bo 
C4 
Oo 
THE RETURN OF HALLEY’S COMET IN 1910. 
O for the ampler arch, in nicer mode, 
To mark its stages through the azure road ! 
But vain the wish! Oh! ye that can survey 
The glorious orb, and track its radiant way ; 
While vulgar crowds with dull attention gaze, 
And gaping wonder at the silver blaze: 
Ye sons of science, from your high abodes, 
Desery its oblique path, and mark its nodes, 
Explore with what velocity ’tis hurled, 
And how exact its period round the world. 
Now, now in this delightful work engage, 
Pursue the steps of the sagacious sage,* 
And be this wiser than the former age. 
I think these verses are of sufficient interest to reproduce, as 
showing the ideas that were prevalent in England both before 
and after the comet was seen. Perhaps Halley’s reputation 
shone all the more brightly from the temporary scepticism ; it 
was certainly a noble achievement to have robbed this comet of 
the superstitious dread which for centuries had accompanied its 
appearance, and to have transformed it from an aimless wan- 
derer to a permanent member of thesolar system, whose behaviour 
can now be foretold almost as accurately as that of the planets. 
Halley recognised that his comet might be carried backwards 
as well as forwards, by studying cometary records, and he was 
successful in identifying the comet of 1456 as the same body. 
Before that time his efforts were less successful; failing to 
realise how greatly the period of the comet might be altered by 
the action of the planets, he proceeded with a uniform time- 
interval, and deduced a series of returns which were all 
erroneous, extending back to the comet stated to have been 
observed at the death of Julius Cesar, and that very brilliant 
one that is said to have signalised the birth of Mithridates. 
It was not till the nineteenth century that the early history 
of the comet was placed on a more satisfactory basis. M. 
Laugier showed that Halley was wrong in taking the comet of 
1580 as his; the right one was that of 1578; he also showed 
that the comets of A.D. 451 and 760 were in all probability the 
same body. A few years later Dr. Hind, who was for many 
years the superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, drew up a 
list of conjectural identifications for every return from 12 B.c. 
to A.D. 1301, some fairly certain, from the exactitude with 
which their paths had been described, other admittedly vague 
* Dr. Halley. 
