498 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
pearance. Saturn may still be knowu by its proximity to Aldebaran — being 
somewhat above and to the left of the star. Jupiter rises about 8:30 P. M., four 
hours after Saturn, and near the same point of the horizon. And here we have 
another grand object for telescopic observation. A very small glass shows a 
•disk on the planet; the four moons and one belt. Mars rises just before 10 P. 
M., on the ist, a little south of where Jupiter emerges to view. It rises one 
hour twenty-three minutes later than Jupiter on the 31st. Its phase is gibbous 
and not of much interest with a small glass. Uranus is morning star, rising at i 
A. M., on the ist, and two hours earlier on the 31st. Neptune is still about 8' 
southwest of Pleiades. The Moon passes Neptune on the nth; Saturn next 
day; Jupiter in evening of the i6th; Mars in morning of the i8th; Uranus early 
on the 2ist; the Sun (New Moon) on the 29th 6:30 A. M.; Mercury at 11 P. M. 
on the 30th; and Venus near i P. M. on the 31st. 
REAPPEARANCE OF THE COMET OF 1812. 
On the 3rd of September, Mr. Brooks, of Phelps, New York, discovered a 
telescopic comet. Its advent was quickly made known to the scientific world, 
and it was described as round and faint, and having no tail. Its course was 
toward the earth, and it was hoped that it would become visible to the naked 
€ye in two or three months. It was generally accepted as a new comer making its 
first visit to the clime of the Sun, and was known as comet Brooks, or comet b 
1883. 
Instead, however, of being a new-comer, this comet is an old friend that 
made its first recorded visit in 18x2, and is known as Pons' comet from the name 
of the discoverer, or, more simply, as the comet of 181 2. Encke, an astronomer 
of the time, found that the comet moved in an ellipse with a probable period of 
nearly seventy-one years, so that its return was looked for about this time. 
The Rev. George Searle, of New York, was the observer who discovered 
the identity of comet Brooks and the comet of 1812. 
Cometic astronomy was comparatively in its infancy when Encke made the 
computation of the orbit of this comet. It is simply wonderful that, with the 
data at his command, he should have reached a result so nearly accurate. Within 
a few years, however, two series of observations of the comet have been discov- 
ered which were unknown to Encke. Two French astronomers, Messrs. Schul- 
hof and Bossert, undertook to recompute the orbit, using all the data known. 
The Paris Observatory published the result of their labors in a pamphlet of 200 
pages. From time to time, the enthusiastic French observers issued memoranda 
of the probable position of tne comet when near enough to be seen. Unfortu- 
nately, the first observations of comet Brooks did not seem to agree with the 
French ephemeris, and it was hastily concluded that the erratic visitor was a 
new member of the cometic family, come to take its first peep at our little planet. 
The Rev. Mr. Searle studied the question more carefully, and verified the 
