34 A. C. D, CROMMELIN, ESQ., D.SC., F.R.A.S., ON HALLEY’S COMET. 
astronomy we have need to consider—we have seen it return 
within a day of its computed time, and have traced it through 
the heavens, describing nearly the path which had been laid 
down for it. I confess that the sight of this strange body and 
the contemplation of the uniformity of the law which has 
cuided its motions, and of the acquaintance with that law and 
the power of tracing its effects, which man has acquired, have 
been to me a source of intense pleasure. And I doubt not that 
the same gratification has been experienced by every astronomer 
who has been accustomed to regard his sublime science on the 
one hand as the most severe exeicise of the intellect, and on 
the other hand as the study which leads most certainly to a 
knowledge of the general laws of the universe.” 
I hope I have now said enough to show that Halley’s comet, 
while it cannot in these modern days offer us a spectacle of 
surpassing grandeur, ought nevertheless to awaken deep interest 
in all thoughtful minds, from the long vista of history down 
which it carries us, from its being the first comet in the world’s 
history whose return was ever foretold, and perhaps most of all 
from its association with the great Englishman whose name it 
will bear for all time. 
