Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1858-09-29

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appearance Of the same object when. in 1864.
ia approached the sun with tail one hundred
degsess ia Isnyfh Its tail came streaming up
IN the morning several hours before its head,
and when its nacleus was IN The zenith the
train stretched below the Western horizon
Its train was first very broad. but il decreased
in width. extending enormous in length. Il
is said to have disappeared October 30.
the day Of the death IL Pope Urban Nv. IL
vas, OF course. thought special forerunner of
that event.
4 The comet had appeared before in 975. and
also in 395 and l04, as mentioned by Chinese
annalists. This would give IL a period Of
about 292 years. In 975 it's tail was 40 de
grees in length. aud its nucleus or head was
SO bright to be visible in the day time
Its next appearance after 1864. was 10 1856 in
the month Of February. Its aspect was very
similar to its present one. being "somew hat
paler than the planet Mars. and with a train
affosr degrees ia length" II has been known
as ''Ihs grea. comet OF Charles V. because IL
appears ia tn. vesr in which his abdication
took place. The Emperor tcharies V Of
SPAIN considered It an omen Of his death
although he survived it some years. Fabri-
Gus. his Astronomer. mapped out It's path. de
scrbing its course through Virgo aud Beotes
past the pole of the heavens into Cepheus and
Cassopein.' What rendered this comet par
lticularly interesting was its near approach to
the earth. being on The l2lh Of March only
seven millions OF miles distant The orbit Of
the Comet of 1864 computed by Pingre
and Dunthome, while that of $50 was compu-
ted by Haly aud af,erward by Hind Of the
Southvilla Observatory. Regents Park, Eng
land 1t was found that the two orbits
agreed, and Pingre concluded that they were
, the same and that it would return again In
le4o. 1T was accordingly expected at that
time, and It's non appearance stimulated some
TO a reorganization of the previous calcula-
tious. Mr.. Barber found that the attraction
of the outer planets. Jupiter, Saturn aud Her
schell had retarded it. Mr.. Hind predicted
its appearance in 1858. after making allow
ance for the disturbances. The excitement
and crude speculatioBs relative TO its antici-
still in every body's memory. There is no ne.
cessity of repeating that were comet to strike
the earth it could not penetrate the earth al.
mosphere, account Of the superior density
Of the latter. But the inclination of the comr,
to the earth's orbit being great (36 deg
there could scarcely be a possibility of a
brush" from ITS tail at any time. Its inter
esting to consider this object in the light of
. traveller like Won Humboldt. A journey O.
two hundred and ninety two years is no small
tramp"
In 9I5 it saw the earth in the midst of The
: dark ages. Basil and Constantine VIII
.Teigned over The Eastern Empire. Ia Eng
land. the horrid murder Of Edward, the mar
tyr, by his step mother. Elfrida, had jgs, beer
consummated. The Norwegians were ma
king discoveries in Greenland, aud soon afteI
descended upon this continent.
In 1864 on it's next WISH, it witnessed the
first regular Parliament OF England, and the
+ success of the Pope in his struggle for tempo
raj power over Italy. The crusa,les had b,
gun to tell in their effect upon the culture ol
the age.
In 1856 i, fousd America discovered and
greedy Spaniards rioting in wealth and blood
at the ancient capital of the Aztecs and in III,
Peruvian cities. Queen Elizabeth had jus
been established in England. and Sealigx, Je
rome. Garden. Tasso. Cancers. Cervantes
Philip Sydney, Were all IN he flower Of the
vigor, and the worlds greatest genius sShak
spesre was just learning to walk.
In ls4s its visit may very reasonably b.
supposed to have been postponed in order {,
witness the completion Of the Att; ntic Cabl,
scheme. Viewed in this light. may con
s,der it special indication Of good will OF
the part of that illus,rious lumiuary.
The best catalogue Of comets known is tina
Of Ma tuan lin. Chinese Astron ,mer. who's,
collection extends from 6l3 years before Chris
to a. D., 1914, over two thou sand years.
There have been recorded about seven hund
. red in all of which the orbits of about on,
hundred aud eighty have been calculated b,
. astronomers. The periodic rev olutions var,
from three years To several tho Island years
Some approach in their Perihs,lion 50 near {.
the Sun az TO be heated to a white heat, a
some suppose.
Although the number OF comets is so large
there are comparatively few which appear u
The naked eye; only about fourteen in a cen
tury But to the telescope ardly year pass
es without the observation of one or more. Il
1910 four were seen, in l645 there wer
: eight.
Sir Isaac Newton first calculated the orbi
/. Of a comet and demonstrated that they moved
in eliptical paths. Before that time it wa
generally supposed that they moved in para
bolas, aud never returned to the solar system
after leaving It,
! The name comet is derived from a Greel
, word (kpmo) meaning hair, aud IL was suppo
= -ed they shook w-r aud .pestileace rom thss
horrid hair"
TPistols, without the coffee, were used By
unsn by the name Of Davis. on Ralph sprague