ver, had
geometrical relationship been so notorious as between the comets now
under consideration; and never before, in a comet still, it might be
said, in the prime of life, had physical peculiarities tending to
account for that affinity been so obvious as in the chief member of the
group.

Observation of a granular structure in cometary nuclei dates far back
into the seventeenth century, when Cysatus and Hevelius described the
central parts of the comets of 1618 and 1652 respectively as made up of
a congeries of minute stars. Analogous symptoms of a loose state of
aggregation have of late been not unfrequently detected in telescopic
comets, besides the instances of actual division offered by those
connected with the names of Biela and Liais. The forces concerned in
producing these effects seem to have been peculiarly energetic in the
great comet of 1882.

The segmentation of the nucleus was first noticed in the United States
and at the Cape of Good Hope, September 30. It proceeded rapidly. At
Kiel, on October 5 and 7, Professor Krueger perceived two centres of
condensation. A definite and progressive separation into _three_ masses
was observed by Professor Holden, October 13 and 17.[1329] A few days
later, M. Tempel found the head to consist of _four_ lucid aggregations,
ranged nearly along the prolongation of the caudal axis;[1330] and Dr.
Common, January 27, 1883, saw _five_ nuclei in a line "like pearls on a
string."[1331] This remarkable character was preserved to the last
moment of the comet's distinct visibility. It was a consequence,
according to Dr. Kreutz, of violent interior action in the comet itself
While close to the sun.

There were, however, other curious proofs of a disaggregative tendency
in this body. On October 9, Schmidt discovered at Athens a nebulous
object 4 deg. south-west of the great comet, and travelling in the same
direction. It remained visible for a few days, and, from Oppenheim's and
Hind's calculations, there can be little doubt that it was really the
offspring by fission of the body it accompanied.[1332] This is rendered
more probable by the unexampled spectacle offered, October 14, to
Professor Barnard, then of Nashville, Tennessee, of _six or eight_
distinct cometary masses within 6 deg. south by west of the comet's head,
none of which reappeared on the next opportunity for a search.[1333] A
week later, however, one similar object was discerned by Mr. W. R.
Brooks, in the opposit