HALLEY'S COMET. 185 



1 



ings of the 27th and 28th of December. An astronomer of Leipzic observed s 

 it immediately afterward; " but," says M. de Pontecoulant, "jealous of his / 

 discovery, as a lover of his mistress, or a miser of his treasure, he would not 

 share it, and gave himself up to the solitary pleasure of following the body in its 

 course from day to day, while his contemporaries throughout Europe were vainly 

 directing their anxious search after it to other quarters of the heavens." A*t 

 this time Delisle, a French astronomer, and his assistant, Messier, who, from 

 his unwearied assiduity in the pursuit of comets, received from Louis the Fif- 

 teenth the appellation of La Fttret de Comctes(tho comet-ferret), had been con- 

 stantly engaged for eighteen months in watching for the return of Halley's 

 comet. It would seem that La Caille, and other French astronomers at that 

 time, considering that Delisle and Messier, from the attention which they had 

 given to such objects, and more especially from the ardor and indefatigable 

 perseverance of the latter, could not fail to detect the expected body the mo- 

 ment it came within view, did not occupy themselves in looking for it. Delisle 

 computed an Ephemeris, and made a chart of its supposed course in the heav- 

 ens, and placed it in the hands of Meisser to guide him in his search. This 

 chart was erroneouand diverted the attention of Meisser to a quarter of the 

 firmament through wnich the comet did not pass, and thus, most probably, de- 

 prived that zealous and assiduous observer of the honor of first discovering its 

 return to our system. He succeeded, nevertheless, in observing it on the 21st 

 of January, 1759; nearly a month after it had been seen by Palitzch and 

 Hoffman, but without knowing that it had been already observed.* The comet 

 was now observed in various places. It continued to be seen at Dresden, also 

 at Leipzic, Boulogne, Brussels, Lisbon, Cadiz, &c. Its course being observed, 

 it was found that it arrived at its perihelion, or at its nearest point to the sun, 

 on the 13th of March, between three and four o'clock in the morning ; exactly 

 thirty-seven days before the epoch first assigned by Clairaut, but only twenty- 

 three days previous to his corrected prediction. The comet on this occasion 

 appeared very round, with a brilliant nucleus, well distinguished from the sur- 

 rounding nebulosity. It had, however, no appearance of a tail. About the 

 middle of the latter month, it became lost in the rays of the sun while ap- 

 proaching its perihelion ; it afterward emerged from them on its departure 

 from the sun, and was visible before sunrise in the morning on the 1st of April. 

 On this day it was observed by Messier, who states that he was able to dis- 

 tinguish the tail by his telescope. It was again observed by him on the 3d, 

 15th, and 17th of May. Lalande, however, who observed it on the same oc- 

 casions, was not able to discover any trace of the tail. 



Although it is certain that the splendor and magnitude of the comet in 1759 

 were considerably less than those with which it had previously appeared, yet 

 we must not lay too much stress upon the probability of its really diminished 

 magnitude. In 1759 it was seen under the most disadvantageous circumstan- 

 ces it was almost always obscured by the effect of twilight, and was in situ- 

 ations the most unfavorable possible for European observers. It had been 

 observed, however, in the southern hemisphere at Pondicherry by Pere Coeur- 

 Doux, and at the isle of Bourbon by La Caille, under more favorable circum- 



* An interesting memoir of Messier may be found in the Histoire de V Astronomic an dixhuitilme 

 Silcle, by Delambre. La Harpe (Correspondence Litteraire, Paris, 1801, torn, i., p. 97) says, that 

 "he passed his life in search of comets. The ne plus ultra of his ambition was to be made a mem- 

 ber of the Academy of Petersburg!!. He was an excellent man, but had the simplicity of a child. 

 At a time when he was in expectation of discovering a comet, his wife took ill and died. While 

 attending upon her, being withdrawn from his observatory, Montagne de Limoges anticipated him 

 by discovering the comet. Messier was in despair. A friend visiting him began to offer some con- 

 solation for the recent affliction he had suffered : Messier, thinking only of his comet exclaimed : '/ 

 hud discovered twelve. Alas, that I should be robbed of Ike thirteenth by Montnzne !' and his eyes 

 filled with tears. Then, remembering that it was necessary to mourn tor his wife, whose remains 

 were still in the house, he exclaimed, ' Ah I cette pauvre fernine,' and again wept for his comet." 



