Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy

    Suggests that the public should be cautious about the plethora of intelligence regarding new comets, since it is easy to convince them that a 'flash of lightning' or an 'eccentric piece of luminous matter', especially when wrapped in 'descriptive jargon', is a comet. Advises that alleged comets be examined by 'a committee of qualified astronomers', in order to avoid such cases as a light in the Vauxhall Gardens being mistaken for a new star.