THE GREAT COMET. 113 
be diffused over the earth, according to the wild imaginations of 
Poe. 
The telescopic appearances of the head and nucleus of the 
present object, although very remarkable, did not show the 
same extraordinary changes as were perceived in Donates 
comet of 1858. We give a representation of the fan-like ap- 
pendage proceeding from the nucleus, as taken by Mr. Wray 
on July 4, which, considering the excellent means at his com- 
mand (a telescope of seven inches aperture), and the keenness 
of his vision, may be considered as the best view of the comet 
yet published. Mr. Wray states his surprise at the comparative 
constancy of the phenomena of the luminous sector over that of 
Donati’s and other comets, it remaining nearly of the same size 
and brilliancy, and in the same direction, during the month of 
July. Sir J. Herschel states that on the night of June 30 the 
nucleus was very much condensed ; and on the night of July 2 
it was concentrated into a dense pellet of about 300 miles in 
diameter, but no unequivocal symptons of a fan could be per- 
ceived. Although the luminous sector could not be perceived 
by the illustrious astronomer on the evening of the 3rd, yet on 
the early morning of the 4th it was certainly seen by several 
observers, and was very apparent in a telescope of five inches 
aperture belonging to J. Buckingham, Esq., C.E., with which 
I observed. On the evening of the 4tli and 5th it was most 
beautifully visible ; but instead of the appearance which it pre- 
sented in Donati’s comet, viz., that of looking through a partially 
transparent and hollow dome, the aspect was comparatively 
irregular, and the luminous jets and branches proceeding from 
the nucleus bore some resemblance to a pyrotechnic display. 
Those remarkable “ hoods” of cometic matter which I saw in 
Donates comet, in 1858, with the great Northumberland tele- 
scope at the Cambridge Observatory, and which were successively 
passing away from the nucleus, as beautifully described by 
D’ Or say in the Chancellor’s Prize Poem of 1860, were wanting 
in the present instance : — 
“ Next rose to view a startling change of scene ; 
Round the bright nucleus waved a concave screen ; 
And radiant hoods, pure envelopes of light, 
In slow succession gleamed upon our sight. 
Volumes of lustre from the star disc came, — 
Fold within fold, each marvellous coat of flame ! 
Watch the sharp throes of that tremendous birth, 
As if the molten mass that fills our earth 
Had burst its boundaries, fired and flung on high 
The crust men call a continent ; the sky 
Blazing with light from each strange hemisphere, 
Which sunward hurries in its swift career. 
So in yon nucleus some explosive force 
Launches each concave on its fiery course ; 
