HISTORY OF THE COUNTY BOTANY OF WORCESTER. 169 
arc told bv Ovid that it was the tremendous heat of the comet 
«/ 
age that baked the negro black ; in this Ovid doubtless spoke 
the opinion of antiquity. Whether or not that period of 
almost insufferable temperature produced any effect upon the 
colour of the race I shall not undertake to say, nor shall I dare 
to assert that the white race was bleached to its present com¬ 
plexion by the long absence of the sun during the Age of 
Darkness.” 
In treating of Biela’s comet it is written :—“ In the year 
1871, on Sunday, the 8th of October, at half-past nine in 
the evening, events occurred which attracted the attention of 
the whole world, which caused the deatli of hundreds of 
human beings, and the destruction of millions of property, 
and which involved three different States of the Union in 
the wildest alarm and terror.” Then follows a detailed 
account of the immense fires which broke out at the time 
stated, “ at apparently the same moment , at points hundreds of 
miles apart, in three different States, Wisconsin, Michigan, 
and Illinois.” And these the author connects directly with 
the impact of Biela’s comet, which is stated to have occurred 
on the 27th of November, 1872.. This is going rather too far. 
How could a comet’s impact, on the 27th of November, 1872, 
cause fires, at Chicago and other places, on the 8th of October, 
1871 ? Moreover, Biela’s comet, or its tail, did strike the 
earth on 27th November, 1872, and was seen from Madras, 
some days afterwards, on two consecutive mornings—“ circular, 
bright, with a decided nucleus but no tail, and about forty- 
five seconds in diameter” (see Edin. Bev., Oct. 1874, p. 414). 
The presumption clearly is that the tail was partially burnt 
up in the earth’s atmosphere, causing the magnificent 
meteoric shower of that date.* 
Surely the book must be a jeu d'esprit after all. It is 
amusing reading, but as a serious contribution to the 
literature of the subject is highly unsatisfactory. 
HISTORY OF THE COUNTY BOTANY OF WORCESTER. 
BY WM. MATHEWS, M. A. 
( Continued from page 156.) 
Second Period, 1751 to 1800. 
The third volume of the second edition of Withering was 
published in two parts. Part I., containing additions to the 
first two volumes, errata, index, and other matter, is undated. 
* The reader will find the full story of Biela’s comet narrated in 
“ Nature,” vol. xxxiii, pp. 392, 418. 
