Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1811-10-04

| temperance, is only about ffty. nine
The orbits of most of these are inclined tn
the plane of the ecliptic in large angles.
and 10 their perihelion they come much
nearer the sun than the earth does. The;,
motions in the heavens are also difFerentfrom
those Of the planets. When a Comet ar.
rives within certain distance of the sun.
it emits prodigious fume or vapor, called
its tell. These tails seem largest and most
splendid Immediately after they return
from the sun, because, being then hottest.
they emit the greatest quantity of sapours,
and are always opposite those parts which
the body of the Comet leaves 10 its descent.
which is agreeable to the nature of smoke.
and vapour. They also appear broader on
their upper part than near the head of the
Comet; like all vapours, the higher they
rise the more they dilate the mselves. The
tails of Comets are extremely long, some
of them having been computed to be not
less than eighty millions of miles in length,
and the tail of the Comet, which is now
visible, Nov. 1907 is computed to be
three hundred thousand miles long. The
celebrated Comet Of the year 1880 came so
uCdF the sun, THAT IL was uCt q SiAtu part OK
the suns diameter distant from its surface:
and therefore its heat must then be two thou
sand times hotter than red hot iron. And
from thence It took its course from the sun
to the distance of above eleven thousand
millions of miles, which is at least four.
teen times further than the orbit of Sa.
turn.
At their FIRST appearance Comets are CONS
puted to be as near to US as Jupiter, and
therefore considered to be less than that pla-
net: the present one, lot Nov.lso7l (Which
has passed its perihelion) is supposed to
be eight times larger than our globe, and
to move with the am azing velocity of six.
teen thousand miles minute. The con.
lectures respecting Comets are various
The anclents believed they were harbin.
gers of divine vengeance thus Homer
"a fatals sign to armies ON the plain,
"Or trembling sailors on the svas'ry main"
Some of the rnoderns, particularly Sir
Isaac Newton, are of opinion, that they
are ordained by Providence to supply tho
sun al stated periods, with matter peculiar
to its nature and to make up the dehciea.
cy which must arise from the continual G.
mission of the PARTICLES of light. These,
however, are meie hypothesis. The same
also may be said of every thing that can be
advanced concerning their being inhabited
worlds, for if animals can exist there, they
must be Creatures very far different from a.
ny of which we have the least conception.
Some who have INDUCED the msefyes in VIZ
sionary ideas, think they are appointed as
the place of torment for the damned; that
each Comet is, properly and literally speak.
ing, hell, from the intolerable and incon.
ceivable heat and cold which alternately
takes place in these bodies.
II is supposed by some, that Comets are
the means appointed by the Almighty for
the destruction of this world, and all the
planetary system, byinvolvsng the globe OF
the planets in their atmosphere of waters, IN
their return from the cold regions. Amongst
| those who have written upon the subject are,
Mr.. Winston, and the learned DIR. HALEY.
The former is of opinion, this world vii!
be destroyed by generst conflasraton,
oceasioned by our globe being involved IN
| the tail of some Comet, after it has been
prodigiously heated in its passage from the
SUM-
| The latter declares, that his possible fot
Comet to produce some change 10 the
situation and species Of the earth's orbir,
and in the length of the year, and says
6 But may not the great God avert shock
or contact of such great bodies, moving
with such force (Which however is manl-
testify by no means impossible,) lest this
most beautiful order of things be entirely
DESTROYED, and reduced into its anciens
chaos" Indeed it has been shewn that tns
Comet of 1880, November 18th, at one
O'Clock in the afternoon, was so smaii
distance from the earth's orbit, that mac