for the year 1882. xvii 



of £10,000 or over has been gathered for the erection and 

 establishing a Working Men's College on a practical and 

 liberal basis. Mr. Ormond offered £5000 if another £5000 

 could be collected. The working men collected over £3000 

 chiefly among themselves, and the rest has been contributed 

 by donations from others who sympathise with the object, 

 and the Government have granted a very eligible site near 

 the Supreme Court, facing the north side of the Public 

 Library. Plans are now being prepared, and before very long 

 the Working Men's College will be an accomplished fact in 

 Melbourne. 



One of the most interesting items of the year in connection 

 with our Observatory is the apparition of three new comets, 

 the last of which is the most remarkable that has appeared 

 since 1843. The first appeared in September last year, and 

 was called " Schaeberle's Comet;" the next appeared here in 

 June this year, and is known as " Wells' Comet ;" the present 

 one, which is of unusual interest, is not yet named. It 

 appears to have been first seen in Australia on Gth September 

 by Captain Baker, an amateur observer at Goldsbrough, who 

 reported its appearance to me on the 8th. It was observed 

 at all the Australian observatories on the 9th, and subse- 

 quently. At its first apparition it was of great brilliancy, 

 but of no very great dimensions. It was already near the 

 sun, and visible just before sunrise. It rapidly approached 

 the sun, and increased in brilliancy so much that on the 17th 

 September it was visible to the naked eye at noon within 3 

 degs. of the sun in a clear sky ; it passed its perihelion passage 

 on the morning of the 18th, and so close to the solar surface 

 as to be within the region beyond which the great solar vol- 

 canoes of incandescent hydrogen are often seen to extend. 

 The velocity of this body, as it rushed half around the sun 

 at this time, must have been stupendous beyond conception, 

 for, according to our most recent calculation, it must have 

 made this journey in less than six hours. It increased in 

 grandeur after perihelion, and for the last three weeks has 

 been a magnificent spectacle in the morning sky. As it was 



