The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-11-16
Impending Cataclysms.

the lives of the planetary bodies. Some
five or six years ago, the Times pub
lished series of articles bearing on the
situation, and which embodied all that
was then known on the subject.
The matter is again making its
appearance in various forms. One of
these is forthcoming translation of
DIR. Lowenthal's Theory of the
Universe" and which is about to be
brought out by the publisher of the
OccideRt-a Jewish periodical issued in
this city. In the work of DR.. Lowenthal
there is to be found, among vast
amount of other matters, the facts of
the curious theory referred to. In
periodical entitled the Science of Health,
its editor, DR.. Knapp. says:
IF there is anything in 'astrologi-
cal criology,' we are approaching one
of the most pestilential periods of
earth's history. Since the commence
ment of the Christian era, the perihelia
of the four great planets of the solar
system-Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, and
Neptune--have not been coincident.
But this is about to occur, and there
will soon be lively times for the doc
tors The theory is that when one or
more of the large planets are nearest
to the sun the temperature and condi-
ton of our atmosphere are so disturbed
as to cause injurious vicissitudes, terri
able rains, prolonged drouths, etc,
resulting in the destruction of crops,
and pestilence among human beings
and domestic animals"
The same authority also argues that
during the period of the perihelion of
planets there is always a marked in
crease in the death rate. DR.. Knapp
goes back for twenty centuries in trac-
ing the history of epidemics, and claims
to have verified the theory as to the
coincidence of planets in perihelion,
and the existence of great physical dis
turbances and destructive epidemics.
in the sixth and sixteenth centuries,
three of these planets were in perihe-
lion, and these periods were character
lied by the development of the most
pestilential eras that the Christian
world has ever known. Now, how
ever, for the first time in forty centu-
ries, the perihelia of the four great
planets-Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, and
Neptune-will be coincident. If the
coincidence of two planets produces
such marked results; if the coincidence
of three of them-as has happened
twice in two thousand years-has left
an indelible impress of devastation
upon the human race, what dire con-
sequences may not be apprehended
when all four of these colossal bodies
unite to bring to bear upon this poor
little earth their malignant influence?
Any person who has reached the age
of a score of years will be able from
memory to verify the fact that the last
ten or fifteen years have been filed with
actual or premonitory symptoms of dis
turbance. We have had enormous tidal
waves laundering along our ocean
coasts, tossing about ships as if they
were straws, battering down rocks
which had withstood the storms of
centuries. Islands have gone down in
the ocean, sinking like plummet, and
leaving scarcely ripple to mark the
place OF their disappearance. The bot
tom of the sea has been thrust up here
and there, as if pushed up by an earth
convulsively painting with fear at the
impending cataclySm. On land the
symptoms are not wanting to indicate
already serious disturbance Areas have
been desolated by tornadoes, and town
after town been Oblterated so that their
former location was scarcely recogniza-
BILE. Tremendous rainfalls, borne on
the wings of hurricanes, come at short
intervals, deluging valleys, changing
chattering brooks into roaring torrents,
leveling hills and filling hollows, and
carrying everywhere irresistible de-
struction. The Chicago fire of 1871 is
an event without parallel since the six
teenth century, at which time three of
these planetary monsters sentineled the
sky in closet conjunction with the great
center of the system. 1t was no ordi-
nary occurrence. 1t has never been ac-
counted for, and never will be unless
one seek an explanation in external and
unusual atmospheric conditions. The
Boston fire partook of the same extra
ordinary character In both, the flames
fed upon stone as upon inilammable oils,
and bore down everything, devouring
everything before it after fashion ut
terly unlike any previous record of its
| actions.
There is the same swelling in the tide
of epidemics that has been seen in the
rising strength of Grant natural forces
which have suddenly, as it were, been
loosed for destruction. The yellow
fever epidemic of the present year
seems to have risen in accord with no
known law, to have extended without
reference to precedent, to have yielded
to none of the usual effective remedies.
and to have devastated and DESTROYED
without hindrance or limit. The sinister
echoes of the footsteps of cholera are
heard resounding along the shores of
the Mediterranean, as if the demon
were about to commence his voyage
around the world. 1t is not long since
a most destructive famine prevailed in
China; and it is but lately that there
terminated an era of starvation in India
which is said to have destroyed not less
than million human beings
All these things have occurred. They
may be the mutterings, the advance
drops of the coming storm, or they
may be simply unusual Developments
from conditions not extraordinarily af-
fected. They may have come from
causes limited to our planet, and slim
ulated by local combinations into I'M
usual activity. Again, they may be