Page:The story of the comets.djvu/208

156 Schmidt's mass. With the evidence before us of what happened in 1846 in the case of Biela's Comet, it is impossible not to draw the inference that the nebulous mass (or masses) was, or had been, a part of the comet itself; and this theory becomes much strengthened when read in the light of the disruptive changes which the nucleus underwent as already mentioned.

General Willis observed the comet at sea 70 miles E. of Gibraltar on Oct. 19 at 5 a.m. with the air extremely clear and calm. He says that in appearance the comet was so "extremely delicate, light, and airy, that it would be almost impossible to depict it on paper". The engraving [PlateXXIV.] is a French reproduction of the original English lithograph.

Holden contributed some information bearing on the question of disruption. His sketches tell their own tale. With reference to their dates, Oct. 13 and Oct. 17, it may be remarked that two of the nuclei seen by Holden were seen by Cruls at Rio de Janeiro at the intermediate date of Oct. 15. Cruls found these nuclei to resemble stars of the 7th and 8th magnitudes respectively, the distance between them being 6undefined. He was led to regard the peculiar appearance of the tail as being really due to two tails, one superposed upon the other, each connected with a nucleus of its own, independent of the other.

Not only did this comet puzzle astronomers very much in the matter of its physical appearance, but its orbit has also been a source of great searchings of heart. The elements closely resemble those of the Comet of 1880 (i.), the "great Southern Comet of 1880" just described. This in turn was considered to be a comet moving in an elliptic orbit with a period of about 37 years, and to be in fact a return of the celebrated Comet of 1843. It still remains a moot point what interpretation is to be put upon these orbital resemblances, the fact of which cannot be questioned. And there is the further complication that since the advent of the Comet of 1882