The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1862-06-25
ABOUT COMETS.


They have been regarded as signs of war,
famine, pestilence, and the Judgment
Day. Even at the present day, many
intelligent but unscientifc people gaze
with fear and dread upon the beautiful
sky-wanderer lately blazing in our eve-
ming and morning heavens; while still
others are to be found who openly confess
the belief that this is an iDcendiary torch
dispatched to destroy the world. But
science robs this strange phenomenon of
all its terrors. A few years ago some
French savaus were commissioned BY the
government to compute mathematlcally
the chances of collision between the
earth and any
"Wild colt of a comet, which too soon
Breaks out fbounds Ger the ETHEREAL blue"
After a careful examination of the
question, it was decided that there exists
but one chance in two hundred and eighty
one millions, that the earth should ever
be struck by one of these eccentric wan
derers. Still the over-timid may believe
that this one chance will be ours, and
that it is the earth's destiny to be demol-
ished by youGer fiery strange
"Split by his playful tale,
As boats are sometimes by wanton whale"
-Four hundred years ago, when the vic
torious Turks threatened to overrun all
Christendom, comet made Its appear
ance which filed all classes in Catholic
Europe with such terror that the pope,
who seemed to share the universal panic,
ordered an extra Ave Maria to be said
each day, by every devout man, woman,
and child, with the addition of the prayer,
ooh, Lord, save Us from the devil, the
Turk, and the comet" The church-bells
were rung at midday, "a practice since
! kept up in Catholic countries, but wheth-
er to frghten the comet away, or to en-
treat the intercession of the saints and
the Virgin, We are not informed. We
suspect thatthe design was less to frighten
tie Comet than the people, who came
pouring their earthly treasures into the
/ lap Of the mother church, greatly to her
worldly advantage. We smile at this
incredulity; but how many are there in
our day, in our enlightened land, whom
little contagious excitement on the SUBJ
ject would terrify out Of all their self
possession I!
Philosophers are not agreed upon the
nature of the substance of which comets
are composed. Some have thought it to
be vapor and DR.. Winston, friend of
Newton, supposed that the biblical deluge
was caused by comet driven alongside
the earth for that purpose. But it Is
clear that 10 Vaporous body could exist,
journeyiRg alternately, as some comets
90, to the very furnace-door of the sun,
then away iGto regions of unimaginable
space. 1t seems clear to US that the SUBJ
stance is the primitive, uncondensed, vol
atile and gaseous diffusion of which worlds
are formed The fact that stars are Wis
| ible through the tail, and sometimes even
through the nucleus, or head of comets,
proves the extreme rarity Of this ETHEREAL
matter. The Genet of 1770," says
Herschel, "actually got entangled among
the satellites Of Jupiter, and thrown out
Of its orbit by their attraction" But as
neither the planet nor the satellites ex-
hibited the least deviation of their course,
in consequence, the exceeding unsubstan-
| tiality Of the comet seems well established.
The most curious portion OF the comet
is its tail. This is not properly tail,
however; for it sometimes goes before the
comet, more ike beard, and sometimes
moves at tight angles with its orbit. It
appears most frequently on the side of the
comet opposite the sun; q fact which has
given rise to the theory that it is the
comets atmosphere driven off by the suns
rays. But the appendage does not always
observe this rule. Some suppose it to be
composed Of electrical currents, like our
Anrora Boroalis, streaming off into space.
Comets have sometimes more than a SIM
gle tail, and we read of very famous
one, in lz44, which had six tails, each of
which was six millions of miles long!
The word comet is from the Greek
coma, which signifies hair. The very
brilliant "hairy star" which lately ATTRACT
ed our aamiriag gaze was called the
'great Comet of Charles v" who believed
Its appearance, in 1856, to be forerun-
ner Of lis death. This was its last ap-
pearance on our stage, it having been
absent period OF about three hundred
years. When it came in 1864, we ara
told that "it approached the sun with a
tail one hundred degrees in length. It's
tail came streaming up in the morning
several hours before Its head, and when
It's nucleus was in the zenith the train
stretched below the western horizon.-Ex.
THE CHEAPEST OF LAWYRRs.--Keep-
ing ones own counsel.