COMETS. 



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the orbit of Mars from the sun ; but, early in March, it appeared with a tail divided into 

 six branches, all diverging, but curved in the same direction. Each of these tails was 



about 4 in width, and from 30 to 44 in length. The edges were bright and decided, 

 the middle faint, and the intervening spaces as sombre as the rest of the firmament, the 

 stars shining in them. This comet was repeatedly seen in Switzerland, with the nucleus 

 below the horizon, and the six tails extending from twenty to thirty degrees above it. 

 The scene presented by this remarkable body in the situation referred to was striking in 

 the extreme when circumstances favoured the display. 



In the year 1770 a comet appeared which has acquired considerable notoriety from the 

 alterations which its orbit has undergone. It was first observed by Messier, a man who 

 united great simplicity of character with high scientific attainments. Louis XV. called 

 him lefuret des cometes, from his zeal in hunting after them. He had discovered twelve, 

 every one of which, .says Delambre, gained him admission to some foreign academy. 

 While attending to his wife during her last moments, Montagne discovered another. 

 This was a cutting stroke to Messier, and he exclaimed, " Alas, I had discovered twelve, 

 and this Montagne has taken away my thirteenth!" Then remembering that it was his 

 wife he should mourn for, he began to say, " ah ! }a pauvre femme ! " and went on deploring 

 his comet. The elements of the comet of 1770 were calculated by Lexel, who found for 

 its orbit round the sun an ellipse of which the transverse diameter was only equal to 

 three times the diameter of the earth's orbit, which corresponded with a period of revolu- 

 tion of five years and a half. It was deemed a singular circumstance that an object 

 having so short a periodic time, whose greatest distance from the sun was not far beyond 

 the orbit of Jupiter, and which shone with a vivid light, should not have been observed 

 before ; and the wits of the day made themselves merry, when, at the expiration of, the 

 appointed term, the comet was not observed to return. It has not been seen since ; and | 

 was popularly called Lexel's lost comet. But this sport was premature. The previous 1 



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