Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1854-06-15
Look Oal for coluslsl


mill-lorse journey roubd The sun
amid more peril5 than mortality
dreamed Of before its near .sighted-
ness vas cured by Herscfel. Pre-
yious 10 the seventeenth century, in
tue carly part Of which Calico mag
nliled the upper works Of creation
one thousand times, nothing was
known of those celestial row1ies, the
comets, beyond tho information de-
rived through the naked eye. Now,
thanks to the progress Of science,
we are aware that the highways OF
heaven are as full Of these nusances
as the Mississippi is Of snags and
sawyers, and that a collision with one
of them is by no means impossible.
In fact, their visible number increa-
SEES SO fast that the additions can only
be accouh ted for by assuming that a
manu- factory of comets exists in some
remote region of space, and is every
now and then launching a new speci-
men. No telescope of a magnifying
power equal to Herschel's reflector,
finished i'll 1875, has since been con-
structed, and yet the tale Of the
cometary family has nearly doubled
within few years. The prospect is,
if the increase should continue in the
same ratio. that comets will eventual
ly be as thick in some parts Of the
solar system as The omnibusses in
Broadway In that case, accidents
will be inevitable, and we cannot rea-
sonably expect that the vehicle
known as Terra Firma will escape
unframed 1t is highly probable
that. the satellites Of neighbor Jupi-
ter were twice damaged by collision
with one Of these rovers Of the skies,
during the last century. LexelIs
comet put in its zone, two, among
the Joyian train in 1869 and 1879,
with such force that it was thrown
out Of its orbit by the. recoil Of the
blow. Nay, more-this same comet
made dash at the earth in ITO,
and only missed our planet by abou I
one and a half million Of miles "a
mere trifle in that region of mag
niicent distances known as "space.
Nor is this the worst. Another
comet, whose name dwells not in our
rempulvluno1, ran across our track in
1913, and, had the earth been two
weeks ahead of time On her annual
trip that year, there would have been
a shocking accident which would have
quito overwhelmed the reporters
Eight comets whisked their tails
within our telesdopi field Of vision
in the year 1916, and thousands OF
these reckless gadabouts periodically
visit the planetary system; so that it
is rather surprising than otherwise,
that the earth thus far, or at least
since the deluge, has escaped a brush
from a com cts caudal appendage.
Such an event is not impossible =
indeed, it is scarcely Improbable
and there IS no knowing how soon
the Pareae may snap that filament
in the web Of fate upon which hangs
our destiny
A writer in the Chambers Edin-
burgh Jou rnal, is Of the opinion
that comets are composed Of "watery
vapor, clouds Of great tenuity. and
see ms to think that if we run against |
one Ct the we shaI! &c swamped, I
or, at bes t, water-lcgged. "Only /
think, says he, "of a sudden fall Of
water, sufficient to raise the odean an
hundred fee and submerge all parts
Of The land which are less than that
height above the level of the seal
III Heaven forefend that such a freshet
should occur in our day, for we are a
miserable climber. If old Terra is
destined TO be cut off by hydroce-
1halus, we hope the effusion will not
like place prior to our final exit I
The writer id the Journal surmises, {
I'D with reas son, that if a cometary 5
Rundation should occur, scarcely q
ny of the present features would
emain uhcba nged.'' Who that has ,
cen the change produced in the case /
f ordinary drowning viii deny this e
osition?
The post mortem examination Of
ur remains BY the sava ms of the af- c
er-world, should al new Noah and Il
is family be preserved on board b
ONE mammoth steamer, to re-peo- Il
lie the world when it got dry, would s.
0 doubt be e Exceedingly interesting.
Virgil A. ST wart, a man of note y
Texas, died in Wharton county, ;,
. AZ n4. q NJ TT II