which shall, in some degree, be descriptive of, or at least
consistent with, their properties? Why not, for instance, call them
_Concentric Comets_, or _Planetary Comets_, or _Cometary Planets_?
or, if a single term must be found, why may we not coin such a
phrase as _Planetoid_ or _Cometoid_?"

Then follows a general arraignment of HERSCHEL'S methods of expression
and thought, as distinguished from his powers of mere observation. This
distinction, it may be said, exists only in the reviewer's mind; there
was no such distinction in fact. If ever a series of observations was
directed by profound and reasonable thought, it was HERSCHEL'S own.

"Dr. HERSCHEL'S passion for coining words and idioms has often
struck us as a weakness wholly unworthy of him. The invention of a
name is but a poor achievement for him who has discovered whole
worlds. Why, for instance, do we hear him talking of the
_space-penetrating power_ of his instrument--a compound epithet and
metaphor which he ought to have left to the poets, who, in some
future age, shall acquire glory by celebrating his name. The other
papers of Dr. HERSCHEL, in the late volumes of the _Transactions_,
do not deserve such particular attention. His catalogue of 500 new
nebulae, though extremely valuable to the practical astronomer, leads
to no general conclusions of importance, and abounds with the
defects which are peculiar to the Doctor's writings--a great
prolixity and tediousness of narration--loose and often
unphilosophical reflections, which give no very favorable idea of
his scientific powers, however great his merit may be as an
observer--above all, that idle fondness for inventing names without
any manner of occasion, to which we have already alluded, and a use
of novel and affected idioms.

* * * * *

"To the speculations of the Doctor on the nature of the Sun, we have
many similar objections; but they are all eclipsed by the grand
absurdity which he has there committed, in his hasty and erroneous
theory concerning the influence of the solar spots on the price of
grain. Since the publication of Gulliver's voyage to Laputa, nothing
so ridiculous has ever been offered to the world. We heartily wish
the Doctor had suppressed it; or, if determined to publish it, that
he had detailed it in language less confident and