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Thus the comet predicted by Klinkerfues and discovered by Pogson had already lagged to the extent of twelve weeks, and we shall meet instances farther on where the retardation is counted, not by weeks, but by years. Here original identity emerges only from calculation and comparison of orbits. Comets, then, die, as Kepler wrote long ago, sicut bombyces filo fundendo.
The luminous outburst by which they became visible was explained by Sir William Huggins, in a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, May 13, 1892, on the tidal theory of Klinkerfues and Wilsing.
The late Professor Klinkerfues, who had observed them very completely at Göttingen, was led to believe that not merely the débris strewn along its path, but the comet itself must have been in immediate proximity to the earth during their appearance. If so, it might be possible, he thought, to descry it as it retreated in the diametrically opposite direction from that in which it had approached.
Klinkerfues, of Göttingen, telegraphed to Pogson, of Madras: ``Biela touched earth; search near Theta Centauri. Pogson searched in the place indicated and saw a cometary mass retreating into the southern heavens, where it was soon swallowed from sight!
But such restricted observations as were available on either occasion of its visibility gave no sign of such a rapid progress towards engulfment. Another form of the theory was advocated by Klinkerfues.
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