Bedford inquirer and chronicle. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1854-1857, 1857-05-15
A CHAPTER ON COMETS.
FROM THE MONTGOMERY MAIL.

Messrs- EDITORS A paragraph Is going
the rounds of the papers relative to the
probable annihilatiun Of our little orb by a
Comet, computed, by Belgian priest, to
come in collision with it some time in June
next. However exiravagant such specula-
tions may be, like all things pertaining to
the marvellous, ''this doctrine hath its fol-
lowers" ! was gravely asked, the other
day, if | were not afraid the earth would
come TO an eud in June, The age Of Mil
latism, il would seem, has not entirely pas
sed; aud SO long as the credrliiy of the
mass exceeds the learning of the few, we
shall, no doubt, have this alarming prediction
thundersd in our ears. That the advent of
CONT, In the limits Of our own system,
should ex.Ite within US feelings the most
profound and re7erential is bur a natural
result but that we should regard them
with childish apprehension is TO betray
our own weakness aud to question the wis
dom Of 0muipotence. When, however. we
reflect upon the amazing velocity of these
bodies. and the seemingly random nature Of
their movements, the mind naturally shriaks
as though IN danger Of actual collision
The effects Of such shock would indeed be
awful IN the extreme, s'producing an entire
change in the now fixed laws of nature, and
the destruction of every vesiige of human
life. A new direction would thereby be
given to the earth's motion; it would reYolYe
around new axis aud in a new orbit: a new
equator would be found, to which the seas
aud rivers, forsaking their beds, would be
hurried, iy new centrifugal force, thus
deluging the fertile and habitable portions
Of tie globe and leaving only their now
Fathomless bottoms barre Bat when We
reflect that to two hundred and cighty-one
million of chances there Is only one un-
fayoiabie-or that the danger of death TO
any oae individual Is but as ii in an urn we're
placed that number of white balls and only
one black, aud his condemnation depended
upon producing the black at the first drawing
--tbe lottery Is SO unequal that the danger
seems TO exist but in diseased fancy; and
all taeories are but as idle words compared
TO tie declaration thai ''all things are turned
round about His eounsels, to do whatsoever
He eemmandeth them y
The history of comets, however, forms one
Of the most interesting portions of ast=onom-
ical lore; ana it is one of the preuiest
triumphs Of humanity that, though
..FEom world TO luminous world, as far
AS the universe spreads its flming walls,''
these wandering erbs may wing their cease
less flight, yet the hand Of science points with
unerring certainty to the hour of their re-
tarn a plane view CT the solar system,
from the condensed representation Of them
in diagrams. exhibits somewhat the appear
anee Of tangled skeiu of silk, so numerous
are the crossings, turnings, aud directions
Of The various planetary orbits; and to think
that among this seemingly tangled map of
countless worlds an Immense body is hurled,
as though at random, witk j velocity beyond
the reach of human conception, must surely
awaken Sithip us sense Of such sublimity
rs to mock all thoughts of human greatness.
The belief that the revolutionary periods OF
these bodies must all necessarily be of the
most prodig,ons leagth was maintained b.
astronomers every where till within few
years, when il was ascertained that there
were two whose orbits lay comparatively
within our own neiglborhood Que of these
it was predicted would come in collision
with the earth in 1882 lis orbit was esti-
mated to be so near the earth that had the
Garth been at that point nearest the comets
path, aud the lawless comet been in its
Perigee at the same time, the earth would
have been enveleped in the nebulous atInos-
phere Of the eome,. This proximity, no
doubt, gave rise to many curious specula-
tions on The subject, and, we're the gravity
Of their atmosphere equal to that Of the
earth, tie most alarming results might have
eRsueI. But in this, as in alI things else,
We recognise the wisdom which fashions
and the band which guides. That the ex-
treme tenuity Of these bodies is such as to
obViate all apprehensions from their vicinity
Is reasonable from the fact that the smallest
stars are visible through the densest part Of
them. Aud, while they are themselves sub
Ject 10 the most powerful attraction, they
exercise no Improbable influence on ether
bodies, is established from the circumstance
that Gin ITO a comet vas actually known
to become entangled among the satellites of
Jupiter, and to have remained there nearly
four months yet no appreclabIe variation
was perceptiole in their movements. The
idea of perfect vacuum was also the pre-
vsiling opinion, till the existence of a .sre-
sistiug mediuuv was defeated hv the vanorv