The Shasta courier., 1858-12-25
1900 Years Ago.


The comet which recently blazed through the
northern sky-it has now been ascertained by
an elaborate calculaton-had not before been
in that portion of its orbit visible from this earth,
for period of over Tro thousand Years The
following interesting thoughts upon the subject
are from the London Times;
We are just parting with visitor who it is
now placed beyond doubt, attracted great atten-
ton, and probably excited great alarm, at his
last visit more than two thousand years ago
As that is the ascertained minimum, and, on a
very elaborate calculation, 2,495 years the mar
imum of the journey which the Comet has done
since his last appearance here, we know that it
occurred during that period of history which is
most interesting and best known to most of US.
Englishmen know ancient history better than
MODERN and the affairs of Rome, Greece and the
Eastern Empires better than those of any ex-
isting State. So we might feel almost at home
with this Comet and welcome it as an old friend
1t might, at its last appearance have terrified the
Athenans into accepting the bloody code of
DRAco. 1t might have announced the destruc-
ton OF Ninevah, or of Babylon, or the capture of
Jerusalem by ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 1t might have
been seen by the expedition which sailed round
Africa in the reign of Pharaoh Necho. 1t might
have given interest to the foundation of the
Pythian games. Within the probable range of
its last visitation, are comprehended the whole
of those great events and personages that consti-
tute what we call the history of Greece, from her
early struggles with Asiatic despots to her sub
jugation by Rome. In the annals of the later
Power we have the whole period from ANGUS
Martius and the destruction of Carthage to
choose from. Beyond doubt, however, at some
time or other in that period so familiar and so
dear to most of US, precisely the same sign was
seen in the skies. Among its spectators might
have been not only Kings and conquerors ia
nous in story; but the so-called sages of Greece
and even the prophets of Holy Writ. Thales
might have attempted to calculate its return,
and jeremiah might have tried to read its warn
ing.
But how different the significance of the won-
drous sight at the two periods Till modern
times the boldest conjecture never placed COM
cts so far as the moon; and the prevailing be-
lief was that they were rather meteoric than &C.
lestial bodies. Thus they were described as
hanging over doomed city, and marking the
very site of Divine visitation. They were ma
turally compared to flashing scimeter or the
burning brand. The very expression is, that a
comet blazed in the sky. We are not aware that
it ever occurred to astronomers till two or three
SeutuilCo Iutil COIltlS TeluTueu Lue variety
IN their appearance produced by the different
places of the earth in its orbit being quite
enough to battle any attempt to identify them
No sooner was it found that comets are in fact
planetary bodies, revolving round the sun by the
same law as ourselves, than spectators ran into
the other extreme, and fondly hoped they might
be links between this system and some one 9TH
er, or might even wander through the universe,
visiting first one star, then another, to all time
Modern science, however, establishes that the
range of our present visitor, though immensely
wide compared with our planetary proportions
Is straitened indeed compared with stellar dis
tances. He had his tether in the attraction of
the sun, as we have. He can travel indeed,
three hundred and fifty times further from the
sun than we can, and about twelve times fur
ther than Neptune, the most distant and last
discovered planet of our system; but even this
does not carry him one-thousandth part of the
distance of the nearest fixed STAR Let any one
take haif-sheet of note paper, and, marking a
circle with sxpence on one corner of it, de-
scribe therein our solar system, drawing the or
bits OF the earth and the inferior planets as small
as he can by the aid of magnifying glass. If
the circumference of the sixpence stands for the
orbit Of Neptune, then an oval filling the page
will fairly represent the orbit of our comet and
Il the paper be laid on the pavement under the
west door OF st. Paul's the length of that ed6ce
will inadequately represent the distance of the
nearest fixed star. That the comet should take
more than 1000 years to travel round the page
Of note paper we have supposed, is explained by
its great diminution of speed as it recedes from
the sun. Atits perihclion, or as we have seen it
move lately, it has Travelled 1871 miles an
hour, or more than twice as fast as the earth
whose motion is about a thousand miles min
ute. At its aphelion, however, or its greatest
distance from the sun, the comet is very slow
body, sailing along, as if doubtful whether to
return, at the rate OF 4s0 miles an hour. This
is only eight times the speed of railway ex-
press. At this pace, even if the comet could
wholly shake off the attraction of the sun
which it certainly could not-and were it to
travel onward in straight line, the lapse of a
million years would find it still travelling be-
tween our sun and the nearest fixed star. Com
cts, then, can hardly be imagined visitors from
our system to any other, or from any other to
our own. There is reason to believe they be-
long to us, and are only planets of lighter
material, less settled construction, more eccen-
trio orbits and somewhat more devious path
than our own solid globe.