R LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. 



pointed out a few weeks earlier by Schiaparelli, 

 from calculations by himself on data supplied by 

 direct observations on the meteors, and independ- 

 ently by 1'ctcrs from calculations by Leverrier on 

 the same foundation. It is therefore thoroughly 

 established that Tempel's Comet I. 1866 consists 

 of an elliptic train of minute planets, of which a 

 few thousands or millions fall to the earth annually 

 about the izj.th of November, when we cross their 

 track. We have probably not yet passed through 

 the very nucleus or densest part ; but thirteen 

 in Octobers and Novembers, from October 

 13, A.I). 902 to November 14, 1866 inclusive (this 

 last time having been correctly predicted by Prof. 

 Newton;, we have passed through a part of the 

 belt greatly denser than the average. The densest 

 part of the train, when near enough to us, is visible 

 a> the head of the comet. This astounding result, 

 taken along with Muggins's spectroscopic observa- 

 Dfl the light of the heads and tails of comets, 

 confirm most strikingly Tait's theory of comets, to 

 which I have already referred ; according to which 

 the comet, a group of meteoric stones, is self- 



