Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1878-10-10
"a time OF Trouble -
CFrom the Wilmington Star.7

CFrom The Wilmington Star
we find ii ole Of our exchanges
an article that appeared tvs Or
three years ago in a journal called
the Science of Xedkth. 1t contains
most alarming propHeCy in re-
gard to the raging OF famine and
Festiitnce in many portions Of the
world. Read III the light furnished
by the sad events of the last two
years, and it is well calculated to
make thoughtful men ponder what
is said. The tamines tnat have
ravaged SO fearfully in China,
India, and other portions of the
world, and the pcstilencc now de-
veurihg SO many victims in our
dear South; give decided color of
plansibility to what was said three
years ago.
We will copy few paragraphs
from the article referred to, and wise
men may reflect ard draw their
own conclusions. The Science 0f
Health said; and, mark You more
than two years ago:
'fIf there is any ching in tie science
of astrological Sociology" we are ap-
proachiEg one of the most pestilen-
lial periods in the earth's history
Since the commencement of the chris
tian era the perihelia of the four giter,
planets of the Solar SYstem-JupreaS,
Saturn, Dtangs3 and Neptune-have
not been coincident. But this is
about to occur, and, in the language
Of DR.. Knapp, who has traced the
History OF the greatest epidemicS that
ever afflicted the human race, to the
perlhelia Of these planets, there will
soon Ge "a lively time among the
doctors" The theory is that when
one or more of tic large Tlal:etS is
near the sun, tie temperature and
condition OF our atmosphere ere SO
disturbed as to cause injurious visissi-
tufles of weather, extreme heat; OK
cessive cold, terrible rains anG storms,
prolo" ged droughts; etc , resulting in
the destruction of crops and fruits,
famine in many places and pesti!ence
among human beings and animals"
''Dr Knapp has co!lated a mass of
statistical data, all going to show
that peribeli5n periods have always
been marked by undsual E!Cftality,
and that sickness and death have .iD-
variablv correSponded with Il number
of planets in perihelion at the same
time.
"The revolution OF Jupiter around
the sun is accomplished in a little less
than twelve years Of Saturn, III q lit
tie less than thirty yerrs of Uralius,
in about eighty -four years; anG of
Nepture, in about one hundred ard
sixty-four years. Ii it is true, there
tore, that the periheIia CT these plan
cts occasiCu atmospheric Conditions
unlavorable to life, pestiIential periods
should occur once in n dozen years,
and aggraVated and still more wide
spread epidemics at lof!sGr intervals
In tracing the history of epidemics
for more than two thousand years,
DR.. Knapp finds the facts in all cases
to validate this theory. Thus, in the
sixth, and again in the sixteenth cen
tury, three of these planets were
coincidentfy 10 perihelion, and those
were the most pestilential times Of
The Ch istian era"
According to this publication,
for the first time in two thousand
years all four OF the planets will be
against the earth. 1t says:
.sThey Will be at their nearest approach
| TO the sun i'll or soon after 1880. so That
! for Il few years, say from 1850 to 1850,
the vitality of every living thing on earth
Will be put to severe and trying ordeal >
We do not know how much re
lance is to be placed in prognos7i--
cations based upon scientific, So
called, theories. There may be a
great deal in them or nothing. -
But ceftes there have been signs to
indicate Something unusual in the
world around rs, and the pestilencc
and the famines and tho floods o!
tire last year or two, prove only foo
inniistakabIJ that this is indeed "a
time of trouble.''