The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-09-29
PERIODICAL RETURN or COMETS. AND THEIR
INFLUENCE

te shortest known period completes its revolution In
sos days. OF about years and It Is remarkable that
ech period Is two days longer than the preceding The
comet Of 1911 is estimated to have period OF no less
than 1883 years
Reas comet has been seen many times, and It's orbit
accurately calculated its time of revolution is about SIX
Years and eight months But the most celebrated Is that
known as Haleys comet, whose period of revolution s
b,ut seventyyc or six years. Anecedcnty to the hf
tenth century possess other evidence of the den
y Of these bodies except the record of their appearance
nj the times at which know from their asccrained
periods, they ought TO have appeared, Adopting this
test Of identity, wo have the appearance of Hal
ley's comet in the year 323, and again in S99,
when il was described as comet OF prodgious mag
utude The next recorded appearance OF comet
agreeing with the ascerained period marks the taking OF
Rome by Totla in the year $50 Alter completing five
revolutions 1t was again ju $50 and 1t again APP
reared in 1905 on its next return Iree revolutions
would now seem to have passed unrccorded, when the
comet makes its appearance once more In the year 1880
Its next visit in 1906 when comet is recorded Of
remarkable appearance and It was again seen In 1880
We now arrive at the first appearance at which obserya
tops were taken possessing sufficient accuracy to enable
subsequent Investigators to determine the path OF the
comet and this is accordingly the st comet the iden-
ty of which with the comet of HALEY can be faid to
be conclusyey established In the year 1856 comet is
Il was accompanied by tail which extended over sixty
degrees or one third of the visible heavens, and con-
timed to be seen through the whole month of June. 1t
was regarded by many the celestial indication OF the
rapd success Of Mahmoud the Second, who had taken
Consannope and struck terror into the whole Christian
world Pope Caixtus III leveiled the thunders OF the
church against the enemies of his faith terrestrial and
celestial and in the bull exercised the Turks and
the comet and in order that the memory of this mani
feaon of his power should be forever preserved he or
daned that the bells of all the churches should be rung
at daya custom which is preserved in those coun
tries to our times 1t must be acknowledged, however,
that notwithstanding the terors Of the church, the comet
pursued its course without any deviation and gradually
disappeared In the distance returning with its accustomed
regularity in the year 1884, when it carefully obser
we'd by Pierre Appian These observations were suti-
GENTLY exact TO enable HALEY to identify this comet be-
yond the shadow Of doubt with that observed by him
self in 1852 In the mean time it had been seen on its
return in 1906 and 1907 by the celebrated Keple In
1852 practical astronomy had made considerable adj
vances and this comet carefully observed at Paris
Dantzic Padua and in England Shortly after this Hal
ley undertook to make table of those comets which had
appeared previous to his day, with view to discover
whether any and which of them, appeared to follow the
same path Antecedeny to the year 1700 425 of these
bodies had been recorded in history but those which had
appeared before tho fourteenth century had not been sub
itted to any observations by which their paths could be
ascertaned with sufficient degree of precision to identify
them with those of other comets Subsequently to the
year I3O0 however Haley found twentyour comets
which observations had been made and recorded with
degree of precision sufficient to enable him to calculate
the actual paths which those bodies followed while they
were visible On comparing their paths, he found that
tho paths Of the comets Of 1881 and 1905 very
ly Identical and that they in fact the the
path followed by the observed by himself in 1882
He therefore the first to the identity OF
these several COMETS and predicted the eappearance Of
this celestial visitor in 1853 1863. As this period ap-
preached all the astronomers of the civilized world
on the alert and gatifed by the fulment of the
prediction the comet being first seen on the night of
Christmas day. l758. 1t remained visible for several
months, passing its perihelion the 18th of March,
1859 The orbit of this comet had been calculated
with such accuracy that is return to its perheon
confidently predicted to take place in November, 1885
Mons Damoiseau fixed the 4th of the month the
day, and M Pontecouant on the 7th and it actually
arrived at that point only few days afterwards
on the 10th Of November On this occasion its tail was
about thirty degrees in length The next appearance Of
this comet will be in the year 1911 At its perihelon it
within fifty millions of miles of the sum- and
at its aphelion it is sixty times that distance
One of the most remarkable comets which have ap-
peared in modern times is that which made its
ticuay observed by most of the astronomers of Europe
This comet remarkable for its very approach to
tho sun. At Its pcriheon it not above one-sixth
part of the suns diameter from its surface and its vcoc-
y according to Sir Isaac Newton was $50 600 miles an
hour At its aphelion it is times the distance Of
Uranus from the SUM- The period Of this comet is sup
posed to be about SIS years. 1t is conecued that it
is the same that in the orty-fourh year before
Christ, in which year julius Caesar murdered and
was subsequently in the year $751; during the consu
ato of Iampadius and 0restes and which appeared In
llO6 during the reign of Henry This being the case
its next return may be expected about the year 2255
AS thousands are now nightly watching the comet
which is visible in the northwest and which Is constantly
increasing in spendor and magnitude it may be well to
devote few moments to inquiry whether the popular
sentiment be well founded of regarding comets as prog
nostcators Of remarkable events For thousands of
years 1t has been believed by many that comets were
the precursors of wars famine, pcsence While pop
ular superstition may have exceeded the truth in this
respect would be arrogant to declare that such belief
was entirely without foundation In reference to this
point, DR. Dick, an able and sensible writer says: i
Although do not admit the conclusions and the
cometary influences to which have alluded / am far
from asserting that comets have influence whatever
over our globe or its surrounding atmosphere The uni
verse one great whole and all its parts however remote
DO supposed to have certain relation TO one another
ana they may produce influence however small and
imperccpble, each other at the greatest distances
The remoest star peccptibe to the eve NAV produce
certain physical influence on our globe though so small
sud lnSensble be