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XXXII. Account of a Comet. By Mr . Herfchel, F. R. S . ; 
communicated by Dr. Watfon, >«. / Bath, F. F. £ 
‘ 1 f, o': 
Read April 26, 1781. 
N Tueffiay the 13th of March, between ten and eleven 
^ in the evening, while I was examining the fmall liars in 
the neighbourhood of H Geminorum, I perceived one that ap- 
peared vlftbiy larger than the reft : being ftruck with its uncom- 
mon magnitude, I compared it to H Geminorum and the fmall 
ftar in the quartile between Auriga and Gemini, and finding it 
fo much larger than either of them, fufpeded it to be a comet. - 
I was then engaged in aferies of obfervations on the parallax- 
of the fixed ftars, which I hope foon to have the honour of 
laying before the RoyalSociety ; and thofe obfervations requiring 
very high powers, 1 had ready at hand the ftveral magnifiers 
of 227 460 022, 1536, 2010, &c. all which I have fuc-' 
cefifufty Uted upon that occafion. The power I had on whew 
I firft few the comet was From experience knew that, 
the diameters of the fixed ftars are not proportionally magnified 
with higher powers, as the planets are t therefore I now put on 
the powers of 460 and 93 a. and found the diameter of he 
comet increafed in proportion to the power as it ought • «° 
on a fuppofition of its not being a fixed ftar, while the dn- 
meters of the ftars to which I compared it were not increafed 
