Page:Somerville Mechanism of the heavens.djvu/67

Rh their perihelia. Then their velocity is such that its square is twice as great as that of a body moving in a circle at the same distance; they consequently remain a very short time within the planetary orbits; and as all the conic sections of the same focal distance sensibly coincide through a small arc on each side of the extremity of their axis, it is difficult to ascertain in which of these curves the comets move, from observations made, as they necessarily must be, at their perihelia: but probably they all move in extremely eccentric ellipses, although, in most cases, the parabolic curve coincides most nearly with their observed motions. Even if the orbit be determined with all the accuracy that the case admits of, it may be difficult, or even impossible, to recognise a comet on its return, because its orbit would be very much changed if it passed near any of the large planets of this or of any other system, in consequence of their disturbing energy, which would be very great on bodies of so rare a nature. Halley and Clairaut predicted that, in consequence of the attraction of Jupiter and Saturn, the return of the comet of 1759 would be retarded 618 days, which was verified by the event as nearly as could be expected.

The nebulous appearance of comets is perhaps occasioned by the vapours which the solar heat raises at their surfaces in their passage at the perihelia, and which are again condensed as they recede from the sun. The comet of 1680 when in its perihelion was only at the distance of one-sixth of the sun's diameter, or about 148000 miles from its surface; it consequently would be exposed to a heat 27500 times greater than that received by the earth. As the sun's heat is supposed to be in proportion to the intensity of his height, it is probable that a degree of heat so very intense would be sufficient to convert into vapour every terrestrial substance with which we are acquainted.

In those positions of comets where only half of their enlightened hemisphere ought to be seen, they exhibit no phases even when viewed with high magnifying powers. Some slight indications however were once observed by Hevelius and La Hire in 1682; and in 1811 Sir William Herschel discovered a small luminous point, which he concluded to be the disc of the comet. In general their masses are so minute,