erning down river on the evening of the 7h instant." writes 'a cor= respondent to the Editor' of the "North-China Herald," "what ape peared to be a comet was observed by several people on board, The time was about 8.30 pam, The position when first seen was low in the heavens to the southeast, making a rightangled triangle with the cons-{ellation Aquila and the lower end of Scorpio, each about 45 degrees of are distant. The tall extended upwards towards Aquila, whose three stars pointed in its direction. The tail was visible, but was dim to the naked eye, though it showed plainly over some seven degrees through low-powered binoculars."
Although it was ascertained that the comet was not observed by Siccawei Observatory on the evening of August 7, the Observatory having astronomical instruments with which to make any detailed study of the heavens, Father Gherzi reported on the night of August 9 that he had seen the comet at about 8.90, southeast of Shanghai, roughly 30 degrees over the horizon. The comet was clearly visible through a pale of field-glasses, and must have been of quite large size,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.