The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1879-05-01

perihelion or point in its orbit nearest
the sun, on Sept. 25. 1880. 1t will then
be, in round numbers, 100000 miles
nearer the sun than when IN aphelion, or
where il WAS about five years ago. That
there lie nothing remarkable in this alone
everybody must know, as the perihelion
passage occurs once in eleven and eight.
tenths years or occurs eight times in the
course Of . century. The fact that some
of the other planets reach their perihel.
ion about the Same time is what has
given rise to so much woiul prophecy.
These dates are: Neptune, the most
remote planet, in 1881; Uranus, tho
ncxt most remote, is 1882; and Saturn,
whose path lies between Jupiter and
Uranus, IN 1885. Tho position is lit
Ito moro remarkable than tho dates
would seem to indicate, from the fact
that Neptune and Uranus move so slow
" that their position . year or two be-
fore or after perihelion is almost the
same 90 that it is hardly astray to say
that tho three great planets will! be
nearest the sun at the same moment in
1880.
Saturn, however, can hardly be put
into the category, for it is full five years,
or little moro than ono-sixtb OF its
whole orbit away from perihelion, or,
what is the same thing, only two-thIrds
of the way from aphelion to perihelion.
Remarkable, then, as the coincidence
may be, it is by no means as significant
a. it would be if the two remote planets
were as far from perihellon as Saturn
will be, and Saturn wero at the same
time with Jupiter at its nearest point to
tho sun. For Saturn is almost three
times heavier than these two planets to-
gether, and more than two and halt
times nearer the sun than tho mean OF
their distances, and would, therefore,
have q very much greater influence on
the sun and on the earth. If, then, Ju-
piter and Saturn are ever at perihelion
at the same time, and these colncident
passages bring evil with them, We may
look back for q record of moro serious
evil from the combined influence of N.
p,ter and Saturn, than We can reasona-
bly, expect from the combined influence
of Jupiter, Uranus and. neptune in 1880.
1t is, therefore an easy matter to set.
tie, when the coincidence of perihelia is
the only question. For the perihelia Of
Jupiter or Saturn have, for moro than q
century, occurred within q few months of
each other, once in little moro than
fifty-nine years. They were both in
perihelion in 1856, in 1897, and in 1873.
If the farmer or grain-dealer is anxious
about this matter, let him inquire as to
the producing power OF those years. If
the sanitary question is brought forward,
let the mortality statistics of those years
be tho answer The smooth and healh-
full year, 1856, is within the memory of
most readers of the Times. The year
1897 is 80 modern that it is easy to
know all about it. The last decade of
the last century was as the average years
of men.
And yet that year 1897 ought to have
been more prolific of worldwide disaster
than 1880 will be, if the approach of the
planets to the sun is the cause. For on
that year not only were Jupiter and
Saturn in perihelion together, but IRA
nus was year nearer perihelion than
he will be in 1880. Let US assume pow
ers for the planets it is not necessary
that they should be exactly correct in
deed it is not certain what they are, and
the comparison would be something
like the following: Let US all call Ju-
piter's mass 800, Saturn's mass 80, IRA
nus mass IL, Neptune's mass Is. Let
US call Jupiter's distance from tho sun l ::
Saturn's 2; Uranus I; Neptune's =.
Then 1850 would be represented by 500
Jupiter). (Uranus), and J (Neptune) i;
while 1856 would be represented by 800
(Jupiter), % (Saturn): and 1897 would
DO represented by 30J Jupiter. - (Sat-
urn; and / (Uranus.) In other words,
whatccor the amour, OF planetary in
fuencc may be, the influence of Saturn
which was combined with that of Iupi-
ter IN 1856 and 1897 is about twenty
tunes that of the more remote and small
or planets which are relied on for the
topsy- furry Of 1899.
If the wo:ul prophecies are reliable
the worlds record ought to show II
periodicity of pestilence and famine. II,
ought to appear that once in about six
ty years great wave of malign influen.
cies moves across the world. and that
malaga wave ought to have come for the
last two hundred years as regular as the
tides OF the ocean But no such periO-
deity is observed. The alterations
are plenty enough, but they arc too II
regular to point even to q great law; and.
withal, many OF those years that ought
to have been malign have IN fact been
as healthful and prosperous as the other
years of the country. And If it should
appear that at some of the perihelion
passages there have been poor crops or
tho plague, the single instance proves
nothing more than would be indicated
by the fact that man found a Jack. knife
or mares nest during one of these pas
sages.
That 1880 may be hard year for the
products of the field is rather probable,
but - to famine and plague, the readers
of tho Times should remember that the
earth has gone through the conjunctions
and perihelion passages very often with
out increasing the death rate or distur-
bling seriously the productive forces of
the earth.-Chicago Times.
Premiums for Boys.
The disposition of farmers sons to es-
cape from farm labor at the earliest DOS.
aihlA momane ia don nj ls,aai dina loaa n ,h 4.