Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1858-11-12
From, the London Times, Oct. 20

Ivo ore lust parting with visitor who, IL Is now
ocnd beyond doubt, attracted great attentloh' anu
probably excited great alarm, at his last VlsI oe
two thousand years ago. AS that IS the Io5
minimum and on a very elaborate caicuIa'IGn' Goot
oars the nqarinulq of the journey which tne I'm: ::
has dome since his last appearance here we Know VU ~
occurred during that period of history WHICH 10 ;o III
tpresting and best known to most OF u0' "
know ancient history better than nOuoIn, anu 4n
of Rome Greece and the Eastern EnnPlGa 1o4
those of anv existing State. 80 we ml8hc lee ailo
- Loo I,;tb this Comet and welcome 1t as an Ola
Fiond II moht at its last appearance nave terrlleu
tho Atbonans into accepting the bloody code OF DRAco
II WIGHT have announced the destruction OF NneVeh or
ri Ro6von or the capture OF Jerusalem by NEBUCHAD-
,e1zAR II might have been seen by the expedition
L;nb soiIpd ro3nd Africa in the reign of PHARAOH
EFcuo Itmight have given interest to the foundatOn
of tbp Pvsbian games Within the probable range OF
s last visitation are comprehended the whole OF those
GREAT events and personages that constitute Wna' We
ca the history of Greece from her early struggles WIN
Asiatic dcspots to her subjugatiOn by Rome In the
a,nis If thr latter Power we have the whole period
from AHC,s MARTIUs and the destruction OF Carthage
70 choose from Beyond doubt, however, at some
time or other in that period familiar and SO dear 10
most of us precisely the same sign was seen IN te SKIES
Among its spectators might have been not only h'h9S
and conqueros famous IN story but tne SOcaTT oaeo
might have attempted calculate It's return ana JERE
vrtu might have tried to read its warning.
Rut how different the significance OF the Wondrous
sight at the two periods Till modern times the bold
est conjecture placed Comets SO lar DIS ule NoOh
and the prevailing belief was that they were rather
neeoric than celestial bodies. Thus they were des
crbcd as hanging over doomed city, and marking the
very site of a Divine visitation. They were naturally
compared to flashing scimeter or the burning brand
The very expression is, that Comet bazed IN the sky
We are not aware that ever occurred to astronomers till
two or three centuries ago that Comets returned the Varle
~ their appearance prOducedby differently OF the
earth orbit being to battle any attempto
identify them. No 1t 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 fondy hoped they might be Inks
between this system and some other, or might even
wander through the universe visiting first one STAR then
another to all time Modern science however, eStab-
fishes that the range of present visitor, though i'm
mcnselY wide compared with our planetary proportions
is sraened indeed compared with stellar distances
lie has his cther in the attraction of the Sum-
have He can travel indeed $50 times further than
Neptune the most distant and last discovered planet Of
system but this does not carry him One-thOu
sandth part of the distance Of the nearest fixed star
Let any take ha-sheet of note paper, and mark
ING circle with sXpence in one corner of 1t, de-
scribe therein solar system, drawing the orbits OF
the Earth and the inferior planets as small he can
by the aid OF magnying glass If the circumference
Of the sXpcnce stands for the orbit of Neptune, then
oval filling the page will fairly represent the orbit
OF our Comet and if the paper be laid on the pave
ment under the west door of St Paus the length of that
cdCe will nequatCy represent the distance of the
est fixed star That the Comet should take more than
1000 years to travel round the page of note paper
have supposed is explained by its great dminutiOn of
speed it recedes from the Sun. At its perheon, or
as we have seen 1t move lately it has travelled l27,
600 miles hour, more than twice as fast as the
Earth whose motion is about thousand miles minute
AT its apheon, however, its greatest distance from
the Sun, the Comet is very slow body, sailing along,
doubtful whether to return, at the rate OF 480 miles
an hour This is only eight times the speed of railway
express 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 million years would find it
still travelling halfway between Sun and the nearest
fixed star. Comets thCn hardly be imagined visi-
tors from our system to any other or from any other to
There is every reason to believe they belong
to us, and only planets of lighter material less set
tied construction, eccentric orbits, and somewhat
more devious path than solid globe.
Comets are the very crur of astronomers. Every
science has It's difficulties policy its crises history its
mysteries medicine its ncurabe diseases surgery its
deadly operations life itself its great trials. But
comet seems to combine in one all the difficult problems
Of observation and calculation. Though it cannot but
move by the same laws as our own planets, yet the
epSe is so immense and the course hOmeward towards
the Sun so straight that is necessary to make the false
assumption OF a parabolic motion. The true elipse
the Comet is so disturbed by the attraction of the
planets near which it successfully passes that the orbit
OF one day is COntradiCted by the orbit of the next
curve velocity PERIOD distance all changing from hour tC
hour. Even when we know, we do with regard tC
Haeys Comet, its history for two thousand years. anC
tell the period and other elements of its orbit for al
that time, still at every fresh return the Comet suffers
planetary disturbances which affect it forever But the
MATERIAL the construction the internal history of Com
cts still inscrutabe The utmost observation anC
research have failed to discover any weight in them
The Comet now recedng from our view passed on Mon
day within nine millions miles of Venus, and if it haC
any density at all comparable to our own would have
affected the orbit of that planet in appreciabe de
gree. Were that found to be the case, 1t would be thu
first fact of the kind in the history of these sin
guIar bodies But, even if there were no weight il
a Comet, it might still be of very opaque matter
1t ls however, by certain that the very nu
Ceus can intercept the light of small telescope star
Yet in this light transparent substance is the source
of the immense tail, which in some Comets has beer
a hundred millions and in the present instance no
less than forty millions of miles long. 1t is the sea
of the most extraordinary changes and the most vic
lent eruptiOns, throwing out columns of luminous mat
ter many millions Of miles long in few hours no
only IN the usual direction away from the Sum- but 9th
erWlSe as some chance may direct This Comet ha
exhibited the average of such transformations as vet
trey escaping all the resources of glass and of figures
But there is difficulty and mystery in these bodies
there is also promise. There is more chance O
new discoveries here than III the solid old planets The
change They approach. They threaten. They seen
to have Office to discharge in our system whereof
all partake Some of them old friends in new ways
some are strangers, Both are welcome. Weno longe
expect them either to drown or burn the world. Thi
Is as Heaven DEGREES, and depends on no chance comet
stroke 1t Is hardly possible to look at them withou
seeing that they replenish and perhaps vivif
the subtle medium through which they diffus
their bright products and which offers certain resstan
&c to their motion AS to danger of collision of blight
ing shower pernicOus BREATH it is as nothing com0a
ed with the thousand and one chances on which mort
life depends 1t always hangs on a thread and thu