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Rh kinds, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts, and famines!

Now, you may believe me, my little friends, we are entirely innocent of these dreadful charges brought against us; and I grieve to add, we cannot properly claim credit either for the glorious seasons that will occasionally coincide with our appearance, and for the splendid harvests of corn and wine produced therein. It would unquestionably have been a proud distinction for me to have had my name associated, as was that of my illustrious predecessor of 1811, with the wine of this most splendid and abundant year 1858; but truth will not be trifled with: careful statistical researches and comparisons of thermal and cometary observations, extending over a period of a century, have but too fully established the conclusion that we can claim no influence whatsoever on the temperature of the seasons. It is your Mr. Arago who has dealt us this heavy blow and great discouragement.

I will now, in conclusion, add a few more words about some of the most remarkable of my brethren, whose periods have been fixed with more or less precision.

The most remarkable of these is the great Comet known by.the name of Halley’s, from the circumstance of that illustrious geometer, as has already been mentioned, having predicted its return. The immortal Newton having demonstrated the possibility of any conic section whatever being described