188 J. R. Mayer on Celestial Dynamics. 
the heavens than fish in the ocean,” is founded on the fact that, 
of all the comets belonging to our solar system, comparatively 
few can be seen by the inhabitants of the earth, and therefore 
the not inconsiderable number of actually observed comets ob- 
It has been shown, by repeated observation, that on a bright 
night twenty minutes seldom elapse without a shooting-star 
being visible to an observer in any situation. At certain times 
when they were said to fall, “crowded together like snow- 
flakes,” they were estimated as at least 240,000. On the whole, 
comets, and the asteroids mov 
sw sun, or whether they are constantly approaching that central 
that necessary for the existence of light (whether light be cM 
sidered as emission of matter or the undulations of a universal 
ether), this alone is sufficient to alter the motion of the pl 
in the course of time and the arrangement of the whole Sih 
itself; the fall of all the planets and the comets into the su? 
and the destruction of the present state of the solar system sage 
be the final result of this action.” | 
inthe Angust ring slog, heh mes cet, ea ede 
nal, xxxii, 451<-Eps, = 
