Callum,

You can never be overstocked with comets!!

Since that article is dated 1890 January I guess that they are refering
to the discovery of 64P/Swift-Gehrels which he discovered on 1889 Nov
17. At that point Swift had discovered nine of his 13 comets. His son,
Edward Swift, also discovered a comet (54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT) on 1894
Nov 21.

Nick.

On 29/12/2023 23:29, Callum Potter wrote:
> Not the current one of course :-)
>
> I came across this snippet when reading a paper in the January 1890
> Sidereal Messenger:
>
> ----
> Dr. Lewis Swift, director of the Warner Observatory, has discovered another
> comet. We regret to hear this. The market is overstocked with comets
> already and there is nothing in our tariff law to prevent their importation
> and thus bearing the market. How would it do to pension Dr. Swift and put
> him on the retired list. - Burlington Hawkeye.
> ----
>
> Swift discovered only 13 comets, so this sounds a little unfair!
>
> Incidentally the Burlington Hawkeye would seem to have been the daily rag
> in Burlington Vermont.
>
> Callum
>