Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-07-12
THE COMET OF 1911.
A Brilliant SlyrOcket Attended
by Remarkable Commissions
of Natures

"Reminiscences Of the Earthquake I'm
the Mississippi ValIey-Hurricanes
and ShiPwreck on the Atlantic
COast-Our Grandfathers' Opinions;
New yoTk Ite-ala.
The comet of 1911, of which so little
has been said, attracted great attention
in the United States, and was of extra
ordinary brilliancy. 1t was attended
by some very remarkable commissions
Of nature, and it WAS said at the time
that it reached a point within 10000
miles of the surface Of thesun. 1t was
visible for the first title on the 9TH of
September, 1911, and its situation was
calculated by Professor Wood, of Will
liam and Mary College, Virginia, to be
in the same line with the Polar Star.
The diameter of its body, exclusive of
tail, appeared to be one-fotrth of the
moon. From this time to the Dist of
September, its distance from the sun
increased, as well as its brightness and
tail. The comet was supposed to have
passed its perihelion between the 4th
and 10Th OF the month with the
amazing velocity of 100000 miles
per hour. 1t could De plainly
seen in the evening during the month
Of October. Prior 10 It's appear
ance there were unusual connections In
the earth and the atmosphere in a va
riety of ways. A severe shock CT earth
quake wes fell III Virginia. Both the
american and European seacOasts, as
well as many parts of the interior of
| those continents, were unusually haras-
sed by tremendous hurricanes and
storms of rain and hail, and a strange
agitation of the atmosphere was MOTTO
| ed. But the most remarkable phenJ-
menon attending the comet Of 1911 was
the earthquake Of New Madrid, in the
Valley of the Mississippi, which des-
troyed nearly 200 miles of the naviga-
ton of that river. 1t presented one of
the few examples of the incessant
trembling of the ground for several
successive months.
FAR AWAY FROM ANY VOLCANO,
over an extent of country stretching
for 800 miles from the mouth of the
Ohio river the ground rose and sunk,
and lake, were formed and again
| drained. The surface burst open in
assures that were sometimes over half
mile long, from these assures mud and
water were thrown as high as the tops
| OF trees. During the continuance of
these commissions the inhabitants DIS
Iinguished two classes OF movements
the vertical and horizontal. The lat
tar were regarded As far more desOla-
ting than the former The disturbance
continued over what has been since
called the sunk country" until March,
1872, when they ceased. An eye-wit-
ness states that subsequently to soreo
the severeSt shocks the waters Of the
Mississippi were so strongly impreg-
mated with the euffivia of matter sup
posed to have undergone combustion
as to be unfit for use; that the bed of
the Mississippi was thrown upward in
a number of places formerly deemed
unfathomable so high as to impede the
navigation; that in a sandbar that had
lateiy made its appearance there was
discovered a large quantity of coal,
and that the forests adjacent were
broken down by the abTuptness Of the
undulatory movements Of the earth.
The post road between Natchez and
Nashville was covered with several hill
locks of fine white sand which had
been protrUded upward to the surface
of the ground. A considerable tract
of country was inundated with water
waist deep, through which the terri
fed Inhabitants were fore ID.
TO WADE TO HIGHER LANDS FOR
SAFETY.
Tho Nva+ar. yr-01-rg, "a
dence the previous action of subterra-
mean fire, and 50 strongly tinctured
with combustible matter as to resemble
fluids impregnated with pulverized gun
powder, and a mountain Of considera-
bic height had arisen In one night from
the level of what had been before
plain. Similar commissions extended
to greater or less degree over the
Middle, Southern and Western States.
A dreadful tornado passed over the
city of Charleston, South Carolina,
which was marked in its course by de-
structiOn and death. Several hurri-
canes were experienced off the Ameri-
can coast, which dismasted and other
wise severely injured many vessels
at sea, and some were totally
wrecked. A violent shock of earth
quake, felt at Nashville, Tenn, in Oc-
tOber, 1911, caused great damage. But
it was in the West Indies and South
America that the heaviest calamities
occurred. The city of Caracas was al
most entirely destroyed by an earth
quake and over 1900 of the inhabi- |
tants killed. A terrible volcano burst
prnt- l,n IL e
From the immense quantities of lava,
ashes and rocks thrown up from this |
volcano a new island was formed sew
eral miles in circumference. The dis |
turbances in the Mississippi ceased CO. |
incident with the earthquake at Car
acas-
OUR GRANDFATHERs' OPINIONS.
The opinion as to the causes of these |
violent outbreaks that prevailed among |
American scientific men over sixty |
years since was that they were pro- |
duced by terrestrial and celestial cleo |
tricity; that from the powerful affinity |
of the two fluids the violent efforts Of |
electricity to escape from the earth pro-
duced earthquakes. The ravages Of |
toTnadOes, hurricanes and storms that |
occurred during the appearance of the |
comet must have had some causes.
and that it was evident that they were
physically produced, either immediate
ly or remotely, by an extra mundane
agency, for there was no matter. or
physical combination of matter, on
the earth possessing sufficient power to
combine so much phenomena in so
short a time. So the conclusiOA
was that the comet was the cause of all |
the trouble in 1911. But the gaseous
nature of the meteor was well under
stood. Possessing this unsubstantial
character, 1t might be as well to at
tempt to ascertain how far a cloud,
driven against mountain, will tend to
break off Its top as speculate upon any
danger to the earth from collision with
a comet. The effect of such a meeting
would be the mixture of its gaseous
matter with the atmosphere and prob
able rise IN the barometer, though there
is no evidence to make 1t probable that
all the comets IN existence, Il put to-
gether, would have mass sufficient to
produce a sensible effect of the kind. !