TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST

SiE — Perceiving in your paper of tbe 28 th ult. some severe remarks on the remisness of astronomers , I am willing to oflFer a few words in reply. The phenomenon which at présent engages public attention is one of the most remarkabie, and was, for a long time, one of the most doubtful as to its nature, that had aa yet ever appeared; it would, therefore, bave beea unwise in observers to hâve hastily described it before the public, till its real nature could be ascertained. The foUowing particulars may probably interest your readers : —

Wbile observing the tail of this extraordinary body on the mgbt of tbe 20 th inst. , when it issued from

Ihe inisl of thé horizon , very uear to the star {gamma) g Bridant , I peroeived it to be sheathed » as it vrere , vrith a broader and some what conical enyelope of pale aod yery faint light, extending, near its base, as far as the head of the Whale, and on the olher side involving the Hare; so that, mistaking the -whole effeci for one identical phenomenon , I at firat considered it as an unusual yariety of the Zodiacal Light. What this h'ght was, I cannot eyen guess; but ano* ther phenomenon presently appeared in the West , of a stil more brilliant and altractiye nature; it was a bright uiurora^ of a sub conical form , rising obliqueiy from the horizon , and extending to the horns of Taurus , inyolying both Âldebaran and aiso the Pléiades in its broad arched superstructure. As this luminous appearance bas been repeated on seyeral occasions since, though with rouch ]ess brilliancy , it is highiy worlhy of being accurately registered by meteorologists and astronomers. The complication of such remarkable appearances together , aJBTords, atleast, a very striking example of the coïncidence of three seyeral phenomena existing probably in yery différent régions of space ; and leads me to go further, and to say that it furnishes me yyith additional proofs of an hypothesis that I haye always roaintained , that there is a decîded connection betyyeen comets and atmosphérial phenomena , and that Kepler yyas right in bis plausible conjecture as to the influence of thèse celestial bodies on our earth.

Last night , for the first time , yybat I take to be the nucleus of the comet was yisibte at Bruges , but I could not apply a yery higb power to it , and the strong twillight yyas a great aqnoyance , nélyyilhstandig th^ pecu^ liar clearness of the eveniug. It appeared just in the

line of the Coma between (eta) e Eridani and the breast of Cetus: at least as far as I could judge , being placed , witb only some inferior instruments , on a high building, and consequently having no globe wilh me. A righl line draw from e Eridani to the Stella Mira Ceti would intersect the nucleus. It was of a dull , brasslike colour , and not bigger than a star of the fourth magnitude. Whether it "was the cornet or not I will not prétend to décide , as it rapidly dissappeared in the increasing haze of the horizon. La 1er in ihe night the tail was faintly visible as an almost evanescent while line extending to near Rigel in Orion. Unfortunalely I had sent my notes to London by post before the observations of last night. Any further discoveries which Imaymake, wilh my very imperfect instruments, should they be interesting to your readers, shall be communicated to your useful and widely circulated paper. — I hâve the honour to remain, Sir, your obedient servant ,