through a small patch of fog, and are together called the head of the comet. The tail is the continuation of the coma, and consists of a stream of milky light, growing wider and fainter as it recedes from the comet, until the eye can no longer trace it. A curious feature, noticed from the earliest times, is that the tail is nearly always turned from the sun. The extent of the tail is very different in different comets, that appendage being brighter and longer the more brilliant the comet. Sometimes it might almost escape notice, while in a great many comets recorded in history it has extended halfway across the heavens. The actual length, when one is seen at all, is nearly always many millions of miles. Sometimes, though rarely, the tail of the comet is split up into several branches extending out in slightly different directions. Telescopic comets do not always present the same aspect as those seen with the naked eye. The coma, or foggy light, generally seems to be developed at the expense of the nucleus and the tail. Sometimes either no nucleus at all can be seen with the telescope, or it is so faint and ill-defined as to be hardly distinguishable. In the case of such comets it is generally impossible to distinguish the coma from the tail, the latter being entirely invisible or only an elongation of the coma. Many well-known comets consist of hardly anything but a patch of foggy light of more or less irregular form. As a general rule, comets look nearly alike when they first come within reach of the telescope, the subsequent diversities arising from the different developments of corresponding parts. The first appearance is that of a little foggy patch without any tail, and very often without any visible nucleus. Thus, in the case of Donati's comet of 1858, one of the most splendid on record, it was more than two months after the discovery before there was any appearance of a tail."

THE COMET-SOME STATISTICS.

The comet which is now travelling north at a high rate of speed will soon be beyond the ken of the naked eye or the spectroscope. Investigation shows that since the Christian era, in round numbers, five hundred comets have been visible to the naked eye, and have been recorded. Besides these, nearly two hundred telescopic comets have been observed since the invention of the telescope. The following table gives the actual number of comets recorded as visible to the naked eye since the Christian era:

The following are all the passages in Shakespeare's works in which mention is made of the comet :

And wherefore gaze this goodly company,

As if they saw some wondrous monument,
Some comet of unusual prodigy?

-Taming of the Shrew, Act iii., s. 2.

By being seldom seen, I could not stir,

But like a comet I was wondered at;

That men would tell their children, "This is he."

-1 Henry IV., Act iii., s. 2.

Comets, importing change of time and states,
Brandish your crystal tresses in the air,
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars
That have consented unto Henry's death.

-1 Henry VI., Act i., s. 1.

Now shine it like a comet of revenge,
A prophet to the fall of all our foes.

- Henry IV., Act iii., s. 1.

When beggars die there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
-Julius Cæsar, Act ii., s. 2.

Memphis Appeal.

DURING frosty weather, the dissolution of mist and the appearance of small detached, roundish clouds of the cirro-cumulus kind in elevated regions of the atmosphere, and partly or wholly obscuring the sky, foretell that the termination of the frost is at hand.

VERY warm weather was experienced at Winnipeg between the 20th and 25th of April, 1881.

WAVES OF WEATHER.

As in the ocean we may notice waves and counter-waves, "chop waves" and ripples, so is it with the weather. Here we have the periodical waves of the seasons, the "chop waves" of the months, and the ripples of the weeks and days. The first or great periodical waves of weather come around, if I may so speak, in a pretty regular, irregular, and regular order, while the "chop waves" and ripples, as a general rule, revel in their irregularity. Let me illustrate this somewhat. From our experience of weather in the past and from our observations of to-day we may or we can anticipate the exact nature of the weather of an approaching season. By the common-sense and natural law of compensation we see what Nature requires in order that her balance may be retained in the universe. Has there been a steady diminution of rainfall during the past couplet or triad of years? Then may we not expect a steady increase in the average of yearly rainfall for a somewhat similar (as to duration) period for the time to come? Or have we reached a point at which the average of precipitation has been greatly in excess of previous years-in fact, beyond what is likely to occur again for a lengthened period? May we not with considerable confidence assume for the approaching cycle of time a steady return to dryness, and perchance drought?

Yet again, has our past winter been one of severity as to temperature? May we not look for a rebound of temperature during the ensuing summer toward a more than usual average of heat? At any rate, most people will be willing to endorse this natural system of reasoning, as it appeals to common sense, and common sense supports it. Then, after all, is the true reading of the weather so easy a task? This, I would reply, depends upon a number of points which have always to be taken into consideration along with the common law of general compensation. I have stated or inferred that the weather comes around in periodical waves of regular and irregular duration and at regular and irregular periods. Thus, in the pages of this Almanac we have a writer giving rules, based upon three-year waves of weather, for the proper forecasting of "hot and dry" and "cool and wet" seasons. But how one-sided and unreliable has this theory proved! By his own words he was condemned, or, what is much about the same thing, his rules were. My own experience in the matter goes to prove that no one number or series of numbers can be fixed upon as representing the return of waves of weather. For a time these may appear to come around in a markedly regular manner, per

chance just long enough to cause some venturesome prognosticator to attempt a forecast for an approaching week or month, when, with sudden perversity, an adverse wind springs up, and, sweeping across the ocean of the atmosphere, causes counter and "chop" waves of weather, very different from what had been anticipated. But I am here encroaching somewhat upon the subject of a preceding article in the Almanac, and therefore shall bring my remarks, under the present heading, to a close by simply stating that even the irregular periods of recurring weather may be anticipated by an intelligent observance of the laws governing our climatology generally, and by a common-sense course of reasoning and deduction, the details of which have already been treated upon in the article just referred to. Sound, light, electricity, and heat and cold, all come in waves, and so does the general weather. Thus, all we have to do is to know how these waves run and fluctuate in order to be able to anticipate approaching weather.

TOWN AND COUNTRY RAIN.

CONSIDERABLE attention has been recently given to the differences between the rain of the city and the country. The country rain is neutral, and is considered the best adapted for human consumption of any found above the earth, on the earth, or under the earth. The rain that falls in cities, on the other hand, is acid, corroding metals; stones and bricks and mortar crumble before it. Its evil effects are visible on every side, in paint, in all decorations, and in fact almost everything erected by man. The purest rain is that collected at the sea-coast, more especially at considerable heights, while organic matter in the air usually corresponds with the density of population.

THERE was a very frosty wave toward the end of July during the summer of 1880. A despatch from Mount Washington, July 29, says: “Snow commenced falling on the summit at noon to-day, and continued most of the time until two o'clock."

THE heaviest snowfalls during the month of January, 1881, at Montreal, occurred between the 9th and 10th and 21st and 22d days. The coldest day of the month was the 15th, when the mercury fell to 13° be

low zero.

FEBRUARY, in Canada, gave no snowfalls of any consequence. MARCH gave four "storm-periods," these being the 1st, 4th, 10th-11th, and 27th days.

"A WET SPELL."

ON first view we do not discover much profundity of wisdom in the old saying that "All signs of rain fail in dry weather." The observation readily occurs that if the signs did not fail the weather would not be dry; which is about the same as saying that dry weather is caused by want of rain. And yet, on twice thinking over the matter, we may find something in the old saying, after all. Rightly understood, it means that in calculating weather-probabilities due allowance should be made for the element of persistence of present conditions, whatever these may be. Who has not observed times when, the thirsty ground cracking and the crops suffering for want of rain, clouds would arise from east or west, giving apparent promise of the long-expected shower, and how frequently the clouds have passed away without a drop falling, making a total failure of all the signs? Drought long continued over an extensive region of country is due mainly to one or the other of two certain causes, or to both combined. Either the moisture drawn from the great tropical evaporating-pans, of which the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea together may be taken as a notable example, passes away to other quarters; or, though actually brought overhead, is driven away and prevented from falling by powerful radiations of heat from an already dried and overheated surface. The former cause operates most in winter and at the beginning of a dry period; the latter most in summer and after drought has prevailed for some time. In these latitudes our rainy seasons come when there is at one and the same time a large supply of vapor in the upper air, brought by the winds from the great oceanic evaporating regions, and also a considerable degree of moisture on and in the ground and in the air below. These conditions, as might naturally be supposed, are precisely the opposite of those which bring extensive and long-continued drought. Now, the practical point to be noted is that at any time, when we witness repeated failures of apparent signs of rain or repeated failures of apparent promises of sunshine and dry weather, we have reason to conjecture the existence, over a very large area, of conditions tending to the further continuance of dry or wet weather respectively. In other words, we must allow for the probability, more or less, of the persistence of present conditions. It is want of due allowance for this element in the calculation that causes our weather-prophets so frequently to miss the mark when they try to prophesy several months ahead. Most of them appear to found their predictions chiefly on the law of compensation, and look for any excess of either heat or cold, rain or sunshine,