546 
Mr, Loff-ty on the Comet^ its Trains Kcm [Jan. 1, 
xieed triuch further notice. On feather¬ 
beds, the humane Dr. Buchan long since 
gave usetui hints, (for what iiiomas 
Tvron wrote on that subject, near a 
century ago, seemed to have been forgot;) 
but tliere is a mode of communicating 
infection that seems to me to have hi^ 
therto escaped the observation of us all; 
(and nothing can be considered as un¬ 
important, that relates to the security of 
the public health)—! mean by the 
woollen garments that come immediately 
from the frames, or the hands of knit¬ 
ters, without going tiirough the slightest 
ablution, and w hich m.any people are but 
100 apt to wear without first washing, 
because they appear, outwardly so pure. 
Among these are drawers, socks, knit 
waistcoats, to wear next the skin; and 
stockings of all sorts. These articles are 
made from wool, first spun in poor cot- 
t.agea, where often smail-pox, and typhus, 
and scarlet-fever, reigns; then the worsted 
is delivered to the frame-work-knitters, 
many of whom work at times with these 
diseases upon them, and often deposit 
their goods, when finished, in chambers 
highly infected. They are also packed 
probably by hands, which, though clean, 
are not free from contagion; the very 
ciiildren, when inlected with the small¬ 
pox, cannot be prevented from handling 
them. Let us reflect therefore, that, as 
iMuhine is-more adapted to receive virLL& 
than- woollen garments, whose surface 
when new. is a complete set of elastic 
spnngs, little stiigils, that, on being 
bandied, sweep the surfaces of all bodies 
they come in contact with, and thence 
are so adapted to receive tfis perspiration 
of. the body that wears them. Let us 
but a moment reflect on this, and see if 
it would not be common prudence to 
jinmerge all such garments in water 
bi-dbre wearing them, or suffering them 
to be Ivindled much in our houses, or 
placed among our linen. 
ihe precaution would cost nothing, 
and, I venture to say, the chance of se-~ 
eurity ft wortli the pains, as there can 
be little doubt tbac all the contagious 
j’art of any ririiSy if any there wcie on 
them, to us imperceptible, would be 
completely destroyed by the operation, 
—as we see even the effect on matter 
intended for inoculation, when exposed 
, long to a damp atmosphere'. 
Tor I have not now the smallest doubt, 
itliat the poor, who labour in agricultuie, 
owe agreai part of tlie health they enjoy, 
io.tb.e hcquency of ih.e'r exposuie to the 
rains, that heavenly shower-bath, which 
the rich and the luxurious so carefully 
avoid. G. C. 
Bristol, Dec. 1, 1811, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
ITH respect to the trains of Co¬ 
mets, I am inclined to think, that, 
in l.ho3e which come exceedingly neat 
to the sun, heat may be a considerable 
cause, though not so considerable as 
has been supposed. That in the more 
remote comets^ several causes probably 
contribute. 
That of Mairan, immersion in the 
solar atmosphere, may be one in many 
comets (though not in the nearest), as 
this solar atmosphere appears capable 
of producing the sidereal lights at 
100 millions of miles from the sun. 
The great obliquity of their orbits may 
have an effect; first, because it may 
increase excitement by crossing the 
current of the solar atmosphere; and 
then, because it renders a greater extent 
of the excited atmosphere visible, than 
could be if the comets moved nearly in 
the plane of the ecliptic: and the very 
oblique orbits of the new-discovered 
Astei'o'ids, {or Co7Jtetoids, as I should have 
been disposed to call them) may have 
given them the nehulose appearance 
w hich tliey iiave been observed to have. 
It will probably be found^ that the 
comets are oblate spheroids, and have 
their polar axes considerably less than 
their equatorial, and their revolutions 
very rapid on their axes. Hence, also, 
atmospheric excitement, light, and ex- 
pa.nsion, may be generated. 
The eccentricity of their helioperlodic 
orbits, may be also taken into the ac¬ 
count. By this their motion in aphelion 
is much slower, and their motion in 
perihelion much greater, than in the 
Ollier planets in general. And this ir¬ 
regularity of motion may create a greater 
concentration of atmosphere in their 
recess, and a greater expansion of it, 
w ith correspondent excitement, in their 
approach toward the sun. 
All these causes contribute to electric 
excitement; and the light of the comets 
so much resembles that of lightning and 
of the Aurora Borealis, as to strengthen 
this opinion. It is true, it is not colored 
variously as the Aurora Borealis often 
is; but this diiFerence is easily solved 
wheu the great diiFerence of cometary 
