109 
This may be well illustrated by reference to the common 
electrical machine : here the motion of the glass against the 
rubber causes the glass to become positively and the rubber 
negatively charged; and these electricities do not unite 
instantly there and then, but remain and accumulate in the 
respective bodies, until collected and brought together again 
by the conductor. 
Assume then, that the sun is in the position of the 
rubber, while the ether is in that of the glass : then 
the corona corresponds to the spark or brush which leaves 
the conductor. On the same assumption the negative elec- 
tricity of the comet would be more and more set free by the 
inductive action of the sun as the comet approached it, and 
would also be driven off by induction in a direction opposite 
to that of the sun ; and combining with the positive electri- 
city in the ether would form the tail of the comet, in a 
manner anologus to that in which a negative spark is given 
off by the lid of the electrophorus. 
I think that a rational account may in this way be given 
of the manner of the electrical action to which I have 
attributed these phenomena, but I do not consider that the 
probability of the truth of this electrical hypothesis depends 
on the value of such an explanation. It is an assumption 
based on the manner in which it fits into its place, and 
explains the appearances presented by these beautiful 
phenomena. 
Since this paper was written, my attention has been called 
to the fact that Mr. Richard Proctor has published views 
of these phenomena, which somewhat resemble mine. He 
attributes them in part to electricity and in part to meteors. 
There is however this fundamental difference between our 
