" He finds that "the attractive
force exercised by the Sun on heavy bodies is inadequate to explain such
vibrations, and is of opinion that they indicate a polar force, which turns
one semi-diameter of the comet toward the Sun, and strives to turn the
opposite side away from that luminary. The magnetic polarity possessed by
the Earth may present some analogy to this, and, should the Sun have an
opposite polarity, an influence might be manifested, resulting in the
precession of the equinoxes." This is not the place to enter more fully
upon the grounds on which explanations of this subject have been based; but
observations so remarkable,* and views of so exalted
p 103
a character, regarding the most wonderful class of the cosmical bodies
belonging to our solar system, ought not to be entirely passed over in this
sketch of a general picture of nature.
[footnote] *Bessel, in Schumacher, 'Astr. Nachr.', 1836, No. 300-302, s.
188, 192, 197, 200, 202, und 230. Also in Schumacher, 'Jahrb.', 1837, s.
149, 168. William Herschel, in his observations on the beautiful comet of
1811, believed that he had discovered evidences of the rotation of the
nucleus and tail ('Phil. Trans.' for 1812, Part i., p. 140). Dunlop, at
Paramatta thought the same with reference to the third comet of 1825.
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