Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-11-23

II there il anything in astrological
criology." ve are approaching one Of
the most pesailential periods Of earthS
history. since the commeoeement Of
the Caristian era, the peFihelis Of the
four great planets Of the solar system-
Jupiter. Unnus. Saturn. and Neptune
have not been coincident. But This
is about TO occur, and, in the language
OF DIR. Knapp, Who mas traced the his
tory Of the greatest epidemic that ever
afflicted the hnman race to the peri
bella Of these planets. there will soon
be ''lively times for the doctors" The
theory 10 that when one or more of the
large planets il nearest to the sun, the
teDperature and condition Of our stmos-
phere are 90 disturbed - to cause in
furious vicissitudes. terrible rains. pro-
longed drouths, etc. resulting in the
destruction Of crops, and pestilences
among human beings and domestic ami
mails.
Dr. Knapp has collected q mass Of
statistical data. all going TO show that
perihelion data have always been
marked by cnusual mortality. and that
sickness and death have invariably cor
responded with the planets in perihe-
lion 1t the same time. The revolution
OF Jupiter round the sun is accom-
plished in . little less than twelve
years, OF Saturn in . little less than
thirty years, OF Uranus in about
eighty-four years, and Of Neptune in
about one hundred and sixty-four
years. If it be true, therefore, that the
perihelia of these planets occasion at
mospheric conditions unfavorable TO
life, pestilential periods should occur
once in dozen years, and aggravated
and still more wide spread epidemics
at longer intervals. In tracing the his
tory of epidemics for more than two
thousand years, DR.. Knapp finds the
facts in all cases to validate the theory.
Thus in the sixth and again in the six.
tenth centuries, three of these planets
were coincident in perihelion, and
those|w the most presidential times
of the Christian era.
But soon we are to have, for the first
time in two thousand years. all four Of
these planets against us. They will BE
at their nearest approach to the sun in
or soon after 1880, so that for few
years, say from 1880 to 1885, the vital
ity of every living thing will be put to
severe and trying ordeal. Some per-
sons think they see, in the signs of the
times, evidences of the great disasters
in the immediate future. The excess
i've heat, the unexampled cold, the
prevalence of food and disasters at sea,
the general failure of the potato crop,
the widespread chill fever among HUI
man beings. and the equal prevalence
of the epizootic among animals, are
mentioned as among the premonitions
Of the rapidly approaching perihelion.
Well, "to be forewarned is to be
forearmed." Accidents excepted, we
know very we'll that the persons of
more vigorous constitutions and more
hygenic habits will have the better
chance to survive whatever adverse in
fluences the extraordinary pethella will
occasion. It is we'll known to phisi-
clans that, in all pestilences, plague,
typhus, smallpox, cholera, murrain,
etc., the incorporate, the dissipated,
and those whose sanitary conditions
were bad, furnished the victims.
We do not write to alarm anyone, nor
TO make Q sensation. We state the
facts, which all history attests. Read
ers can judge for themselves what i'm
portance to attach to the subject. That
the conjoint perihelion of all the large
planets of the solar system, one OF
which. Jupiter, is thousand times as
large as the earth. must disturb our at
mosphere and temperature very con-
siderable, is probable that this dis
turbance must be injurious to health
and life. is certain and that these
periods have heretofore been pestilen-
tial, is matter of record. How much
we shall suffer during the next dozen
or fifteen years, depends very much
upon how nearly we live life in &C
cordance with the laws of life.