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coverer is often added as 1895 C (Perrino).

Comets are

definitely designated as 1899 I., 1899 II., 1899 III., &c., the numerals I., II., III., &c., indicating the order in which the various comets of the year pass their perihelion points (comet 1895 C = comet 1895 IV.). Periodic comets are also often called by the name of their discoverers, as Winnecke's comet (1892 IV., or 1886 VI.); or, again, the name of the first discoverer is sometimes replaced by the name of an astronomer who has made extended calculations upon the comet's orbit. Comet 1819 IV. is no longer Pons's comet, but Encke's, for this

reason.

In the following table the first column contains a current number Paris mean time, and the number of the comet in its year, as I., II., for reference; the second, the date A.D. (new style after 1580), in &c.; the third, the argument of perihelion or, -, where π= longitude of perihelion; the fourth, longitude of the ascending node of the comet's orbit, ; the fifth, the inclination of the orbit; the sixth, the perihelion distance of the comet in terms of the earth's mean distance=1.000; the seventh, the comet's semi-major axis; the eighth, the periodic time in years; the ninth, the eccentricity; and the tenth, the name by which the comet is commonly known. The data in this form record every appearance of known periodic comets, whose periods are less than one hundred years. The data for Nos. 1-111 are from Winlock's Tables in

Publ. Ast. Soc. Pac. vol. viii. p. 141; the data for Nos. 112-122
have been furnished by C. D. Perrine.

Table of the Approximate Elements at each Return of all known Periodic Comets
whose Periods are less than One Hundred Years.

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218.2

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199.3

19 1815, April 26.0

65.6

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182.4

334.6

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161.5

113.2

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350.1

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182.8

24

1825 III., Sept. 16.3

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251.3 13.6 0.907
253'0 74.0 0.777 17.5 73.
83.5 44.5 1.213 17.63 74.
13.6 0.335 2.214 3.295
10.7 0.774 3.160 5.618
77.2 9.0 0.893
334.4 13.3 0.346
182.8 334.5 13.4 0.345
218.3 251.5 13.6 0.903
182.8 334.5 13.3 0.346
182.8 334.5 13.4 0.343
221.8 248.3 13.2 0.879
182.8 334'6 13.4 0.344
55.2 162.2 0.587
76.29 0.967
182.8 334'6 13.4 0.344 2.222 3.313 0.845
182.8 334.7
13.3 0.345 2.223 3.314 0.845
200.1 209.5 11.4 1.693 3.812 7.442 0.556
278.7
63.8 2.9 1.186 3.100 5.459 0.617
183.4 334.3
13.1 0.338 2.216 3.300 0.847
223.1 245.9
12.6 0.856 3.520 6.603 0.757
223.1 245.9 12.6 0.856 3.519 6.601 0.757
13.8 102.7 30.9 0.650 3.142
12.9 77.6 85.1 0.664 17.90
339'6 260'4

3.567 6.737 0.746 Biela.

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41

1847 V., Sept. 9.5

129.3

42

1848 II., Nov. 26.1

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75.7
30.7 1.529 5.635 13:38
309.8 19.1 0.488 18.7
81.1
183.4 334'4 13.1 0.337 2.215 3.296 0.848
200.2 209'5 11.4 1.700 3.819 7.462 0.555
174.5 148.4 13.9 1.173 3.444 6.390 0.659
183.5 334.4 13.1 0.337 2.215 3.297 0.848
223.3 245'9 12.6 0.861 3.526 6.621 0.756
223.3 245'9 12.6 0.861 3.525 6.619 0.756
57.1 346.2 40.9 1.250 15.44 60.7 0.919
183.4 334'4 13.1 0.337 2.215 3.295 0.848
14.0 101.8 29.8 0.621
5.538 0.802
174.6 148.5 13.9 1.170
6.380 0.660
269.1 54.4 1.025
13.74 0.821
113.5 10.8 0.769 3.317 5.555 0.755
175.1 19.5 1.149 3.523 6.609 0.674 Tuttle.
209.7 11.4 1.694 3.813 7.445 0.556 Faye.
3.304 0.846 Encke.

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3.130

Brorsen.

3.440

D'Arrest.

5.736

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The

unexpected comets were discovered (four on photographic plates, the others after search with visual telescopes) besides a number of expected (periodic) comets. During the years 1782 to 1841 eighty-seven comets of both classes were observed, or 1·45 per year, while from 1842 to 1897 there were 241 comets, or 4.30 per year. difference in the average numbers probably represents nothing more than the increased attention paid to cometary discovery in late years. For example, ten comets were discovered during 1898, three of them being known periodic comets. In the year 1840 a gold medal was founded by Christian VIII., king of Denmark, to be given to discoverers of telescopic comets, but after his death the award was discontinued. The comet medal

(bronze) of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific was founded by Hon. Joseph A. Donohoe in the year 1890, and is presented to the discoverer of every unexpected comet on the report of a committee of the society. A list of the awards constitutes, therefore, a history of recent cometary discoveries.

List of Unexpected Comets discovered since 1st January

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-Gautier.

Barnard

6.226

Spitaler

6.402

Perrine

6.441

Discovered 1896. Computers

Ristenpart, Hadley.

Giacobini

6.549

Discovered 1896.

July

18, 1890

Biela (I. and II.).

6.6

Discovered 1772; seen 1805,

July

23, 1890

1826, and 1832. In 1846

Nov.

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Nov.

17, 1895

Nov.

21, 1895

Feb.

15, 1896

C. D. Perrine

April

13, 1896

Last observed 1895. It is not

March

Sept.
Nov.
2, 1896
Dec.
8, 1896
October 16, 1897
20, 1898

4, 1896

E. Giacobini

C. D. Perrine

C. D. Perrine
C. D. Perrine

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unlikely to be a return of
Lexell's comet of 1770.

June

11, 1898

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7·097

Last observed 1896.
Its spec-
trum was continuous. It

June
Sept.

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18, 1898 13, 1898 October 20, 1898 14, 1898 3, 1899 29, 1899

E. Giacobini

Brooks.

was at first supposed to be a return of Lexell's comet, but the researches of Dr C. L. Poor make the identity unlikely. Denning (II)

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Last observed 1894. Its orbit lies within 0.16 of Jupiter's orbit, and near that point crosses the orbit of Brorsen's comet. The two comets were near the point of intersection in 1881 (though Jupiter was not then near) which may account for the disappearance of Brorsen's comet since its return in 1879. Faye Swift

C. D. Perrine
W. R. Brooks
F. L. Chase
Lewis Swift
E. Giacobini

Nice, France

Lick Observatory, Cal.
Geneva, N.Y.4

New Haven, Conn.5
Lowe Observatory, Cal.
Nice, France

A few of the remarkable comets of the years 1888-1900 are here briefly described. Comet 1888 I. exhibited peculiar variations in its head like those which distinLast observed 1889. Com- guished the comets 1882 II. and 1884 I. Two (or puter-Coniel.

Last observed 1896.

7.566
8.534

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according to one observer three) nuclei were enclosed in a nebulous sheath, as in 1882 II. On 21st May, two months after perihelion passage, the head suddenly became about two stellar magnitudes brighter, and two jets were ejected from it, both much brighter than the main 1 This is the first comet discovered by photography.

2 This comet was discovered on the photographs of the total solar eclipse taken by the Lick Observatory eclipse expedition to Chile. 3 Discovered by photography.

4 The orbit of this comet resembles that of Schaeberle's comet of 1881.

Discovered by photography.

=

pottery. Population, 19,333.

Commentry, a town of France, in the arrondissement of Montluçon, department of Allier, 42 miles southwest of Moulins by rail. It gives its name to a coal-field, the output of which in 1899 amounted to 778,417 tons (metric); over 4000 persons are employed in connexion with the mines. There are very important foundries and forges. Population (1881), 9394; (1896), 9197; (1901),

11,165.

Commercial Treaties.-A commercial treaty is a contract between States relative to trade. It is a bilateral act whereby definite arrangements are entered into by each contracting party towards the other-not mere concessions. As regards technical distinctions, an "agreement,” an "exchange of notes," or a "convention" properly applies to one specific subject; whereas a "treaty" usually comprises several matters, whether commercial or political.

tail. The causes of such changes must be sought for of Diana," and limestone quarries. The people make within the comet as, in all likelihood, they were not the direct result of solar action. Several other comets have shown like variations. Comet 1889 I. is remarkable for the long period (971 days) during which it was under observation. It was observed at four oppositions to the sun, the last observation being 1st May 1891. At this time its distance from the earth was 7.40; from the sun, 8-22, which is not very different from the distance of Saturn 9.54. The bright comet of 1811 was not observed beyond 4.53 from the sun, and the great comet of 1882 was lost at 5.16. Comet 1892 I. was photographed at various observatories, and the photographs show that its tail was of a very complex character and subject to great variations. W. H. Pickering (Annals H. C. O. vol. xxxii.) concludes that the variations were periodic, and that the whole comet rotated in a period of about four days on an axis through the head, coinciding with the general direction of the tail. The motion of condensations in the tail led him to the conclusion that the total repulsive force of the sun was 39.51 times the force of gravity. Professor Campbell, at the Lick Observatory, notes a diminution in the wave-length of the green band of the spectrum after perihelion passage. The changes in Holmes's periodic comet of 1892 have already been referred to. The periodic comet 1889 V. (Brooks) was discovered on 6th July. It passed perihelion on 30th September. On 1st August Professor Barnard, at the Lick Observatory, discovered two companion comets near by, and later two more. It has been suggested that the companion comets were separated from the main body by the attraction of Jupiter about May 1886, when the comet and planet were in proximity. The periodic comet (TempelSwift) came within 0.13 of Jupiter in 1880 (earth's distance from the sun = 1), and it is worthy of remark that at its return in 1891 it was reported by some observers to have a companion comet. Comet 1892 V. was the first one (except the eclipse comet of 1882) to be discovered by photography (by Professor Barnard at the Lick Observatory). The first comets photographed were those of 1881 (H. Draper); 1881 (Janssen); 1882 (Gill). comets sufficiently bright are now studied to great advantage by photography. The next bright comet that is favourably situated will yield important discoveries, which are foreshadowed by the results of Professor Hussey of the Lick Observatory on the bright comet 1893 II. (see Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, vol. vii., 1895, pp. 161-185). Professor Hussey's photographs show marked changes in the nucleus, coma, and tail. The comet sent off a series of condensations or nebulous masses whose motions were determined to be between 40 and 60 miles per second.

All

The photographs

obtained by Professor Barnard of the Lick Observatory of
the comet 1893 IV. also show extraordinary variations in
the quantity of matter ejected by the head to form the
tail, and in the direction of its motion (see Knowledge,
February and May 1894).
(E. S. H.)

Comilla, or Kumilla, a town of British India, headquarters of Tippera district in Bengal, situated on the river Gumti, with a station on the Assam-Bengal Railway, 96 miles from the coast terminus at Chittagong. Population (1881), 13,372; (1891), 14,680. The town has many large tanks; an English church, built in 1875; a high school; the Elliott artisan school; four printing-presses, one of which issues a vernacular newspaper; and a public library.

Comiso, a town of the province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy, 90 miles by rail west by south from Syracuse, on the line to Licata. It has a fine spring, the fabled "bath

In ancient times foreign intercourse, trade, and navigation were in many instances regulated by international arrangements. The text is extant of treaties of commerce and navigation concluded between Carthage and Rome in 509 and 348 B.C. Aristotle mentions that nations were connected by commercial treaties; and other classical writers advert to these engagements. Under the Roman Empire the matters thus dealt with became regulated by law, or by usages sometimes styled laws. When the territories of the empire were contracted, and the imperial authority was weakened, some kind of international agreements again became necessary. At Constantinople in the 10th century treaties cited by Gibbon protected "the person, effects, and privileges of the Russian merchant"; and, in Western Europe, intercourse, trade, and navigation were carried on, at first tacitly by usage derived from Roman times, or under verbal permission given to merchants by the ruler to whose court they resorted. Afterwards, security in these transactions was afforded by means of formal documents, such as royal letters, charters, laws, and other instruments possessing the force of Government measures. Instances affecting English commercial relations are the letter of Charlemagne in 796, the Brabant Charter of 1305, and the Russian Ukase of 1569. Mediæval treaties of truce or peace often contained a clause permitting in general terms the renewal of personal and commercial communication as it subsisted before the war. This custom is still followed. But these medieval arrangements were precarious: they were often of temporary duration, and were usually only effective during the lifetime of the contracting sovereigns.

Passing over trade agreements affecting the Eastern Empire, the modern commercial treaty system came into existence in the 12th century. Genoa, Pisa, and Venice were then well organized communities, and were in keen rivalry. Whenever their position in a foreign country was strong, a trading centre was established, and few or no specific engagements were made on their part. But in serious competition or difficulty another course was adopted: a formal agreement was concluded for the better security of their commerce and navigation. The arrangements of 1140 between Venice and Sicily; the Genoese conventions of 1149 with Valencia, of 1161 with Morocco, and of 1181 with the Balearic Islands; the Pisan conventions of 1173 with Sultan Saladin, and of 1184 with the Balearic Islands, were the earliest Western commercial treaties. Such definite arrangements, although still of a personal character, were soon perceived to be preferable to general provisions in a treaty of truce or peace. They afforded also greater security than privileges enjoyed under usage; or under grants of various kinds, whether local or royal. The policy thus inaugurated was adopted gradually throughout Europe. The first treaties relative to the trade of the Netherlands were between Brabant and Holland in 1203, Holland and Utrecht in 1204, and Brabant and Cologne in 1251. Early northern commercial treaties are those between Riga and Smolensk 1229, and between Lübeck and Sweden 1269. The first commercial relations between the Hanse Towns and

foreign countries were arrangements made by guilds of merchants, not by public authorities as a governing body. For a long period the treaty system did not entirely supersede conditions of intercourse between nations dependent on permission.

The earliest English Commercial Treaty is that with Norway in 1217. It provides "ut mercatores et homines qui sunt de potestate vestra liberè et sine impedimento terram nostram adire possint, et homines et mercatores nostri similiter vestram." These stipula

tions are in due treaty form. The next early English treaties are -with Flanders, 1274 and 1314; Portugal, 1308, 1352, and 1386; Baltic Cities, 1319 and 1388; Biscay and Castile, 1351; Burgundy,

1417 and 1496; France, 1471, 1497, and 1510; Florence, 1490. The commercial treaty policy in England was carried out systematically under Henry IV. and Henry VII. It was continued under James I. to extend to Scotland English trading privileges. The results attained in the 17th century were-regularity in treaty arrangements; their durable instead of personal nature; the conversion of permissive into perfect rights; questions as to contraband and neutral trade stated in definite terms. Treaties were at first limited to exclusive and distinct engagements between the contracting States; each treaty differing more or less in its terms from other similar compacts. Afterwards by extending to a third nation privileges granted to particular countries, the most favoured nation article began to be framed. Cromwell continued the commercial treaty policy in order to obtain a formal recognition of the Commonwealth from foreign Powers. His treaty of 1654 with Sweden contains the first reciprocal English most favoured nation clause. Article IV. provides that the people, subjects, and inhabitants of either confederate "shall have and possess in the countries, lands, dominions, and kingdoms of the other as full and ample privileges, and as many exemptions, immunities, and liberties, as any foreigner doth or shall possess in the dominions and kingdoms of the said confederate." The Government of the Restoration replaced and enlarged the Protectorate arrangements by fresh agreements. The general policy of the Commonwealth was maintained, with further provisions on behalf of Colonial Trade. In the new treaty of 1661 with Sweden, the privileges secured were those which " any foreigner whatsoever doth or shall enjoy in the said dominions and kingdoms on both sides."

In contemporary treaties France obtained from Spain (1659) that French subjects should enjoy the same liberties as had been granted to the English; and England obtained from Denmark (1661) that the English should not pay more or greater customs than the people of the United Provinces and other foreigners, the Swedes only excepted. The colonial and navigation policy of the 17th century, and the proceedings of Louis XIV., provoked animosities and retaliatory tariffs. During the war of the Spanish Succession the Methuen Treaty of 1703 was concluded. Portugal removed prohibitions against the importation of British woollens; Great Britain engaged that Portuguese wines should pay one-third less duty than the rate levied on French wines. At the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 political and commercial treaties were concluded. England agreed to remove prohibitions on the importation of French goods, and to grant most favoured nation treatment in relation to goods and merchandise of the like nature from any other country in Europe; the French general tariff of September 18, 1664, was to be again put in force for English trade. The English provision was at variance with the Methuen Treaty. A violent controversy arose as to the relative importance in 1713 of Anglo-Portuguese or Anglo-French trade. In the end the House of Commons, by a majority of 9, rejected the Bill to give effect to the commercial treaty of 1713; and trade with France remained on an unsatisfactory_footing until 1786. The other commercial treaties of Utrecht were very complete in their provisions, equal to those of the present time; and contained most favoured nation articles-England secured in 1715 reduction of duties on woollens imported into the Austrian Netherlands; and trading privileges in Spanish America. Moderate import duties for woollens were obtained in Russia by the Commercial treaty of 1766. In the meanwhile the Bourbon family compact of August 15, 1761, assured national treatment for the subjects of France, Spain, and the Two Sicilies, and for their trade in the European territories of the other two States; and most favoured nation treatment as regards any special terms granted to any foreign country. The first commercial treaties concluded by the United States with European countries contained most favoured nation clauses: this policy has been continued by the United States, but the wording of the clause has often varied.

In 1786 France began to effect tariff reform by means of commercial treaties. The first was with Great Britain,

and it terminated the long-continued tariff warfare. But the wars of the French Revolution swept away these reforms, and brought about a renewal of hostile tariffs. Prohibitions and differential duties were renewed, and prevailed on the Continent until the sixth decade of the 19th century. In 1860 a Government existed in France sufficiently strong and liberal to revert to the policy of 1786. The bases of the Anglo-French treaty of 1860, beyond its most favoured nation provisions, were in France a general transition from prohibition or high customs duties to a moderate tariff; in the United Kingdom abandonment of all protective imposts, and reduction of duties maintained for fiscal purposes to the lowest rates compatible with these exigencies. Other European countries were obliged to obtain for their trade the benefit of the conventional tariff thus established in France, as an alternative to the high rates inscribed in the general tariff. A series of commercial treaties was accordingly concluded by different European States between 1861 and 1866, which effected further reductions of customs duties in the several countries which came within this treaty system. In 1871 the Republican Government sought to terminate the treaties of the Empire. The British negotiators nevertheless obtained the relinquishment of the attempt to levy protective duties under the guise of compensation for imposts on raw materials; the duration of the treaty of 1860. was prolonged; and stipulations better worded than those before in force were agreed to for shipping and most favoured nation treatment. In 1882, however, France terminated her existing European tariff treaties. Belgium and some other countries concluded fresh treaties, less liberal than those of the system of 1860, yet much better than anterior arrangements. Great Britain did not. formally accept these higher duties; the treaty of February 28, 1882, with France, which secures most favoured nation treatment in other matters, provides that customs duties shall be "henceforth regulated by the internal legislation of each of the two States." In 1892 France also fell out of international tariff arrangements; and adopted the system of double columns of customs duties one, of lower rates, to be applied to the goods of all nations receiving most favoured treatment; and the other, of higher rates, for countries not on this footing. Germany then took up the treaty tariff policy; and between 1891-94 concluded commercial treaties of twelve years' duration with Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland, to favour and develop her trade with those countries. An important series of commercial arrangements was concluded between 1884-1900 respecting the territories and spheres of interest of European powers in western, central, and eastern Africa. In these regions exclusive privileges are not claimed; most favoured nation treatment is recognized, and there is a nized, and there is a disposition to extend national treatment to all Europeans and their trade.

The Turkish Capitulations are grants made by successive Sultans to Christian nations, conferring rights. and privileges in favour of their subjects resident or trading in the Ottoman dominions. In the first instance capitulations were granted specially to each Christian State, beginning with the Genoese in 1453, which entered into pacific relations with Turkey. Afterwards new capitulations were obtained which summed up in one document earlier concessions, and added to them in general terms whatever had been conceded to one or more other States; a stipulation which became a most favoured nation article. The English final capitulations are of this nature; they are dated 1675, and have been confirmed by treaties of subsequent date "now and for ever.”

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