Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-01-14

shop OF Nature, fbe discoveries which he has mad.
concerning nebule. These nebue, it is supposeJ
are formed by the partial condemns of matter pro-
uaoy the ETHEREAL medium itself ditilsed throughout
VIC uhlverse anu that their number must be proii-
gous Il sufficiently proved by the fact that Ierschel
10y his own efforts alone, discovered 20OO of them,
some OF the nebule are found TO have SO strong
ieseihoiahce TO many comets, which, on account OF
their distance from the sun, can lust be disccrned
from tho earth. that they not unreouently con-
founded; and II Is only by nearer approach ar nv nm
intimate acquaintance with all the ncbul,n i'm the same
quarter of the heavens, that ,ronomorS nre ,bl n
dls ;lnguish them. Now, 1t is the opinion of Her
SchcI and his OPINION IS strongly Summarized bv tho
authority Of La Place that c,iRets IRE ori,y;na,ei
mute nohuia, which by the continual app oxmaton of
thclr PARTICLES have at len 9TH acquired such deyroo r
density, to be capable of being attracted by the s
and OF describing an orbit other own. AS the me-
ouious mass approaches the SUM- one result as we have
seen Is te expansion oits parts and their prolonga-
ton ihto what has been termed the TAIL But onotbor
result, according 10 Ifcrsclcl and ono no Loss ,nor
aht Is gradual consolidation of the ncbulous mat
ter OF the solar heat. 1T is admitted ON all hands
81! "o, tat inc act OF shining denotes decompo.
Sti"h' IN winch at least light ii given out: bt t,t
many other elastic volatile substances escnpe M tLo
same time especially i'll so high degree of rarcfac-
ION, Is lar from Improbable Since light then. Ger
fanny ana very hcy other subtle fluids also oscnno
Ia great abundance duringa considerable time before
ana alter comets nearest approach TO the sum I
!"9k' says iIersehc, upon porihclion PASSAGE IN
Soinc degree as an act OF consultations"
'NIiSFIIe = tICprNs Win respect to the NJ
Hc solar heat, IN promoting the consolidation of CO.
NETS necessarily Implies, that the cnvelope and tail
@FauuaAy becomes less extensive, aud that the uucle
u.s. upon whose surface the ucbulous matter copsoli
Gates grandualy Increases IN magnitude. In these.
respects, therefore, difference ought to be med
t9tod by the physical appearance OF those comets
whose perihehon distances and periods of rcvouton
are not the same. condition confirmed bv the exam
hatios ui several mat have been The most attentive
u observed The second comet of 1877 ! had /, nnoI
us winch, according TO the continental astronomers
amounted to 80 miles, while it's tail ,voe son ono
mics IN length. Tho cOmmet of 1907 Possessed n
nucleus ot less siZc but tail of greater hrirncv.
tue diameter OF the one being only 538 miles, the
length of the other 100000. The first come, az,
1911, which from Its splendid appearance has been
termed the great comet Of lR was observed 70 have
smaller nc.ous but the other hand its envelone
and tai We're far extensive; the diameter of It's
nucl'uS was -" mics, and its tail stretched out no
less than 10000 900 of miles The first of tbes,,
three comets then, according to Hcrschel's theory
must have been subjected in much greater derree To-
the consolidating Influence of the suns heat than
either OF the other two seeing that had the arops
nucleus ana the least quantity of nebuous matter;
and the like result ought to be Indicated with resnec
I" all the three comets comparison of their res
pectlvc periods and pcrihelion distances The ppr
odca revolution tthe great comet of 1911 is found
to be 1898 years. and il approaches SIS nearer tbr
sun at MS perlhelion than the other comet of 1917.
the product Of these two numbers is 5913 Tho NO
rodcal revolution of the comet of 1907 10 INA voar
and IFS pcrhelion distance il EDO times less than that
of The second comet of 1911: the product of those
two numbers is 1873 The periodical revolution of
the second comet of 1911 whose periheion distance
we nave taken equal to l asthc standard of compar
son, If 875 years. These numbers. then 5243 42I3
SD, representing mversely the result ofthe SUMS lonr
connued acton upon the nebulus matter of the three
comets correspond very nearly with thereative mar
htude' oil .ther nuclcl, indicated by observation:
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