Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1811-09-28

hotter than red hot iron. ana lrom theN1o
it took its course from the sun to the dis-
lance of above eleven thousand millions OF
miles, which is at least fourteen times tur-
Their than the orbit of Saturn.
At their first appearance, Comets are COM
puted to be as near to US as JUPITER and
therefore considered to be less than that
planet: the present one, OF Nov. 1907
(which has passed its perihelium) is suppos-
ed to be eight times larger than our globe,
and to move with the amazing velocity OF
sixteen thousand miles minute. Tbs con-
lectures respecting Comets are various. The
ancients believed they were harbingers OF di-
vine vengeance thus Homer
".A fatu sign to armies on the ffain,
6 Or trembling sailors on the svat'ry main
Some of the moderns, particularly Sir Isaac
Newton, are of opinion, that they are ordMn-
ed by Providence to supply the sun at stated
periods, with matter peculiar to its nature !;
and to make up the deficiency which must
arise from the continual emission Of the par
ticles of light These, however, arc mere
hypotheses. The same also may be said OF
every thing that can be advanced concerning
their being inhabited worlds, tor II ANIMALS
can exist there, they must be creatures very
far different from any of which we have the
least conception. Some who have INDUCED
themselves in visionary ideas, think they are
appointed as the place OF torment tor the
damned that each Comet is, properly and
literally speaking, hell, from the lntolerable
and inconceivable heat and cold which alter
nately takes place in these bodies.
1t is supposed by some, that Comets are the
means appointed by the Almighty for the de-
struction of this world, and all the planetary
system, by involving the globe of the planets
in their atmosphere OF water, In their return
from the cold regions. Amongst those who
have written upon the subject are, Mr.. WINS
ton. and the learned DR.. Haley. The former
is of opinion, that this world will be destroyed
by general conhagration, occasoned by our
globe being involved in the tail of some Comet,
after it has been prodigiously heated IN Its pas
sage from the sun.
The latter declares, that it is possible tor
Comet to produce some change IN the sltua'
ton and species of the earth's orbit, and In the
length of the year, and says But may not
the great God avert shock or contact OF such
great bodies, moving with such force (Which
however is manhestly by no means impossi-
ble,) lest this most beautiful order of things
be entirely destroyed, and reduced into its an
cient chaos" Indeed it has been shewn that
the Comet of 1880, November 18th, at one
O'Clock in the afternoon. was so small dis
lance from the earth's orbit, that had the earth
been near that part of its orbit, God only
knows what the consequence might have
been! If then Comet should encounter the
earth as its return from the sun, it would un-
doubtedly consume the earth and all its in
habitants, as SO many moths it might con-
vert the matter of the presentearth into dit
ferent kind of substance, and render 1t an ha-
bitation fit for beings of quite different nature
from ours
Yet some circumstances render it very I'M
probable that such an event should happen at
az, with regard to the definite time, though it
is possible in nature, for the planes of all the
Comets orbits are raised above those of the
planets, so that there is but one particular
place in the orbit of Comet where its tail
can pass over the orbits of the planets; and
it is so many chances to one, that planet hap
pen to be in that part of its orbit at that par
llCulGr lilllC. Gul oLy VI liiS SoHiSlS
approach so near us as to be more attracted
by the earth than the sun, we might indeed,
by that means acquire another moon, which
would be change to our advantage, rather
than subject of terror and dismay.
Dr. HALEY is of opinion, that the great
Comet of 1850, appeared near the time Of
the general deluge, and that it probably was
the occasion Of that catastrophe, which he
therefore believes the Almighty caused to hap.
pen by natural cause. If Comet passed
near the earth itmight undoubtedly raise We
nv strong tide, the effects of which would be,
that it would lay all places under water; and
drown the inhabitants SO far as it reached
For if so small body as the moon, at the dis.
lance of sixty of the eartb's semi-diameters,
be able to raise strong tide of twelve or hf-
teen feet in height a Comet as big as the
earth, and coming very near it, would raise
a prodigious tide, capable of OVERLOOKING all
that part of the earth which was nearest to the
Comet
But it may be said, this could not drown all
places at once, for at the quadratures there
would be as great an ebb But it may be an
swered. that by the earth's rotation, it would