THE GREAT SOUTHERN COMET. 71 
time, when they noticed an amazing outbreak of ‘‘two patches of intensely 
bright white light in front of the spots.” These dazzling patches continued visi- 
ble near five minutes, during which time they passed over a space of 33,000 miles. 
At the same moment (as was afterward learned) a noted disturbance occurred 
among the magnetic instruments at the Kew Observatory ; and in sixteen hours 
a magnetic storm set in, which not only impeded communication by telegraph, 
but set fire to some of the offices. I well remember seeing brilliant Auroras on 
several nights at and near that time. 
The following points, I think, are less entitled to acceptance than the one 
just mentioned. The theory that Jupiter and Venus exert an influence in the 
production of sun spots and their periodical occurrence, seems to me very much 
like that of the moon exerting an influence on the weather, the growth of vege- 
tables, etc.,—one in which I have but little confidence. Looking at the very face 
of the matter it seems much more probable to me that the gigantic powers of 
the sun would produce the comparatively feeble magnetic and electric phenom- 
ena of the earth, than that Venus and Jupiter in any position they can have, 
would produce the raging forces in the sun, or even change their directions. A. 
_Elvins, an observer of Canada, gives the opinion that years of sun spot maxima 
and minima are generally more cloudy than the intervening years. My own ob- 
servations hardly confirm this view. So with his conclusion that greatest and 
least show of sun spots have less rain and more cold than other years. Mr. EI- 
vins, with one or two other investigators of these subjects, decide that cylones 
and heavy storms generally occur in about two years after a sun spot maximum. 
This is doubtless correct. But our cylones occur so frequently in other years, 
and even during sun spot minima, that I fail to see the foundation of a law in 
this point. But their idea that both the maxima and minima of spot frequency are 
immediately preceded by very wet years, or season, I find to be true in most 
cases that I have examined. 
And yet, as regards nearly all the above subjects, I heartily endorse the fol- 
lowing sentiment put forth by Arago: ‘‘In these matters we must be careful not 
to generalize till we have amassed a large number of observations.” 
The sun is a great body, and I am sure that: the hidden source of its won- 
derful energies is the Almighty Hand which created and governs the whole uni- 
verse. 
THE GREAT SOUTHERN COMET. 
The interest of the astronomical world was suddenly awakened early in Feb- 
ruary by a telegram from Dr. B. A. Gould, at Cordoba, to Prof. Peters, of Kiel, stat- 
ing simply that there was a great comet passing the sun northward. This, together 
with the announcement of Dr. Gill, of Cape Town, a few days later, which, from 
the lack of unity in the system of signalling astronomical discoveries, could not be 
determined to be the same one, caused an amount of excitement among amateur 
astronomers that is quite unusual. Sufficient facts have not been as yet determin- 
