Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/235

I myself may boast of a bulk exceeding that of the sun in the proportion of nearly 300 to 1; that of your planet in the proportion of 400,000,000 to 1. My brother of 1811 was still larger, being about 600,000,000 times the bulk of your earth! The essential part about us is the nucleus, which sometimes appears as a bright stellar point, and sometimes rather gives the notion of a planetary disc, seen through a nebulous haze. What is generally called our head, is simply this nebulous haze which surrounds the nucleus; the train of illuminated vapour which is often, though by no means always, attached to the head, is usually termed by you the tail, though, allow me to observe, rather improperly, since this appendage often precedes us in our motions. The inhabitants of that portion of your sphere which is designated in your maps by the name of China—who, though certainly a little pigheaded, and strangely averse to progress in arts and sciences, are yet very careful, and, moreover, much more ancient observers of the starry heavens than you Europeans—have bestowed upon this occasional appendage the much more appropriate and significant name of brush or pencil of light. The nebulous haze which invariably surrounds the nucleus of members of our family is called the coma, from a Greek word signifying hair; some fancied resemblance of the nebulous matter composing this coma and the tail, has gained us the name of comets, or hairy stars. Now, though rather put out by M.