The historians of the Western Empire tell us that the misfortunes with which Constantinople was threatened by Gainas were so great, that they were foreboded by one of the most terrible comets on record, which appeared above the city, with a tail in the form of a sabre, extending from the highest region of the sky almost to the earth. This comet would seem to be identical with that recorded in the Chinese annals.

[401.]

A comet in Tien-tsin ( Cygni), in the 12th moon (commencing January 2).

[402.]

Period Youen-hing, first year, 10th moon (new about November 12), an extraordinary star, of a whitish colour, appeared to the west of Thaiwei (near & Leonis). In the 12th moon (commencing January 10) it entered Thai-wei.

Claudian, in his poem, "De Bello Getico," speaks of the consternation which was caused at Rome by the arrival in Italy of Alaric, King of the Visigoths. The misfortunes of those times are said to have been announced by birds of evil augury, by tempests and frequent thunder, by frequent eclipses of the moon, prodigious hail-storms, spontaneous, conflagrations, and the appearance of a comet; an event, says Claudian, "which the world has never yet witnessed with impunity." It was first seen in the east, towards that part of the heavens where Cepheus and Cassiopea shine; subsequently pursuing its course above Ursa Major, it diminished the beauty of the bright stars of that constellation, until finally fading away, it vanished in a very narrow flame. Such is the substance of Claudian's description. Pingré says he should be disposed to regard the comet the same as that observed in China in the year 400, were it not that the European historian expressly states it was seen during the time of peace, which obliges us to defer its ap pearance until the year 401 at the earliest, for it is certain the Goths under Alaric invaded Italy in 400, and that Honorius was compelled to cede to them a part of his dominions as the means of procuring peace.

[415 and 416.]

Eleventh year Y-hy, 5th moon, day Kia-tchin (June 24, 415), two comets were observed in Tien-che (Hercules and Ophiuchus), they passed by Ti-tso (a Herculis), and stopped to the north of Fang (Scorpii) and Sin (Scorpii). Pingre remarks, that this route probably applies to one of the comets only.

First year Tay-tchang, 5th moon, day Kia-tchin (June 18, 416), two comets visible. It seems very likely that one of these accounts has the wrong year and that the two pairs of comets may be reduced to one, agreeably to a suggestion of Pingre's.

[418. First Comet.]

Fourteenth year Y-hy, on day Keng-tse of the 5th moon (June 24), a comet was discovered in the middle of the square of Pe-teon (a, ß, 2, d, Ursa Majoris).

[418. Second Comet.]

A fine comet, observed both in Europe and China. Count Marcellin dates it in the twelfth consulate of Honorius and the eighth of Theo

B

dosius, and says it was seen in the eastern heavens for seven months. Philostorgius describes it at some length. On the 19th of July, about the eighth hour of the day, the sun was eclipsed and the stars wero plainly visible. During the time of total obscuration, a light in the form of a cone was perceived in the sky, which resembled the flame of a lamp without any star to serve for its base: hence Philostorgius seems to doubt its cometary nature, though he says some ignorant persons gave it the name of a "Comet." Its motion, he continues, was different from that of comets: it was seen at first to the east of the Equinoxes, thence, having passed by the star at the end of the tail of Ursa Major ( probably), it moved slowly to the west. Having thus traversed the whole heaven, it finally disappeared after an apparition of more than four months. It was detected about the middle of summer, and remained visible until the end of the autumn.

The comet was seen in China on day Kouei-hai of the 7th moon (September 15), in the west of Thai-wei or in Leo: it rose above the star Chang-tsiang ( or Leonis). The tail, which was short at first, increased to the length of ten tchang or more. The comet passed through Pe-teou (a, b, y, &c., Ursa Majoris), Tse-wei, and Chang-tai (4, x, or λ, μ, Ursa Majoris). Mailla says it was discovered near Tientsin ( Cygni) and continued visible about 80 days. Couplet places its first appearance in the 10th moon, which commenced on November 15. [419.]

Period Yven-y, 1st moon, on day Wou-su (February 17), a comet in Thai-wei (Leo and Virgo), to the west of that region.

[420 or 421.]

In the first year of the reign of Kao-tsou, a comet was seen in China in the 4th moon. The commencement of this reign is dated by some historians in 420, and by others in 421. The comet would appear about May. Some European authors mention a wonderful sign observed in the heavens in 421, which may possibly have been the comet of the Chinese.

[422. First Comet.]

The Chronicon Paschale records the appearance of a star having a very long white ray in the 13th Consulate of Honorius, and the 10th of Theodosius, 5th Indiction, in the month of March. It was seen for ten nights about the time of cock-crowing. This object, which was evidently a comet, is found in Gaubil's Catalogue. On day Sin-sse of the 2nd moon (March 16) it was discovered in the constellations Hiu (6 Aquarii) and Goei (« Aquarii). Ma-tuoan-lin says it appeared in the third year of the period Yung-tso, on day Ping-su of the 2nd moon (March 21), in Hiu and Goei.

[422. Second Comet.]

Same year, 11th moon, day Wou-ou (December 18), a comet in Yngche (a, Pegasi).

[423.]

a

Period King-ping, under the Emperor Chao-ti, first year and moon, day Y-mao (February 13), in Tung-pie ( Pegasi, « Andromedæ). It is probably this comet that is mentioned in the Chronicle of Count Marcellin as having appeared during the consulate of Asclepiodotus and Marinianus, in the 6th Indiction. It was frequently seen before the death of the Emperor Honorius, which took place in the middle of August.

[423. Second Comet.]

Ma-tuoau-lin has reference to another comet in the 10th moon of the same year, on day Ki-ouei (December 14), in the constellation Ti («, ẞ Libra).

[432.]

Period Yen-ho, first year, a comet in Hien-youen (x, y, Leonis): it entered Thai-wei (stars surrounding & Leonis), and arrived at Ta-kio (Arcturus), where it disappeared.

[436.]

Gaubil mentions a comet in the constellation Fang ( Scorpii), on day Jin-chin (21st June), in the 5th moon of the second year Tay-yen. [442.]

Marcellin and other European historians speak of the appearance of a comet in December, which remained visible some months. It as detected by the Chinese in the 9th moon, ninth year Yven-kia of the Emperor Ouen-ti. On day Ping-tchin (November 1) it was situate in Pe-teou (a, B, &c. Ursa Majoris): at this time it seems to have been without a tail, but speedily began to exhibit one, or in Chinese phraseology "became a comet." It entered Wen-tchang (, Ursæ), traversed Ou-tche (Auriga), Tien-tsie (g, Tauri), and Tien-yven ( Ceti, y, d, &c. Eridani): it disappeared in the winter, which commenced November 18 according to a remark of Pingre's.

[449.]

Period Tching-kan, tenth year, on day Sin-sse of the 10th moon (December 19), a comet was seen in China, in Thai-wei (near 6 Leonis) according to Gaubil. Ma-tuoan-lin says it appeared in the period Yven-kia, twenty-sixth year, on day Kouei-mao of the 10th moon (December 11), in the same region. Pingré prefers the last date, which is the more correct of the two, as the day Sin-sse did not fall in the 10th moon.

[451.]

Idatius informs us that a comet was discovered on the 10th of June, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Valentinian III., when Attila was defeated by the Roman general, Aetius. On the 29th of the same month, after having been seen in the morning, it began to be observed in the evening in the west after sunset, and on the 1st of August (probably 1st of July) it was visible in the same direction. An eclipse of the moon followed on September 27th (or more correctly September 26), which decides the year of apparition, though authors refer the comet to 448, 449, 450, 452, or 453. The comet which Agnelli refers to 452, before the taking of Aquileia by Attila, was probably that of 451, and the same remark will apply to that mentioned by several historians as having been observed in the east before the death of Attila, which took place in 453 or 454.

The comet of 451 was discovered in China in the twenty-eighth year, period Youen-kia, 4th moon, on day Y-mao (May 17), when it was situate in the sidereal division Mao ( Pleiadum). On day Jin-tseu, 6th moon, it was in the middle of Thai-wei, near" the throne of the five sovereigns," or 6 Leonis.

This comet has been satisfactorily identified by M. Laugier as the famous one, which bears the name of Halley.

If the elements of this body are reduced to the year 451, and the

perihelion passage dated at midnight, Greenwich time, on the 3rd of July, the geocentric place will result as follows:

This course is perfectly in accordance with the indications of the Chinese annals. On June 29th, as M. Laugier points out, the comet would pass sub polo, at a distance of only 2 or 30 below the horizon, and would then begin to present itself in the evening after sunset. The calculated position for July 13, two months after the discovery, places it very exactly in the middle of Thai-wei, near ẞ Leonis. The return of the comet of Halley in 451, in the time of Attila, I consider to be almost a matter of certainty.

[467.]

A comet, during the consulate of Pusæus and Johannes, fifth Indiction: it was seen for periods of from ten to forty days in the evening sky. It resembled "a trumpet," "a pike," or "a small beam."

[499.]

Zonaras says the second invasion of Illyria by the Bulgarians was preceded by the appearance of a comet. There are no further particulars.

The Chinese annals have no mention of any comet between 451 and the end of the fifth century.

II. THE MUSEUM OF PRACTICAL GEOLOGY: ITS

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTS.

THERE are not many Institutions in this country in which the practical applications of science are so perfectly illustrated as they are in the Museum in Jermyn-street. It is true that the illustrations are confined to one branch of science; but we believe that the completeness of the collection is greatly dependent on its restricted character. Geology was but a few years since regarded by the public as a mysterious, a dangerous, and an uncertain science. It was conceived that the theories of its professors were wild dreams; its facts were regarded as random guesses; and the possibility of making geology in any way useful to man was spoken of in derision by the greater number of those who considered the subject as deserving even of a passing thought. The truths, however, which were promulgated by the earliest and the most earnest students of the new science forced their way, and shedding, as they did, strong lights upon many of the great phenomena of nature, they soon drew new votaries, and from a despised, and, as it was thought, a pseudo-science, Geology rapidly became a favourite and even a fashionable study.

Looking back into the arcana of time, geology, with its wondrous revelations, assumed a high poetic character; and there was much danger that the fascinations of the science, giving full room for the flights of imagination, might tend to its degeneration into a system of romantic hypotheses. Fortunately there were a few superior minds who resolutely checked those lofty flights, and determined to

show that geology, yoked to the car of utility, could draw it onward, and guide it into those paths which are the highroads to commercial and manufacturing pre-eminence.

6

To the late Sir Henry De la Beche the world is, however, indebted for the idea of fully illustrating the Applications of Geology to the useful purposes of Life.' De la Beche became an early student, and in the field he learned those lessons which he subsequently rendered intelligible to all, by the collections which eventually grew into that Museum to which we especially desire to direct attention. The early history of the Museum of Practical Geology is in itself highly instructive. It shows how an earnest man bears down the prejudices of those upon whom he is dependent; and, in indicating the proper course to be adopted, leads a government, who cannot fully appreciate the value of an idea, still to lend an aid in carrying it to its completion. Let us briefly sketch this early history.

The Ordnance Survey of the British Isles was in progress, and its maps, on the one-inch scale, were in process of publication. De la Beche suggested to the government of the day that the value of those maps would be greatly increased if the geology of the country was laid down upon them, and showing that the experiment could be tried at a small cost, and without at all interfering with the existing arrangements of the Ordnance Survey: he was connected with that body and allowed to commence his work. This he did by starting from the most westerly rock in England-and probably the oldest in order of time-carefully tracing every geological formation in Cornwall, with all their mineral lodes and vast dislocations, and proceeding onward to the adjoining counties of Devonshire and Somersetshire. The value of these geological maps could not be denied; and having collected a few specimens to illustrate them, this earnest geologist pressed upon the government the importance of embracing the opportunity offered by those surveys to make a collection which should fairly illustrate the mineral characters of the British Isles. This was commenced by the authority of the government, with an insignificant grant at the suggestor's disposal, in 1835. It was not, however, until 1837 that apartments were obtained in Craig's-court, in which to place the small collection which De la Beche had got together. Like the rolling snow-ball the collection enlarged itself, by purchase and by gifts, until it became necessary to secure the services of a competent curator; and in 1839 Mr. Richard Phillips, F.R.S., was appointed to this office.

The late Mr. Richard Phillips, well known to the public as the chemical adviser of the College of Physicians-the translator of their Pharmacopoeia,' and the contributor of all the chemical articles to the 'Penny Cyclopædia '-was too valuable a man to be lost, as curator of a small geological collection. It was therefore proposed that the government and the public should avail themselves of his chemical abilities, and, for this, a laboratory was attached to the young museum, which now, as the Museum of Economic Geology, began to assume a more important form. Analyses of minerals, rocks, and soils were made in the laboratory, and instruction was given to a limited number of students in chemistry and metallurgy.