VOL. XLIV.] 



PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 



46? 



Another phenomenon was the result of a late experiment of Abb^ Nollet's. 

 He fixed, at the two extremities of a brass ruler, 1 small birds, a sparrow and a 

 chaffinch : this ruler had a handle or pedestal fastened to its middle, for the con- 

 venience of holding it. When both the gun-barrel and the phial had been suffi- 

 ciently electrified, as in the 4th experiment, he applied the head of the sparrow 

 to the suspended phial, and the head of the chaffinch to the barrel. The con- 

 sequence, on the first trial, was, that they were both instantaneously struck 

 lifeless, as it were, and motionless, for a time only, and they recovered some 

 few minutes after ; but on a second trial, the sparrow was struck dead, and on 

 examination found livid without, as if killed by a flash of lightning, most of the 

 blood-vessels within the body being burst by the shock. The chaffinch revived, 

 as before. 



The Path of the Comet which appeared in March and April 1742, from the Ob- 

 servations made at the Jesuits' Observatory at Pekin. Communicated by Mr. 

 James Hodgson, F.E.S. and Master of the Mathematical School Christ's Hos- 

 pital. N° 481, p. 264. From the Latin. 



True time of obser- 

 vation. 



d. 

 March 2 



4 

 5 



7 



11 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 15 

 16 

 17 



nun. 

 30 m. 



m. 

 45 m. 



m 



30 m. 

 30 m. 

 15 m 



m. 

 15 m 



m. 

 30 m. 



Right 

 Asc. 



Declina- 

 tion. 



281 55 

 283 30 



283 33 



284 48 



288 1 



289 6 



290 11 



291 40 

 293 12 



295 



297 



6 



5 15 



10 50 



22 40 



44 57 

 50 3 

 54 15 

 58 50 

 62 36" 

 66 

 11 



img 



Constellations by which 

 the Comet passed. 



At the foot of Antinous. 

 Near the Serpent's tail. 

 Below the tail of Aquila. 

 Between Anser and Cer- 



beras. [& Lyra. 



Betw. the wing of Cyg. 

 In the northern wing of 



Cygnus. 

 Between Cygnus and 



the belly of Drav-o. 



In the belly of Draco. 



True time of obser- 

 vation. 



March 



d. h 

 18 4 



19 



22 

 23 



4 

 8 

 9 

 9 

 24 10 



27 9 



28 8 



April 



29 



30 



31 



1 



2 



, mm. 



m 



m. 

 2o a. 



a. 

 45 a. 

 15 a. 



a. 

 40 a. 

 30 m 



m. 

 50 m 

 50 m 

 12 m. 



Right 

 Asc. 



299 



302 



304 



319 



327 



336 



21 



26 



30 



38 



45 



50 



55 



Declina- 

 tion. 



71 



74 

 75 

 81 

 82 

 83 

 84 

 84 

 84 



50 

 23 

 40 

 

 14 

 12 

 26 

 20 

 13 



83 45 

 83 29 

 83 



82 27 



Constellations by which' 

 the Comet passed. 



[pheus. 

 Between Draco and Ce- 



At the knee of Cepheus. 



Between the feet of 

 Cepheus, and after- 

 wards in the same in 

 the vicinity of the north 

 pole. 



From the observations of March 2 and 4, it appears that the comet came to 

 the equator March 3, about 6 in the morning, in 282° 30' right ascension, with 

 84° 30' inclination of its path to the equator ; therefore its longitude was 13° 35' 

 of ^, with 22° 54' north lat. Hence it may be collected, that the comet's path, 

 which appeared to be in a great circle, met the ecliptic in 9° 1 9' of VJ" and 25, with 

 80° of inclination ; and the colure of the equinoxes at the distance of 5° 37'-Jr 

 from the poles of the world, toward the equinoctial points, with an inclination of 

 77° 33'^ ; and the colure of the solstices at the distance of 23° 57 f from the 

 poles of the world, towards the solstitial points, with an inclination of 13° 38', 



M M 2 



