The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-06 00:00:00

FI?ENCH ACADEMY 01 SCIENCES.

M. Faye has recently communicated to the Aca-
demy of Sciences a series of papers on the figure of
comets, in which he establishes the following doc-
trines :-1. In the region of the orbit nearest to the
sun, the nucleus is generally accompanied by two
opposite:emissions, one on the side of the sun, which
M. Faye calls cyathiform, and the other on the
opposite side, which he calls canoidal ; 2. The
cyathiform and brilliant emission present great de-
viations, which are variable with respect to the
radius vector ; it is generally situated before this
radius, and sometimes behind it ; 3. On the con-
trary, the conoidal emission, inwardly dark, always
deviates from the radius vector, remaining behind
it in the plan or the orbit ; this deviation consti-
tutes but a very small angle, which remains nearly
constant during a long series of days ; 4. Thus the
hypothesis of a polar force exercised by the sun is
contradicted by facts ; 5. Tho envelopes which close
the head of the comet on the side of the sun, pro-
ceed from the matter of the cyathiform emission,
the chalice of which they sometimes invade. Their
formation is intermittent, like the emission itself.
They also present deviations chiefly attributable to
a difference of motion existing between them and
the nucleus ; 6. The matter is distributed in an
order corresponding to the densities increasing to-
wards the sun ; the densest particles being grouped
in the envelopes furthest from the nucleus ; 7.
The tails are in a great measure fed by these
envelopes; the straight tails proceed from
the envelopes nearest the nucleus, or even
directly from the nucleal emission itself; the
curved tails, situated, like the former, in the pos-
terior angle formed by the radius vector and the
tangent to the orbit, proceed from more distant
envelopes. The tails directed towards the sun,
in the anterior angle opposite to the former, pro-
ceed from an envelope at a still greater distance
from the nucleus. 8. The exterior figure of the
head has nothing in common with a paraboloid.
9. The discussion of the phenomena of the figure
of comets leads to the same conclusion as the
this
acceleration of periodical comets;
and
on
con-
clusion is confirmed by M. Faye 's
experiment
surfaces in a
the repulsion of incandescent
rare-
fied medium, experiments which we described
some months ago at great length.
Just as the Academy of Sciences was about to
open its sitting yesterday, the President was in.
formed of the decease of its oldest member, M.
Biot, who was also a member of the French Aca-
demy, and of the Academy of Inscriptions and
Belles-Lettres. M. Biot had died that morning in
full possession of
all his faculties, had ies, and passed
the previous evening in scientific conversation with
several brother academicians assembled round his
bed. M. Biot was eighty-eight years of age. After
the president had communicated the mournful in-
telligence to his colleagues, the sitting was at once
brought to a close.

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