one of the
executive council of this State. Mr. Mitchell made an entry of the
discovery at the time in his journal. In consequence of Miss Mitchell's
diffidence, she would not allow any publicity to be given to her
discovery till its reality was ascertained. Her father, however, by the
first mail that left Nantucket for the mainland, addressed a letter to
Mr. W.C. Bond, director of the observatory in this place, acquainting
him with his daughter's discovery. A copy of this letter I herewith
transmit to you. The comet was not discovered in Europe till the 3d of
October, when it was seen by Father de Vico, the celebrated astronomer
at Rome.

"You perceive from this statement that, if Mr. Mitchell had addressed
his letter to the Danish minister at Washington instead of Mr. Bond, his
daughter would have been entitled to the medal, under the strict terms
of the regulations. But these regulations have not been generally
understood in this country; and as the fact of Miss Mitchell's prior
discovery is undoubted, and recognized throughout Europe, it would be a
pity that she should lose the medal on a mere technical punctilio. The
comet is constantly called 'Miss Mitchell's comet' in the monthly
journal of the Royal Astronomical Society at London, and in the
'Astronomische Nachrichten,' the well-known astronomical journal, edited
by Mr. Schumacher himself, at Altona. Father de Vico (who, with his
brothers of the Society of Jesuits, has left Rome since the revolution
there) was at this place (Cambridge) three days ago, and spoke of Miss
Mitchell's priority as an undoubted fact.

"Last winter I addressed a letter to Mr. Schumacher, acquainting him
with the foregoing facts relative to the discovery, and transmitting to
him the _original_ letter of Mr. Mitchell to Mr. Bond, dated 3d October,
bearing the original Nantucket postmark of the 4th. I also wrote to
Capt. W. H. Smyth, late president of the Royal Astronomical Society of
England, desiring him to speak to Mr. Airy on the subject. He did so,
and Mr. Airy wrote immediately to Mr. Schumacher. Mr. Schumacher in his
reply expressed the opinion, in which Mr. Airy concurs, that _under the
regulations_ it is not in their power to award the medal to Miss
Mitchell. They suggest, however, that an application should be made,
through the American legation at the Danish court, to His Majesty the
King of Denmark, for authority, under the present circumstances, to
dispense with the literal