And this is what they saw: A ray of light, beginning at a height immeasurably beyond the nearest stars, and dropping obliquely to the earth; at its top, a diminishing point; at its base, many furlongs in width; its sides blending softly with the darkness of night; its core a roseate electrical splendour. The apparition seemed to rest on the nearest mountain southeast of the town, making a pale corona along the line of the summit. The khan was touched luminously so that those upon the roof saw each others’ faces all filled with wonder. Steadily the ray lingered.... ‘Saw you ever the like?’ asked one. ‘Can it be that a star has burst and fallen?’ asked another, his tongue faltering. ‘When a star falls its light goes out.’ * * * * * After that there was silence on the housetop, broken but once again while the mystery continued. ‘Brethren!’ exclaimed a Jew of venerable mien, ‘what we see is the ladder our father Jacob saw in his dream. Blessed be the Lord God of Our Fathers!’” Meanwhile the Wise Men from the East, as described in the same story, were travelling over the desert, on the alert for the apparition of the star, whose coming had been revealed to them. “Suddenly, in the air before them, not farther up than a low hill-top,” writes Lew Wallace, “flared a lambent flame; as they looked at it, the apparition contracted into a focus of dazzling lustre. Their hearts beat fast; their souls thrilled; and they shouted as with one voice: ‘The Star! the Star! God is with us!’” GREAT EVENTS LINKED WITH COMETS SINCE CHRIST Since the time of Christ, thanks to the spread of Christianity and learning, with the growing zeal for keeping records and studying the stars, a far greater number of Comets and events connected therewith have been recorded. A number of learned writers have made a special study of the history of Comets and their effect upon man. Long before Lubienitius’ ponderous work on the subject there were other histories written in Latin and Arabic, with references to which his book abounds. Since then others have followed in the same direction, notably Pingré, Hind, Lalande, Messier, Chambers and latterly Messrs. Crommelin and Cowell, of the Greenwich Observatory. The number of known Comets has grown immeasurably since Galileo’s invention of the telescope, 300 years ago, and our later perfections of this instrument, together with latter-day devices for photographing Comets invisible to the naked eye.