although its perihelion passage will not take place until April, 1910.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] In 1874, when the writer was crossing the Pacific Ocean in
H.M.S. "Scout," Coggia's comet unexpectedly appeared, and (while
Colonel Tupman got its positions with the sextant) he tried to use the
prism out of a portable direct-vision spectroscope, without success
until it was put in front of the object-glass of a binocular, when, to
his great joy, the three band images were clearly seen.

[2] Such as _The World of Comets_, by A. Guillemin; _History of
Comets_, by G. R. Hind, London, 1859; _Theatrum Cometicum_, by S. de
Lubienietz, 1667; _Cometographie_, by Pingre, Paris, 1783; _Donati's
Comet_, by Bond.

[3] The investigations by Von Asten (of St. Petersburg) seem to
support, and later ones, especially those by Backlund (also of
St. Petersburg), seem to discredit, the idea of a resisting medium.



15. THE FIXED STARS AND NEBULAE.


Passing now from our solar system, which appears to be subject to the
action of the same forces as those we experience on our globe, there
remains an innumerable host of fixed stars, nebulas, and nebulous
clusters of stars. To these the attention of astronomers has been more