is'is.] 
years, and its greatest distance about 
SS hundreds ot miHions of miles* 
The comet which has been visible this 
year, is (says the Moniteur) one of the 
most remarkable which has ever been 
observed. None has ever been so lono; 
visible, and, consequently, none has ever 
afforded such certain means of inforrija- 
tion with respect to its orbit. Accord¬ 
ingly, since the end of March last, 
when it was first perceived by M. Flau- 
guergues, in the South of France, its 
course has been regularly traced; nor 
shall we lose sight of it till the month of 
January 1812. Its train, which occu¬ 
pies a space of 12 degrees, exhibits seve¬ 
ral curious phenomena. It is not imme¬ 
diately connected with the comet, as if 
it were an emanation from it, but forms, 
at a distance from the nucleus, a wide 
belt, the lower part of which girds, 
without coming in contact with it, much 
i'.i the same manner as the ring of Saturn: 
and tliis belt extends itself in two long 
Juiiiinous faces, one of which is usually 
rectilineal, while the other, at about tfie 
third of its length, shoots forth its rays 
with a slight curve like the branch of a 
palm-tree; nevertheless, this configura¬ 
tion is sutyecL to change. It has been 
observed that the space between the 
body of the comet and its train is occa¬ 
sionally filled, and of the two faces, that 
which is generally rectilineal soniethnes 
arches its rays, while those of the other 
assume the form of right lines. F’inally, 
rays, or, as it were, plumes, of ignited 
matter, have been seen to issue from the 
lower extremities <»f the faces or flakes, 
and again unite. Professor Harding lias 
also observed and deiineated, with care, 
the present comet under its various 
aspects, and his design will appear in 
one of the succeeding numbers of the 
Geographical and Astronomical Cor- 
respondence,’' edited at the Observatory 
of Gotha. They will shew that, when 
the comet first appeared, and was yet at 
a distance from tiie sun, the two flakes 
of its tr.oin were separated so as to form a 
right angle; but, as tlmt distance de¬ 
creased, they approached each other till 
they became parallel. As to the nucleus, 
or the comet itself, it has been found im¬ 
possible, as yet, even with the aid of the 
best telescopes, to make observations on 
its di'k, as on that of a solid body and of 
determinate circumference. There could 
be discerned only a vague circular mass, 
more luminous than the train, particu¬ 
larly towards the centre; but the verge of 
which was doubtful, furnishing^ to the 
Montuly Mac., No, 221, 
S 79 
eye, r.o determined circumference. The 
mass is, without doubt, composed of a 
very subtile substance, as is, probably, 
that of all comets. This hypothesis 
receives support from the fact, that one 
of these stars, of very considerable mag¬ 
nitude, in 1770, passed and re-passed 
through the very middle of the satellites 
of Jupiter, without occasioning among 
tliem the slightest disorder. There is 
every reason to believe, that the nucleus 
of ttie present comet is nothing more 
than a union of vapours of very little 
density, so little perhaps as to be trans¬ 
parent.'* Such a body might, very pos¬ 
sibly; be an incipient world, just passed 
its gaseous state, and vvhich is to derive 
solidity from the precipitation and con¬ 
densation of the matter surrounding it. 
The successive observation of some 
comets, in which it may be possible to 
distinguish the different stages of chaos, 
and progressive formation, can alone fur¬ 
nish any knowledge witli respect to this 
point. According to M. Starck, an 
astronomer at Augsburgh, the comet 
was, October 16, at the distance of 32 
millions of geographical miles (15 to a 
degree) from the earth; this is tlie near¬ 
est approach of these two celestial bodies. 
Thb tail of the comet was 800,000 miles 
in length, and tlie diameter of the nucleus 
about 860 miles. 
The views of France relative to Eng¬ 
land, have lately been developed in a 
pamphlet of M, de Moivtcaillard, a 
member of the French government, and 
published under the auspices of the 
Fanperor. A copy has reached London, 
and a translation will appear in a few 
days. Nothing more important in po¬ 
litical information has appeared for a 
long time. 
A description is in the press of the 
Island of Java, from Anjerie Bay, in the 
Straits of .Sunda to Batavia,—by the 
author of Sketches, Civil and iMilitary, 
of the Islands of Java, Madura, &c. 
Messrs. Boydell and Co. intend to 
publish a Collection of Eighty Pictu¬ 
resque Views and Scenery of Norway; 
together with Views of the principal 
Seaport Towns from the Naze (by the 
route of Christiana) to the magnificent 
Pass of the Swinesund ; including nearly 
* This, and every other, fact and observa.- 
tion, serve to justify and d; rnonstrate ths 
hypothesis of our correspondent Common 
that the tail is merely a condensation or th« 
solar rays, by th-e refractijjg power of the co- 
mvt and its atmosphere."».£ii<Lr. 
4 B ths 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence, 
