made at the United States Naval Observatory. 139 
On June 28th the comet’s nucleus was about as bright as a 
was perceptibly fainter, and its tail was only about eight de- 
grees long, but perhaps this was partly owing to the s00P five 
and a half days old, being above the horizon. On Jul 2d the 
atmosphere was very clear and the seeing good, but the visibil- 
ity of the comet was much diminished by the brightness of the 
moon, then near its first quarter. I estimated the length of the 
tail to be about the same as on the preceding evening, but Mr. 
ete thought he could trace it for rather more than twenty 
Since the 10th inst., Professor Hall has examined the comet 
with the twenty-six ine refractor, and Professor Hastman has 
examined it with the nine and six-tenth inch refractor, but 
neither of these gonnlanet have been able to see any indica- 
tions of a division of the 
The comet was Hist eae at its lower culmination, with the 
transit circle, on June 26, 27, 28, 29 and July 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 
11. For the convenience of those who may cesire to compute 
the orbit, Professor Eastman has furnished from these observa- 
tions, the following pomene which are uncorrected for parallax 
and aberration time 
Washington Date. Right Ascension. Declination. 
June 26°5 Bh 48™ 385-04 +57° 40% 52"°0 
July 1°5 6 22 46°85 70°39 OT '6 
6 42 32°92 (aes <a hy ae 
- 6°5 i 20. 36°88 TU 49 66:3 
_ 10°5 8 BT SE 84 +80 48 56:1 
From a Cambridge observation of June 23d, and the Wash- 
ington observations of June 29th and J uly 5th, Professor 
Frisby has computed the following parabolic elements : 
paler roti ae ne 16°3700 
= 265° 3 
270 58 2 a Equinox 
63° 25’ 65"-7 f 1881°0 
log q = 9°866748 
The residuals, C—O, for the middle place are 
64 cos B =— 134 
(Baap 62 1 
~. 
It is a matter of interest to note that about June 20th the 
earth was in the immediate vicinity of the comet’s tail, but I 
have not made.sufficiently accurate gaa ere to be able to 
state whether or not it actually passed t 
U. 8. Naval Observatory, Washington, July 13, abd 
