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160 time has not elapsed to determine its orbit, and establish its identity with one of a previous epoch.

The manner of its discovery has been a little tantalising to professional observers. No observatory claims the honour; no amateur, even, has been the first favoured discoverer of it. There are many whose sole occupation is to dredge the depths of space for comets. In astronomical language, they "sweep" the heavens with their comet-seeker, and perseverance is almost always rewarded with success. In sweeping for asteroids, there is a zone of the heavens to which observations are limited; and the astronomer selects this lucky region, just as the fisherman lets down his net over some bank which he knows, by experience, is likely to reward his toil. The dredger for comets must, however, cast his net at random, for these erratic bodies affect no special locality. They come, as moths, from out the darkness, and are visible only when they circle round the sun, as moths flutter about the lamp; but they come in all directions, and the telescope must sweep over the whole heavens to detect the next comer.

The discovery of the comet is tantalising, as it was made by one who was not at all in search of it. M. le Baron de Marguerit, while attending to his military duties in the camp at Chalons, was the fortunate man. In his letter to the Abbé Moigno, announcing the discovery, he tells with great naïveté the manner in which it was made. Disgusted with the slow life