The memoir of Lalande and the panic of the year 1773–Letter of Voltaire upon the Comet–Announcement in the Gazette de France and the Memoirs of Bachaumont– Catalogue given by Lalande of comets which up to that time had approached nearest to our globe.

In the spring of the year 1773 a singular rumour, soon followed by a strange panic, obtained in Paris and rapidly spread throughout France. A comet was shortly to appear upon the earth's track, to come into collision with our planet, and thus infallibly bring about the end of the world. The origin of this rumour was a memoir which Lalande was to have read before the Academy of Sciences on April 21; it was, however, not read, but the title alone was sufficient to create a popular ferment. The work of the learned astronomer was entitled Reflexions sur les Comètes qui peuvent approcher de la Terre. It was speedily imagined, and without the smallest foundation–for nothing of the kind was to be found in the memoir–that a comet predicted by the author was about to dissolve the earth on May 20 or 21, 1773.