Observations on Comet II. 



219 



P.S. — Sept. 18th. Two days after my concluding observa- 

 tion of the comet, namely, on September 11th, my friend at 

 Florence had an interview with M. Toussaint of the Observa- 

 tory there, who, with M. Pacinotto, had been a discoverer of 

 Comet II. M. Toussaint kindly lent for my benefit three 

 bulletins received by him from M. Chacornac, of the Paris 

 Observatory, saying that they contained a full statement of par- 

 ticulars relating to Comet II. M. Toussaint added, verbally, 

 the following remarks ; that he had observed two branches in 

 the comet's tail, the right (when viewed without inversion) 

 being shortest. Fig. 8, copied from his diagram, shows the 

 relative lengths of the two sides of the tail. 

 Fig. 9 represents merely the head of the comet, 

 as sketched by him to illustrate his description 

 of its telescopic appearance, showing the nu- 

 cleus, the flame which projects towards the 

 sun, and the surrounding 

 vapour. 



The report of M. 

 Chacornac will, doubt- 

 less, be read with inter- 

 est. He was one of the 

 most successful observers 

 of Donates Comet, hav- 

 ing frequently watched 

 that remarkable object 

 from the time of its 

 rising, after midnight, 

 till daylight rendered it 



invisible. I should mention, that in my transla- 

 tion I have always employed the word "aigrette" 

 where he has used it, and that the word "jet" 

 is also transcribed without alteration. With 

 this short preface, I commend to the readers of 

 the Intellectual Observer these bulletins from 

 Paris, which have certainly reached their new 

 by a somewhat circuitous route — via Italy and 



'; /,; 



Fig. 9. 



Fig. 8. 



destination 

 Ireland. 



