St. Landry democrat., 1878-12-14
FrODaDfe state of Health for
thle Next Seven Years.

he touf great planets ut the solar
system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune, rev0ive about the sun in clip
teal orbits many millions OF miles out
beyond the orbit OF our earth. The
periods IN which they complete. Il single,
revolution vary very greatly, and. ex-
pressed III whole nuunrrl are 12 30,94
and 1854 years respectively. As nheany
lntlniAted, the figures of th,. orbits Of
tneHe planets are not exact circles, hut
elhpses, with the sun in one of the fOci
Common to them all. Tuey are, con-
se4uently, many millions of miles near, r
tue sun at one tlint than ut another.
w hen they are nearest the sun, that j.,
when at their ptrllella they are much
nearer the earth than Whtn at their
apl'tlia. Jupiter, for instance, is 1885,
OOoOOO miles nearer to lis when at It's
peritIt'lion than at its aphrllon. The
attractive power OF any one OF these
planets upon the earth is considerably
greater wilrn at its prrlltllon than WHEN
at its apelloE, and when two or more
OF them happen to be ut tlltir perlielia
at the same time this atSractlve power
- greatly increased, McanSe this
power is exc ted in proportion t" the
Quantity of matter and the distance Ut
the respective lmdlrs." 1t frequently
happens that two nt these planets are at
their perihclia at once, it rarely happens
that three of them are, hnt it has not
occurred since. the Christian era, if ill.,
deed it has since the world Was created,
that all four of THESE planets were at
their periheiia in conjunction. Astrono-
merS inform us that this phenomenon
will occur in about 1880. that at that
period and for several years, they will
be nearest the sun and consequently
dearest the earth, and, therefore, will
unite their attractive forces in the same
straight line upon our globe. The re-
suit will be that the earth will be drawn
to some extent at least, from its regular
orbit, that the atmosphere will be at
tracted, in IL measure, from the earth,
aud consequently will be more rare and
less healtltul, and unusual atmospheric
disturbances may be expected. Statis.
ticians say that the greatest epidemics
and pestilential periods that have af
tiicted the world have cOincided with
the perilelia of these planets; and if
that be true in reference to two Or three
of them. what may be expected when
all four are at their perihelia in con-
junction But it may be that the great
advancement which has been made in
the science of medicine and the greater
sanitary precautions observed now than
were observed in former times, may
avert to II gIeat extent, the hurtful in
tiueuce which the combined attractive
power which these planets may exert
upon our atmosphere during the next
few years. These observations have
been suggested by the following article
which is copied from Scienceand Health,
and which is worthy of consideration
" If there is anything in astrological
crolOgV,' we are approaching one of the
most pestiiential periods of the earth's
history. Since the commencement of
the Christian era, the peIlilella OF the
four great planets OF the solar SYSTEM
Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune
have not been coincidtnt. But this is
about to occur, and, in the language of
DIR. Knapp, who has traced the history
of the greatest epitiemicS that ever at
f1icted the human race to the perihelia
of these planets, there will soon he
lively times for the DOCTORS The
theory is that when one or more of the
large planets is nearest to the sun, the
temperature and condition of our at
mOSphere are sn disturbed hs to cauSe
injurious ci>situdeS, terrible rains,
prolonged drOnths, etc, resulting In the
destruction of crops, ami pestlltnct
among human beings and domestic ami
mails.
DIR. Knapp has collected "a mass of
statistical data, all going tn show that
pcrihtliou data havealWavs been marked
with unusual mortality, anI that sick
Ness and death have invariably e0rres-
pontied with the planets in perihelion
at the same time. The revolution of
Jupiter rnuud the sun is accomplished
ina little less than thirty-fnur years,
and of Neptune is about one hundred
and sixty four Years. 1t it be true,
therefore, that the periiielia of these
planets occasion ATMOSPHERIC conditions
uufavOrable to life, pe>tllentlal periods
should occur once in ii dozen years ;tiIh
aggravated and still more widespread
epidemics ut longe. intervals. In tra-
cling the history of eplIenicS for More
than two thousand years, DR.. Knapp
fluids the facts in all c;,ses to validate
the theory. Thus in the sixth and again
in the sixteenth centuries, three of these
plauets We're cnincident in perhtiUn,
and those were the BIost pestilential
times of the Christian era. Bat soon
We ara to have, for the first time in two
thousand years, all four of these planets
against az. They will he ut their near
est approach tO the sun in or sHOn after
1880, 30 that for IL lew years, say from
1880 to 1885, the vitality ut every living
thfng'Wi! be put to Il severe and 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 floods and disas
ters at sea, the general failure of the
potato crop, the widespread chill fever
among human beings, and the equal
prevalence of the epizoOtic among ami.
mals, are mentioned as among the pre-
mentions of the rapidly approaching
perihelion, a. -. ...,-..'.... '.--.-
well, to be fOrewarned is to be fore
armed Accidents excepted, we know
vely well that the persons of more. Wig
orous constitutions and more hygieuic
habits will have the better chance to
survive whatever adverse Influence the
extraordinary perihelia will occasion.
1t Is we'll known to physicians that, in
all pestilences, plague, typhus, small
pox, cholera, muraiu, etc, the intem-
perate; the dissipated, and those whose
sanitary conditions were bad, furnished |
the victims.
"We do not write to alarm anyone,
nor to make Q, sensation. FIJI We state the |
facts which all history attests. Readers
can judge for themselves what impOr-
tauces! to attach to the subject. That
the conjoint perielion of ali the large
planets OF the solar system, one of which,
Jupiter, is 4 thousand times ~ large as
must disturb our atmosphere
and temperature very considerably, is
probable; that this disturbance must be
injurious to health and life is certain
and that these periods have heretofore
been psstilential, in u matter of record.
How much we shall suffer during the
next dozen or fifteen years depends very
much upon how nearly we live in ac-
cardauce with the laws of life r,.
DR.. Wachsnuth of Berlin, says that
II ne-third part of oil of turppntine Is