THE COMETS.

THE COMETS:

A DESCRIPTIVE TREATISE UPON THOSE BODIES.

WITH

A CONDENSED ACCOUNT

OF

THE NUMEROUS MODERN DISCOVERIES

RESPECTING THEM;

AND

A TABLE OF ALL THE CALCULATED COMETS,

From the Earliest Ages to the Present Time.

BY

J. RUSSELL HIND,

FOREIGN SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON;
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, ETC. ETC.
AND FORMERLY OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH.

LONDON:

JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND.

MDCCC LII.

PREFACE.

THERE is perhaps no branch of astronomy in which our knowledge has progressed more rapidly of late years than that relating to the Comets, but I believe there is not at present any special descriptive work upon the subject. In treatises on the science of astronomy generally, the space allotted to the Comets is usually very limited, and many interesting points connected with their history are necessarily passed over unnoticed. I have endeavoured, in the following pages, to supply the want of an elementary treatise upon these bodies, and to place before the reader a popular account of the discoveries which have been made in the cometary department of astronomy in modern times, and a brief description of the most remarkable comets recorded in history.

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