[ +66 ] 
XLII. Obfervations on the fame Comet ; by 
the Rev. John Michell, M. A. Fellow of 
Queen’s College in Cambridge, hi a 
Letter to Mr. James Short, F. R. S. 
Dear Sir, 
Read Jan. io, f | A Hough in all probability you will 
have Teen the comet, which is 
now apparent ; yet, left you fhould not, I was not 
willing to omit this opportunity of informing you of 
it. I received a meftage laft night from Dr. Mafon, 
who, as far as I find, was the firft here, that difco- 
vered it. We did not fufped at firft, that its appa- 
rent motion was fo great, as it appeared to be on 
examination ; or elfe fhould have taken more obfer- 
vations. Very luckily, however, I took its diftance 
from four principal ftars, between a quarter and half 
an hour after nine, which was as foon as I faw it ; 
and, about an hour and a quarter after, finding that 
it had manifeftly moved, to the naked eye, I took 
other obfervations of it, every quarter of an hour, or 
twenty minutes, till very near two o’clock, when it 
ceafed to be vifible, on account of its being too low 
in the mud. 
The firft obfervations gave its diftance from K Ori- 
onis, 3 0 25/ ; from Rigel, n° 4 6' 5 from Betelgeufe, 
17 0 10'; and from Syrius, ia° y6'. All thefe ob- 
fervations were made between a quarter and half an 
hour paft nine, and, as well as I could recoiled:, in 
the order I have fet them down ; which, not ima- 
gining 
