Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-03-20
For the Grant County Herald.
COMETS.

! RI sf W ssaS 0fauS County Herald.
COMETS.
Mr. Editor: Since the insertion Of INV CON
munication in the "Herald,o of the 18th
october last on the subject of Comets. ba,
had numerous letters from various persons to
INF ormed if | really believed this globe woul
In the end be destroyed from collision wit
Comet. AS prefer giving a general repl
through public journal, more particularly a
my letter passed through one, please permit
to go forth in your paper.
An opinion has been held that all comesar,
bodies move in ellipses, or at least nearly eve
ry one that have been observed but it wa
found many of them came to us and did no
describe elliptic orbits We had reason to be-
heye therefore that they visit other portions
our own system. dare not venture to sa,
that their bodies would become habitabl,
globes, though they probably might but W,
must perceive that they will perform some i'm
portant Office in nature, of which we are a
present ignorant. The discoveries in comesa.
Try astronomy had been so extensive, that the,
give rise to many interesting inquiries. The
number of Comets is SO great that we may in
quire into the chances of collision between Z
Comet and our Earth. Supposing Comets te
be one-fourth the size of our earth, and one
such to visit US annually, the chance in favor
of collision is only as one to 2s1 millions
Comets have approached the earth at different
times, but if even the earth had passed through
the tail of any one of the m,its effects have ne
yer yet been appreciab!e, so far as man had
been able to detect. We have been visited by
almost fourteen hundred Comets in the course
of the last thousand years and as there is no
reason to believe that during this long period
they have produced cataracts, or rupt,lres of
the deep, or any of those long catalogue of e.
wis which interested men have attributed to
them; and as we have cause for thinking that
all ancient records of their effects are of little
value, we are justified in concluding that Com
cts are harmless yisitants, conveying to us
much pleasure and information, and calculated
to excite our inquiry, and to increase our GU
riosty. The effect of shock from Comet,
course. The waters of the deep, and every
thing upon the earth, would be thrown for
ward with the velocity of the earth at the
time, and every living creature would be in
deprived of life. The petition
Of our earth's axis in space is the result of
many forces acting upon it, and that cannot
,e d eparted from. Suppose the earth to be
struck by body, it would oscillate backward
and forward for certain period, but would e.
ventualiy return to its first position, as It could
never leave its orbit so long as the laws Of
gravitation remain as they are at present 1t
may be truly said then, that such an event as
a shock from Comet never was experienced
by our globe. Many minds have beend ist-ac-
ted tire that or.r--.e-4d -ro--tr h----
ken up at such and such periods of time, but
there has been no real cause for this alarm.
The motion of the earth in its orbit is regula-
ted by laws which cannot be turned aside OF
stopped and whatever variation any body in
our system may undergo when the disturbance
is increased in one direction, consequently the
er be disturbed. The stability of our system
would be changed, if we could find any cause
in opera ton, which, in the course of time, no
matter how long, or how short. would be able
to alter the semi-major axis of the PLANETARY
orbits. Does any such cause exist? Yes
There is wide and infinite expanse in which
the bodies of our system move, an etheria
medium filling all space, and offering immeas
urabe resistance to some bodies. We have see
the effects of this resistance in regard t.
Encke's Comet, and also in the shortening of
our own year. But are we to be alarmed a
the certainty that this alteration will tak'
place? Certainly not-millions and million
Of years must roll over before the stability o
our system is materially affected.
fear, Mr.. Editor, my answer will be fount
tediously long and little obtuse, though
trust have written to be understood.
THos. S. SHAW.
Shaw Hill, near Prairi du Chen,
March LIST, 1854.