The New York herald., 1874-07-02
HISTORY OF PREVIOUS COMETS.

HISTORY OF PREVIOUS COMETS.
In view Of the two celestial visitors whose pres
ence is now visible to the naked eye every fair
evening in the heavens, 1t is not Inappropriate to
take glance backward and review orfeny the hiS-
tory OF the most remarkable Of these phenomena
as 1t has passed down to rs through the long visit
of ages. 1t may be here noted that the rst OF tn
present comets, which was detected by Professor
Lewis Swift, Of Rochester, on the 9Th ult., was
previously discovered at Marseilles. France. the
18th OF April last, and has been called Coggia's
comet Coggta being the name Of the discoverer. 1t
Is now approaching the earth and sun with con-
stan:y accelerated velocity, arriving at perihelion
nearest the sun) and perigee nearest the earth)
about the first Of August. 1t was at first
situated, at one O'Clock in the morning.
directly beneath the polar star. and about twenty.
i've degrees from it, 1t was visible all night but
will soon be only In the early hours Of evening"
setting in the northwest. Professor Swift says
the comet win be brightest in the evening OF
August 8, being then 245 times as bright as ut the
time OF discovery, and, as the moon will be absent,
1t will be subjected to spectroscopc analysis under
circumstances more favorable than may occur
again in many years. A cometary display may
then be expected which may rival the transit of
Venus in popular as well as In scientific interest.
1t will then be about nve degrees from Denabola,
the brightest star in Leo.
COMETS OF THE PRIMITIVE AND LATER PERIODS.
But to proceed to the history Of previous re.
markable comets as we gather it from various
authentic sources. In the primitive ages comets
were regarded with
GREAT DREAD,
as miraculous appearances. One hundred and
thirty years before Christ at the time OF the birth
Of Mithrdates comet made Its appearance
whose magnitude must have been far beyond any
thing subsequently seen, as Its splendor Is said to
have surpassed that OF the sun. In the years 24s
34 and 800 Of the Christian era remarkable comets
also appeared.
EFFECTS OF CoMETARY SUPERSTITION.
The Emperor Charles v. was so much affected
by the appearance Of the comet OF 1856
that he resigned his imperial throne, be.
lieving the comet to be q warning from
God that he should do 30. In s37 all Europe
was filed with CONSERVATION at the appearance Of
the comet Of that year. Special masses were cele-
brated In the churches, and the people were uni
versally filled with CONSERVATION and fear. They
believed some terrible visitation OF Almighty
wrath was impending over tho earth. Louis l.,
King OF France, acting upon the counsel OF the
Pope, founded many converts and churches In or
der to appease the offended Deity Many Of these
Establishments still exist In
ROMAN CATHOLIC COUNTRIES
the custom OF ringing the cathedral bells at noon
originated at the time Of Halley's comet in 1855.
Pope Canxtus ILL.,, who then wore the triple crown,
under the belief that the comet was a demon come
to subvert his throne ordered all the bells In Chris
tendon to be rung-a ceremony that was believed
to be q sure specific against the devices OF the
EVIL One.
THE SNEEZING DIsTEMPER
In the year 500 an epidemic ragged al over the
Continent OF Europe, and many thousands per.
ished. This visitation was ascrbed to the in1u.
ence OF comet which appeared in the same year.
An extraordinary feature OF the disease was that
the patient was seized with At OF sneezlng from
which he frequently died. Always after that time,
when any one sneezed inordinately, his friends
exclaimed, "God bless youp' That custom has
continued for nearly thirteen hundred years in
many European countries
In the year lOOs comet is described as present
ing
PRIGHTFUL ASPECT,
exhibiting an enormous curved tail in the form Of
a scythe. The appearance Of the comet OF 1850
spread CONSERVATION throughout Europe. The
same comet returned again IN 1851 and in 1907 In
1882 comet appeared which, by its brilliancy and
swiftness, excited universal interest," Sir Isaac
Newton examined this comet with the closest atten
ton, and was led Dy the general motion OF bodies in
free space well as by his own particular obser.
vations, to conclude that the orbits Of comets
must like those Of the planets, be ellipsea having
the sun in one focus, but far more eccentric. and
having their aphelIons, or greatest distances rom
the sun, far remote in the regions Of space. The
idea thus thrown out oy Newton, as also the OBJ,
servations upon comets made by Tycho Brahe,
were taken up by DR.. HALEY, who collated the eb.
servations made touching the appearance ana
aspect OF comets from the primitive ages down to
his own rtme and found with but few exceptions,
that they had passed within less than the ca rth's
shortest distance from the sun, some OF them
within less than one-th1rd OF It and others about
one-half. He examined with much care the comet
OF 1882, and discovered o wonderful resemblance
between 1t and the comets OF 1456, 1881 and
1907. The time Of the appearance Of the comets
had been nearly at regular intervals, the average
period being between seventy-nve and seventy.
six years. Their distance from the sun when In
perthelion varied but little from each other. Tho
inclination Of their orbits that OF the earth had
also been nearly the same-between seventeen
and eighteen degrees-their motions being all ret
rograde. Dr. HALEY came to the conclusion that
the comets OF 1856, 1881, 1907 and 1882 were reap
pearances OF one and the same comet He pre-
dicted that It's temperance would ,be In the
year 1857 or 1885, and its actual temperance
In the beginning Of 1850 established the fact
that they we're regular and permanent bodies
obeying the general laws Of matter. HALEY could
not expect TO see his prediction funlled
and, although he lived to the age OF eightyfour he
died sixteen years before the comet returned.~As
the time OF its expected return approached the
mathematicians Cairut, d'Aiembert and Euler be.
gan to compute the retardng influences OF the plan
cts Saturn and Jupiter. Clairut was the most sue
cessui, showing that Saturn would delay the return
OF the comet between three and four months, and
Jupiter about seventeen months, 80 that the comet
would not come to Its perhelion till April 13. 1885,
revision OF his computation made the date April q
The comet actually reached its perihenon on March
13 This is considered one OF the most brilliant
triumphs In the history Of astronomy. naney's
come. returned again in 1885, the NTH authentt.
Gated return within one day Of the time calculated
by Pontecoutant and Rosenbe rger-another most