324 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



appearance, having a tail 30° long, and even on October 30th, the tail 

 covered a space greater than the mean distance of the earth from the 

 sun. 



On October 9th, Professor Schmidt discovered a nebulous object 

 not far from the great comet, the orbit of which strongly suggests 

 a connexion in the past with the great comet. This fact is of 

 more interest when the orbits of the great comet of this year, of 

 Comet I, 1880. and of the well-known comet of 1843 are compared. 

 The very near approach of the great comet to the sun will lead 

 astronomers to watch with great interest for its return to our system, 

 whatever may be its destiny, to fall ultimately into the sun. or to dis- 

 appear through a process of gradual disintegration. In the Astro- 

 nomische Xachrichten, just published, Professor Pickering (one of 

 whose assistants has computed the elements of the orbit of this 

 comet), states, ' ; I believe the deviation from a parabola to be real, 

 although the corresponding period may be very long. These differences 

 seem to indicate that the disturbance suffered by the comet in passing 

 through the coronal region could not have been great." 



This comet presented a spectrum similar to that of Comet Wells, 

 but while receding from the sun, the bright lines of its spectrum 

 became fainter, and then the usual hydrocarbon spectrum made its 

 appearance. This observation, taken in connexion with those of the 

 previous comet, suggests a modified condition of an essentially similar 

 chemical constitution* The phenomena would admit more easily of 

 explanation if the cometary light is supposed to be due to electric dis- 

 charges, as it is well known how preferential is the electric discharge 

 when several substances are present together in the gaseous form. 



Before leaving this subject, I venture to quote the following pas- 

 sage from the " Observatory." which puts in a very clear form the 

 speculations now current, on the relation of the present great comet 

 to that of 1880, 1843, and possibly 1668. 



" The physical appearance of the comet, which like that of 1843, 

 and unlike that of 1880, showed at first a decided nucleus, together 

 with the intimation of a period very considerably gTeater than that of 

 the interval from 1880, January 27, the date of perihelion of the 1880 

 comet, suggest that perhaps the 1813 comet suffered disintegTation 

 when at its nearest approach, and that the 1880 comet was a portion 

 of its less condensed material, whilst the body of the comet with the 

 principal nucleus, suffering less retardation than the separated parr, 

 has taken two and a-half years longer to perform a revolution. The 

 remarkable discovery made by Professor Schmidt, of Athens, on 

 October 8, of a second comet only 4 ; S. W. of the great comet, and 

 having the same motion, would seem to confirm this view." 



The scientific year now concluded has not been so fertile as its pre- 

 decessor in the initiation of great national and international under- 



