COMETS, 



185 



nui^ber of comets in the universe appears to hold good : ut 

 jrisces in oceano. 



Of not less importance is the careful catalogue of comets 

 which have appeared in China, and which Edward Biot has 

 made known from the collection of Ma-tuan-lin. It reaches 

 back beyond the foundation of the Ionic school of Thales and 

 ths Lydian Alyattes, and comprises, in two sections, the place 

 of the comets from 613 years before our own era until 1222 

 years afterward, and then from 1222 to 1644, the period in 



9 Com. 



or the 28 Comets visible to tlje naked eye which are here enumerated 

 In the sixteenth century (the epoch of Apianus, Girolamc Fracastoro, 

 Landgravine William IV. of Hesse, Mastlin, and Tycho), 10 were de- 

 scribed by Pingre, namely, those of 1500, 1505, 1506, 1512, 1514, 1516, 

 1518, 1521, 1522, and 1530; further, the Comets of 1531, 1532, 1533 

 1556, 1558, 1569, 1577, 1580, 1582. 1585, 1590, 1593, and 1596. 



