The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-17

II Y. =
ter,i.y thai the Richmond Dispotch says that the
tail OF comets utDGyS point from til. sun Now. II
the Dispatch wou!ds'udy astronomy little lonter'
n, rhaus he would find that they were very erl;i'lc
and that the light which we see from lnelr vans Is
not governed By the suns rays-viz ! he CONF OF
1907 had TWO tails, also the comet Of ~ l, alSU
s''A' s'N''' - SELAH
The author Of the above is not at all
courteous. We have said nothing that he
disputes, except that the tail of comet
always points away from the sun. We do
not propose to dispute about this. We will
give few authorities that happen to be at
hand.
Professor HENRY III. PARKHURsT, Of New
York, has given to the public more informa-
ton touching the present comet than has any
other man in this country. Hequotes BRANDE
& Cox's dictionary Of Science, and thus CO.
dorSes it aud them. Here is part of what
Professor PARKHURsT quotes:
"This leads us to mention a very interesting cir
cumstance IN the history Of the comet [of SCI !.
bout the time of The modal passage June 20 eve:
the comet only two degrees In Longitude, as seen
from the sun; and the latter body beng The n"nrer
to thut lumin0rY, it Gototoet lc1 tie direction n
tie ttt ecus such Os Ia bring either upon Of te'p
near the giobe. Accordingly 1t was conjectured
that wi h due allowance for curvature, 1t was Gui
possible that tue earth might have been nyolr IN
at the Comets n)dal point Of longiluce.
Here these distinguished authorities agree
in declaring that if comet is between the
earth and tee sun it follows as matter OF
course that the tail would be towards the
earth.
The most distinguished astronomer in the
world is Professor ScHIArARELLI, Of Milan.
Professor Ii. SCHELLEN, in his Spectrum
analysis, quotes much from ScHrAPARELLl !;
but the following will answer our purpose.
After saying that SCHIApARELLI was the FIRST
to take account Of all the phenomena cX-
hibited by comets and meteors, Professor
ScuELLEs gives scuIAPARELLl's theory Us to
how comet is formed-as follows:
"Ncbu'n are composed of cosmical matter In
which rs yet there Is 40 central point or concentr-
ton, aud which has not broom" sufficiently dense
10 form celestial body In the ordinary sense 81 the
term. The diilu>c substance OF these c"sia'cal
clouds Is very lOCsrly hung tosctler its particles
are widely separated, thus constituting mas.ts Of
Ell }, NOUS cXient some Of which We taken rcgH-
may he supposed to have, like our sun. motion i'll
space, it will sometime happen that such a cloud
comes within re, Of the power OF attraction Of
our sun. The attraction acts m3rc powerfully on
the preceding part Of The ncbulT than on The Tar
thcr and following portion: and the nebula, While
still al gl,at distance begins to lose is OIL elnl
spherical form, and becomes considerably cnG'-
ted. .rhrr portions nf the nthulous II ass fellow
continuously IN, preceding parf, uut the sphere Is
ron,rr,ee. into Il long 6 hinder, the f1cm"a part
Of mi icb taGt f0tDGrd tie SCn is denSer and more
yJntnted Mun tie Juiio,Ding part, which r,l:IlS 4
p"r;lo" Oh lis original breadth. IS 1t ncar< the
sun this transformation Of the ncbu!ous coud be-
comes nlgle complete: i.mcatcd by The sun, the
prrc, dii & part appears 10 us rs a dense nucleus
and the fDiiv,Dtng part turned array from me
sun rs !, ioug tail, curved III CONSEQUENCE" OF The
lateral motion preserved by the ncrula during It's
progress out of The original spherical ncbula,
uup uuc, injected with our solar SYSTEMS comet
has been formed
He quotes again:
"Schiap,relll shows in striking manner that as
n comet is not solid mass, but consists of parli-
clcs each possessing an independent motion, the
head 0,. ltucIe,LS nearer the Sn'a must necesSd
rib conipite its orbit in less time ttnn the more
distant PORTIONS IF the tail. The tail ooiH there
fore IoG behind the nucleus In The course OF Tue
comets revolution, aud the comet being more AMI
NOR, elongated, Will at last be either partially or
AMI ir,.ly u e into n rim. OF mptEOrs."