Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-10-13
COMEIS.

which would strike the earth at a tangent, and
knock it tinio the condition of te,npest-struck
hulk. The public press OF Europe and America
presented an immense spread OF paper on the
subject, and there was convulsive time of i;
generally. The year 1857 passed away, how
ever, without the expected waRderer of the
skies making his appearance and astronomers
and the public settled down into the dull rou-
tine of common Irregularities, not anticipating
any brilliant comet for some time TO come.
We have all been most agreesbIy disappointed.
For some weeks past We have been enjoying
nightly one Of the most beautiful sights that
ever appeared in the starry dome.
On the second or June last, an Italian astron-
/ omer named Donati discovered the present
comet approaching slowly towards the sun, in
northwesterly direction, and it has been in
creasing in brightness-as all comets do-as It
draws near old Sol. No fears are excited by
its presence; it is gorgeous beyond language
to describe, and is beheld only with thrill of
admiration. Like streaming torch Of sllrery
light, extending fifteen millions of miles in
length through the heavens, it hangs evening
after evening gracefully over the northwest
sky. It's head resembles ring, with bright
nucleus in the middle, or something like an IL
Illuminated globe, with its intense flame in the
centre. The diameter ofthis ring, as measured
by Prof. Mitchell, Of Cincinnati, is $4,000
miles. Ii has been approaching the path of
our planet, with the apparent intention OF Civ
ing us friendly brush, and on the 10th Octo-
Der it attained TO its maximum brilliancy. It
approaches the sun witt, igs tail flashing be-
hind il, and at a certain distance from the
great luminary, it viii suddenly turn round to
the other side and Jack oul of our planetary
system in = contrary direction to that by
which it entered. In 1873 comet appeared
far less bright than the present one, but its
tail Was reckoned TO be 40 million miles in
length When it WheeIed round the sun. it
moved through its Curved path with the velo-
city Of the l;ghtning's fash. In two short
hours its immense tail swept through range
OF no less than $40 millions OF miles. From
the flight Of objects on earth, it IS impossible
to form comparative idea Of the awful veIo-
cities Of comets and other heavenly bodies.
or the composition Of comets, the most
learned are ignorant. They must be compos-
ed of some matter more subtle than anything
with which We are acquainted on earth Stars
are clearly visible through this comets tail,
and it possesses little, if any, gravity. This
IS dcduced from = large comet which appear
ed IN 1893, and got entangled among the sat-
elites of Jupiter. 1t was there arrested for
several weeks, yet its attractive force upon the
satellites was SO limited as not to produce the
slightest effect upon their movements.
In ancient times comets were believed to be
of dire events. One appeared
when Julius Caesar was assassinated another
when Constantnople was taken By the Turks
one during the terrible prosecutions in the
reign Of Charles The Fifth; and another in /
1911, when all Europe was deluged in war and .
oloodshed but no intelligent person has any |
dread of their presence in this .
lge. From what is known of the insignificant !
eject of the comet OF 1893, it is reasonable 10 |
nfer that were Gomez 10 come IN collision
With our planet, it would produce no greater
effect than the blast of a bellows upon the
Rocky Mountains. Some men, however. of /
profound requirements, have expressed their
belief that our globe at one period was struck I.
~ comet, and that in consequence of such a /
collision it was made to rotate on different
axis from that which it once had n. Arago. /
he eminent French astronomer, however, de-
lied that such result Lad ever taken place.
md he founded his deductions upon the fact.
hat the earth now turned on a gyiaciBqI 1ris.
whereas had it been struck, it would have
uTned on = different axis, one not passing
trough the poles of an obiate spheroid All
he planets revolve round the sun in one di-
cction, but comets enter onr system in every
Erection, and completely battle the reasoning
# philosophers to account for their actions.
is also unknown whether they arc self-lumi-
iOus, or slime with borrowed lustre. Sir
saac Newton believed they were feeders TO
ne sun, and that they supplied that luminary
With the matter, which, according to his cor
uscnlar theory of light, the sun was consinr,-
lly projecting into space.
The present comet is stranger to the liy-
ng inhabitants Of the earth; it may lie the
ame as that which was witnessed ages ago.
'hen our painted progeBitors went forth to
'attle against the iron legions of Rome, but
bis is mere conjecture. 1t will soon depart
rom our vision to wander once more through
he vast solitudes of unknown space, never,
erhaps, to visit our system again. Who can
ell but it may yet become a wreck among
ONE of the stellar consultations while sail
1g thro' the boundless ocean of the universe +?
LYNCH LAw.-The Chapel Hill GaeeHe says
nat the murderer of Mr.. Grant, of Texas, late
! Orange county, \. c., and sou-in-law OF the
ate Professor Mitchell. has been datac,ad pro-