At first sight this table seems not to warrant our statement. Assuming the alleged general relation between the inclinations of cometary orbits, and the directions in space from which the comets come, the table may be thought to show that the frequency of comets increases as we progress from the plane of the ecliptic up to 45 deg., and then decreases up to 90 deg. But this apparent diminution arises from the fact that the successive zones of space rapidly diminish in their areas on approaching the poles. If we allow for this, we shall find that the excess of comets continues to increase up to the highest angles of inclination. In the table below, which, for convenience, is arranged in inverted order, we have taken as standards of comparison the area of the zone round the pole, and the number of comets it contains; and having ascertained the areas of the other zones, and the numbers of comets they should contain were comets equally distributed, we have shown how great becomes the deficiency in descending from the poles of the ecliptic to its plane. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Number of | Actual | | Relative | | Between | Area of | Comets, if | Number of |Deficiency.|Abundance. | | | Zone. | equally | Comets. | | | | | |distributed.| | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Deg. Deg. | | | | | | | 90 and 80 | 1 | 19 | 19| 0 | 11.5 | | 80 " 70 | 2.98| 56.6| 27| 29.6| 5.5 | | 70 " 60 | 4.85| 92 | 25| 67 | 3.12| | 60 " 50 | 6.6 | 125 | 29| 96 | 2.66| | 50 " 40 | 8.13| 154 | 36| 118 | 2.68| | 40 " 30 | 9.42| 179 | 22| 157 | 1.4 | | 30 " 20 | 10.42| 198 | 14| 184 | 0.8 | | 20 " 10 | 11.1 | 210 | 19| 191 | 1.04| | 10 " 0 | 11.5 | 218 | 19| 199 | 1 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------