Muscatine journal. [volume] (Bloomington, Iowa) 1849-185?, 1854-03-24

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Meteorology.
MEssRs. EDiroRs Since the inser,io
Of my communication in the "Adverli.
SER" on the subject Of Comets. l hav,
received numerous letters from varioul
persons to be informed il / really be-.
lieved this globe would at last bs de.
stroyed from collision with a comet
As | prefer giving a general reply thro'
a public journal, more particularly as
my letter passed through one, please
permit il TO go forth in your paper:
An opinion has been held that all
cometary bodies move in ellipses, a,
least nearly every one ;hat had been OBJ
served; but j. was found many Of the m
came 20 US and did not describe elliptic
orbits: we had reason TO believe, there.
fore. that they visit other portions OF
space besides that Of our system.
dare mol venture to ,ay hat these bod.
les would become habitable globes, but
we must perceive that they will perform
some important Office in nature, Of
which we are at present ignorant. The
discovery in comeiary astronomy had
been SO exte nsive. that they gave rise to
many interesting inquiries. The mum
ber Of comets 10 SO great that we may
inquire into the chances Of a collision
between comet and our earth. Sup
posing comets 10 be one fourth the size
OF our earth, and one such TO vlsi, US
annually. the chances in favor Of COL
lision are only as one TO 28l millions
Comets have approached :he earth at
different times, but il even the earth had
passed through the tail OF one Of them.
lis effects had never yet been apprecia-
BILE. so far as man had been able to de-
tect. We have en- visited BY almost
fourteen hundred comets in the course
Of the last thousand years and as there
is no reason to believe tina. during this
long period they have produced cata-
rac.s or interior tides. or ruptures Of
the deep, or any Of those long catalogue
oil evils which interested men have at
,ribu,ed TO them aud as we have cause
for thinking that oil ancient records Of
their effects are Of little value. we are
justified in concluding tha. comets are
harmless visitants, conveying to Us
much pleasure and informatio on, and cal.
culated to excite our inquiry and to
increase our curiosity. The effect Of a
shock from q comet would be partially
TO stop the earth in its course. The
water Of the deep and every thing upon
earth would be ,hrowR forward with the
velocity OF tho ear at the time. and
every living creature would be instan-
tane"usly deprived Of life.
The posi- lou Of our earth's axis in
space is the result of many forces acting
upon it, and that cannot be departed
from. Suppose the earth TO be struck
BY body, il would oscillate backward
aud forward for . cer,sin period, but
would eventually return to its first po.
sition, as it would never leave its orbit
so long as the laws Of gravitation re-
main us they are at present. Ii may be
truly said, then, that such an event as a
shock from a comet never was experience
ed by our globe. Many minds have been
destroyed by the fear that our world
would be broken up at such and such
periods Of time. but there has been no
real cause for this alarm. The motion
Of tho earth in its orbit is regulated by
laws which canust be turned aside or
stopped; and whatsoever variation any
body in our system may undergo when
the distance is increased in one direction,
il is diminished in a contary direction,
the usual action il con-
stant action, and can never be disturbed.
The stability Of our system would be
changed, if ne could find any cause in
no ma tier how long, or how short, would
be able TO alter the semi major axis OF
the planetary orbits-dces any such
cause EXIST Yes, there is wide and
infinite expanse in which the bodies Of
our system move-an ethereal medium
filling all space, and offering immeas-
urable resistance to some bodies. We
have seen the effects Of this resistance
in regard to Encke's comet, and also III
he shortening Of our own year. BDt are
we TO he alarmed at the cettainty that
his alteration will take place? Certain
" not. Millions aad millions of years
must roll over before the stability Of our
system is materially Affected.
L fear, Messrs. Editors, my answer will
be found tediousiy long and little OBJ
tuse, though trust have ritten to be
THos. SHAW.
Shaw Hill, near Prairie du Chen.
March 1st, 1884.