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CONTENTS.
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The Solar System—Earth—Moon—Jupiter—Saturn—Uranus—Neptune—Mercury—Venus—Mars—Vesta, Pallas, and other planetoids—Relative magnitudes and distances of the principal members of the solar system—The Sun—His diameter, bulk, and mass—His distance from the Earth—His apparent motion—The twelve signs of the Zodiac—The solar rays—Planets habitable and inhabited—Moon and planetoids not inhabited—Fixed stars—Constellations—Coma Berenices—Catalogues of stars—Classification of stars into magnitudes—Number of stars—Milky Way—Nebulæ—Distance of stars—Light of Sirius—Periodical or variable stars—Temporary stars—Dark bodies in the heavens—Double and multiple stars—Colour of stars—Complementary colours in double stars.pp. 175—196
Family and pedigree—The comet protests against M. Babinet's remarks anent his kindred—Number of comets—Bulk—Nucleus—Head—Coma—Tail or brush—Tenuity of comets—Disturbing influence of planets and planetoids upon the orbits of comets—Chance of a collision—Cometary matter not luminous—Forms of comets and their tails— Length of tail—Comets with more than one tail—Eccentricity of motion—Parabolic and hyperbolic orbits—Uses of comets—Absurd and superstitious notions respecting cometary influences—Comet of 1556 expected in 1860—Case of doubtful identity—Cometary influence on seasons disproved—Comets with fixed periods—Halley's—Comet of 1680—Comets of Olbers, Encke, Biela, Faye, De Vico, Brorsen, d'Arrest—Winneke and Neslhuber versus Donati—Supposed period and distance from sun of comet of 1858pp. 197—213
