ing industry seemed at last about to be
rewarded, when a letter was received from Father de Vico, addressed to
the editor of this journal, from which it appeared that the same comet
had been observed by him on the 3d instant at Rome."

Not deeming it probable that his daughter had anticipated the observers
of this country and Europe in the discovery of this comet, no steps were
taken by Mr. Mitchell with a view to obtaining the king of Denmark's
medal. Prompt information, however, of the discovery was transmitted by
Mr. Mitchell to his friend, William C. Bond, Esq., director of the
observatory at Cambridge. The observations of the Messrs. Bond upon the
comet commenced on the 7th of October; and on the 30th were transmitted
by me to Mr. Schumacher, for publication in the "Astronomische
Nachrichten." It was stated in the memorandum of the Messrs. Bond that
the comet was seen by Miss Mitchell on the 1st instant. This notice
appeared in the "Nachrichten" of Dec. 9, 1847, and the priority of Miss
Mitchell's discovery was immediately admitted throughout Europe.

My attention had been drawn to the subject of the king of Denmark's
comet medal by some allusion to it in my correspondence with Professor
Schumacher, in reference to the discovery of telescopic comets by Mr.
George P. Bond, of the observatory at Cambridge. Having learned some
weeks after Miss Mitchell's discovery that no communication had been
made on her behalf to the trustees of the medal, and aware that the
regulations in this respect were enforced with strictness, I was
apprehensive that it might be too late to supply the omission. Still,
however, as the spirit of the regulations had been complied with by Mr.
Mitchell's letter to Mr. Bond of the 3d of October, it seemed worth
while at least to make the attempt to procure the medal for his
daughter. Although the attempt might be unsuccessful, it would at any
rate cause the priority of her discovery to be more authentically
established than it might otherwise have been.

I accordingly wrote to Mr. Mitchell for information on the subject, and
applied for, and obtained from Mr. Bond, Mr. Mitchell's original letter
to him of the 3d of October, with the Nantucket postmark. These papers
were transmitted to Professor Schumacher, with a letter dated 15th and
24th January.

On the 8th of February I wrote a letter to my much esteemed friend,
Captain W.H. Smyth, R.N., formerly president of the Astronomical Society
at Lon