Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-03-21
The Comet Scare.

Ignorance is always in terror at Il,
phenomena of nature. First curG;i,r.
then wonder; then awe; then fear; ths !,
the sequence in which superstition art,
upon the minds of men. In its shadow
generations of men have for ages cronch
ed, apprehensive of some awful doom
from comets, auroras, haloes ecIipses or
other unusual effects that they were IN.
able to comprehend. The world needs 70
be illuminated by the spirit Of inouirv
and doubt. Incredibly is at last to be-
it's salvation; for this will lead men IN
from timidity to confidence; from awe
stricken reverence to that enlightened
belief which is born of knowledge.
A week or two ago the ignorant and
wondering masses were laying in stick
Of blessed candles, to defend themsrs
against some clark day" that CatnFc /
prophet was said to have predca
And now comes the Slo5ss Times, with
prediction by Professor PlantamOur, The
Genevan astronomer, that an enormous
comet is approaching the earth with such
velocity that the two bodies will collide
at about four O'Clock p. m. on August
18th. All Europe has allowed itselfD
go into Mysteries about it. The people
are really frightened. Priests, doctors and
journalists are debating it in lively
fashion. The London Spectator, PagAl
Gazette, Saturday Reuieao, and other lead
ing journals are ridiculing the terrible
messenger, with their hair standing on
end and cold chills running down their
backs-the sarcasm of an interviewer IN
presence of a ghost. This particular
comet. Plantamour says, will smlte the
earth and break it into any number Of
blazing fragments. The terrible visitor
will first collide with England, according
to the fitness of things, and sink It into
the sea. 1t will settle the question Of .As
French throne; solve the problem Of hs|
papists and the Hohenzollerns; dep'as
the home of Alexis in his absence, sld
tip the Mediterranean over into Al''n'
and Africa-a sea of blazing petroleum
While, submerging the Eastern enllnl ~!
the sky -cleaving dragon will asl M
wondrOus tail around on this henispntle'
and burn this rise of land as if it were y
much sulphur. The great Chicago nc
will be surpassed. At least this sue
story.
Now let us look at the facts. ID us
first place, if any such comet were ID n n'
sky, astronomers in every clvll!zeo on
munity would have discovered 1t ereuA
traced it's track, and announced lts scAeI'
of desolation. No such celestial ceSuV!e
has been seen. In the second place L
spectroscope has revealed the iacI J''|
all comets are mere spheres OF gas, "na.
imponderable. and without any desuuI NV
force. Even Encke's comet, inc ~
known of these brilliant psssensss 7
nothing but oxygen gas, about as lsnss
to run against as is the air we ple.D
And if the earth should CONE a.,
collision" with it, it would plOosJ
make no more disturbance than ~ ~
stiff northeast wind. We nave =.
passed through the outspread tall a..E
of these dreadful messengers OF us'n
and knew nothing of it till the S., n
omers announced it by the posar The
hindsight some months afterWs's =. q
tail of a comet is not a stream OF NV Il
was once supposed; but only i - me
radiated electricity, generated
flight through space. r,Osa.
In the third place, it is almoss n u,prpr
BILE for two ponderous bodies 70 eI p"~rs
each other in their passage, Ivi ;,ir
cratic may be their orbits. NV H.a,ntlr
ence of all the bodies acting co .',Trs
on each other, accelerating, n. .s Ia.
diverting, renders it morally cel ss,.,orbs
they will forever escape the cS' .ssei al
of collision. Several years ago. D o,nOu,
comet did so far yield 10 the emu ant dis|
attraction of Jupiter as to fail W. csucbb:
orbit toward that planet, but IL N'a,snrIsl
by his satellites and became en, Enst
tarrying there for some time. ..ss,at
however, its former momentum Il nd
ed itself, and under the infiuencs sbd
attractions it tore itself away anu , s
in new orbit. After some ID
returned, became again entans srot. %
was finally broken into two Cum ~ raas
flung away into infinite space, rg,e y
no more. During all this sIla9;SSlras!I
assaulted moons did not percepss,rSbts
one iota from their appointed o,0 ~. bsi|
The comet of our childhooa,, a b bel
dragged out of the stellar depthSs !; ts
audacious astronomers, as poi uoek sd
boy of the ballad who "sat on " Lac 81
bobbed for whales;' and in the fs,sss,
that irresistible and remorseie''l 81 bsa
that monstrous and malignant n:trueds
of the upper deep, they have sud- r.re tbs
shiny soap-bubble Of gas 50 u I'D
stars can be seen through w. holia1
incoherent that it can scarce eEtabs Rs
gether. The earth has pro,u oss fseS9
"struck" very often by s s.s' erer
pyrotechnics, but nobody .h as there
the crash. Arago tells US thas eccentn1
no less than II, SOC, 900 OF these Lane,
nomads in our solar system ~ usop''
even if they were to pounce up0h harm
a time they would do no more s appepipa
arosy cloud dashing against 'n ns.taclysn \
1t is certain that the a'sostponea
August 10 will be indefinitely = The esrl
l, because the comet cant SUI, SUI. Il il d0|
2, because it would do no naah copeh
B. because there isn't any SUI