiacal light, than is that in which Kepler says of the 

 existence of a solar atmosphere (limbus circa solum, coma lucida), which, in 

 total eclipses, "prevents its being quite night." Epit. Astron. Copernicanae, 

 T. i. p. 57, and T. ii. 893.) The statements of Cassini (p. 231, art. xxxi.) 

 and of Mairan (p. 15), that the "trabesquas SOKOUS vocant" (Plin. ii. 26 

 and 27) had allusion to the zodiacal light rising in the form of a tongue, are 

 even more uncertain, or rather erroneous. Every where, among the ancients, 

 the trabes are associated with the bolides (ardores et faces) and other igneous 

 meteors, and sometimes even with long-bearded comets. (Respecting SOK&S, 

 Soxias, SOKITTJS, see Schafer, Schol. par. ad Apoll. Rhod. 1813, T. ii. p. 206; 

 Pseudo-Aristot. de Mundo, 2, V) ; Comment. Alex., Joh. Philop. et 

 Olymp. in Aristot. Meteor, lib. i. cap. vii. 3, p. 195, Ideler; Seneca, Nat 

 Qwest, i. 1.) 



O* 3 ) p. 130. Humboldt, Monumens des Peuples indigenes de 1'Amerique, 

 T. ii. p. 301. The curious manuscript which belonged to the Archbishop of 

 Rhcims, Le Tellier, contains a variety of extracts from an Aztec book of rites, 

 an astrological calendar, and historical annals from 1197 1549 These 

 annals contain notices of different natural phenomena, epochs of earthquakes, 

 of comets as those of 1490 and 1529, and of solar eclipses, which are 

 important to Mexican chronology. In Camargo'a manuscript, Historia de 



