may live to extort from nature her deepest and most wonderful secrets?
One great charm of the comet, both in a popular and scientific view, is the illustration it affords of formative processes visibly going on in the grandest scale. What would not the geologist give to see illustrated, in a conveniently brief space, the molten globe, and the subsequent induration; and the various upheavals and submergences, which his theories require? But the comet reveals corresponding organic changes in the course of a few days or weeks, and on a scale vastly greater than what our earth could exhibit. What is it that renders the sight of the moon's surface so disappointing? Is it not that all is motionless? There are no moving clouds, no fluctuating seas, no fleeting snow-covering, no active volcanoes; all is motionless and deathlike. Why does the surface of the sun attract such deep interest at this moment? Because we discover agencies working with intense activity. There are elements of change detected, and these are watched with the most anxious interest. In the moon we see a frozen torrent; in the sun we see the stream dashing on with impetuous speed.
Measured by this source of interest, the comet arrests our attention much more powerfully than even the sun, the changes being much more rapid and comprehensive. We see the whole orb transformed
