The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-03-29
Perihelion and Pegtilence.

IL there is anything in astrological
eriology," we are approaching one OF
the most pestilential periods in the
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 eOincident.
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
perihelia Of these planets, there will
soon be "lively times for the doctors" F"
The theory is that when one or more of
the largest planets is nearest to the sun,
the temperature and condition of our at
mOsphere are so disturbed as to cause
injurious vicissitudes, terrible rains,
prolonged draughts, etc, resulting in the
destruction Of crops, and pestilences
among human beings and domestic an-
imais.
DIR. Knapp has collected a mass Of sta
tistical data, all going 10 show that per-
ihelion periods have always been marked
by unusual mortality, aud that sickness
and death have invariably cOrrespOnded
with the number of planets in perihe-
lion at the same time. The revolution
Of Jupiter around the sun is accom-
plished in little less than twelve years,
of Saturn in a little less than thirty, 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 Oeca-
sion atmospheric conditions unfavorable
to life, pestilential periods occur once in
a dozen years, and aggravated and still
more widespread epidemics at longer
intervals. In tracing the history Of ep-
idemics for more than two thousand
years, DIR. Knapp finds the facts in the
eases to validate the theory. Thus, in
the sixth and again in the sixteenth
centuries, three Of these planets were co.
incident in periheliOn, and those were
the most pestilential times Of the Chris
tian 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 1850, so that for a few years,
say from lSS0 TO 1855, the vitality of
every living thing will be put to a Sc
we're aud trying ordeal. Some persons
think they see, in the signs Of the times,
evidences Of the great disasters in the
immediate future. The excessive heat,
the unexampled cold, the prevalence of
flood aud disaster at sea, the general
failure of the potato crop, the wide
spread chill and fever among human be-
ings, and the equal prevalence of the
epizOOtic among animals, are mentioned
as among the premOuitiOns of the rap
idly approaching period of the perihe-
lion.
Well, "tO be forewarned is to be fore
armed - \ Accidents exeaDfed we Luovy
very well that the persons of more Wig
Orous constitutions ana more hygenic
habits will have the better chance TO
survive whatever adverse influence the
extraordinary peTihelia will occasion.
It is well known TO physicians that, in
all pestilences, plague, typhus, small
poX, cholera, murrain, etc, the intem-
perate, the dissipated, and those whose
sanitary conditions were bad, furnished
the victims.
We do not write to alarm any one, nor
to make a sensation. We state the facts
which all history attest. Readers can
judge for themselves what importance
TO attach to the subject. That the con-
joint perihelion of all the large planets
of the solar system, one of which, Jupi-
ter, is q thousand times as large as the
earth, must disturb our atmosphere and
temperature very considerably, is prob
able; that this disturbance must be in
furious to health and life is certain; and
that these periods have heretofore been
pestilential, is a matter of record. How
much we shall suffer during the next
dozen OF fifteen years depends very much
upon how nearly we live a life in ac-
cordance with the laws of life.-Science
Of Heath.