The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-07-14
Rallaeus alsl !


At \ meeting q the Balloon Sosicty,
n IyiIfred De onvielle delivered an |
;,,terest,,s.r ]noti,te on .sthe Component
Pa,.ts af (onsais< The lecturer was an /
,,onnesd : c,r =, As eair|r of the French scien-
t;5ie Derioa aik.ssz, E1eclrscite. and author
81 several ~-n comets. including
= desqeiDticR horkis midnight obserys-
zion. from 4 asa en-, of the last comet
Of 1881. Iu3 lsJurse ofSthe evening
the fist sii ~ of q sBallooR Society
for LlordoT tributed to him. He
beeah by ell Mr. Spottiswoode, the
Preside at oe Royal Society, for, the I
Statement chat only accurate method !
81 stQdying tfes stars was By means OF
,basioous wllieh opinion the same high
AUTHORITY hae "a by strongly .rerom-
nendiag thef lssc for astronomical ralE-s
poses Ehe hefurers suggested that the
sud tIsal discovery OF a great esmetclosee
..-s; - ag the rccenteclipse was
Iur = :, .sSlp2leraentlng the
: ance. he aided, of the kind, for 1.s6o
Years ago Seneea (Nat Quest. VII. 20)
stated that Posidonius observed the
transit ola large comet across the solar
disc during 3n eclipse. Pingrc identi-
led the eclipse with that observed by An
aNagoras IN Il. c. 462. Reflection
showed tlfaf in spiteof the growing num-
Der of cur obseryatories, vast number
of like obje.ts must escape notice, owing
especially to clouds often OF quite incon-
siderable Rnsify In these cases bal
looms were of the greatest use, as he him
self experienced in q free ascent during
last winter. He was asfonished at find
ing that a cloud. which had been hover
iug over Paris for more than three weeks
and turning day into night, was but
few hundred feet thick. The method OF
observation from balloons was applca.
bic notoniy to the discovery of comets
but also to the inferior planets, the zodi-
seal LIGHT and the Aurora Borealis. As
; to cdlfiefs. the most likely ancient the
( ory OF their nature was that Of the Pyth
agoreans. who imagined a comet 10 be
I diaphanous body, which had often been
compared to the glass globe filled viii
water used by horologiSts to concentrate
! the light Of . lamp on their work, These
ancient astronomers regarded this trans
/ parent sphere rs traYeiiug in its orbit
through the celestial expanse and con-
centrating behind il the solar rays. 1t
+ had been objected that no such ball of
Gas as NJ. de Fonvielle deemed almost
/ every comets nucleus TO be could exist
+ in space without being absorbed, and
that the comets tail must be part of its
5 substance. growing IS the head dwindled
at perihelion. and conversely. These
objections the lecturer dealt with In de-
+ tail, arguing that there was no more ne
cessitv for the dissipation of the comet ;
gaseous nucleus than for that of our own
planet atmosphere. In discussing the
second objection he spoke of the boards
( of comets as well as their tails; these
boards, projecting in direction opposite
to that Of the tails, and darting toward
the sun Instead OF away from it, We're
. puzzle. he said, to most of the parti-
sans Of the materiaIty Of the tail. But
on the optical theory ali was consistent.
Nodiapt{aous body would allow Of the
! wBa1 4 % light being transmitted di-