Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-08
Four Planets In PeriheIion.


 Astronomers tell us that we are entering | upon period when an occurrence will take place in the heavens which has not been known for more than eighteen centuries. The four largest of the planetary bodies, Jupiter, Uranus Saturn, and Neptune, are approach ing their perihelion point in space, are sweep ing ill their gigantic orbits nearer and nearer to the sun, and their simultaneous approxi-. nation to the central mass of the solar sys- tenn has inspired some minds with fear as to the possible results to that particular planet
 on which we dwell There is no need for any anxiety, however, as such an event has
 happened several times before and probably will happen often again, without causing the smallest inconvenience to any human being. The perihelion of planet being that point in it's orbit where it comes nearest to the sun, and all the planets being at different dis tances from that luminary, it follows that some of them approach the sun-or are in perihelion-more frequently than others
 Neptune, the most distant of all, takes 154 years to complete it's movement round tLe sun; while Jupiter, in size the king of the planets, he whom the Greeks called Phmthon, and the Egyptians ''the Brilliant" sweeps round in less than Q twelfth part of that time. The last occasion when stellar phenomenon similar to that which is about to happen oc- cured at the beginning of last century, when all four of these wandering worlds neared the sun almost simultaneously. That
 Wdo III JUG flLlu tu6 1Ol1OWluB ySdTb, duu, II there were any ground for supposing that earthquakes and plaques attended these unu- sual events, history ought to inform us of dire calamities at that time affiicting the globe. Yet there is no satisfactory proof of the earth having been disturbed about that period on the contrary, she seems to have adopted an attitude of perfect indifference, in spite of the proximity of the major planets The great plague happened in the year 1865, and can hardly, therefore, be put down to the malignant influence of planetary periheia; more especially as it can be ac- counted for by other causes, such as unsani- tary conditions of litt nd an absence of 8 sufficient amount of fruit and fresh vegeta- bles in the popular diet of the age. If there are any who would attribute the war of the succession to these resplendent heavenly bodies, they should, in common fairness to Jupiter and Neptune, remember that the peace of Utrecht, which ended the contest was happily cemented in the year 1713, at the time when, according to astrology, not only the dogs of war, /" but the more terri ble wolves of famine, to say nothing of earth quakes and temptests, ought to have been reveling in slaughter all over the world. Why should we ascribe baleful powers to any con junction of the countless host of heaven There is really no shadow of astronomical ground for believing that the other planets exercise any sensible sway over the meteoro- logical conditions under which we live The perturbinE power of these bodies is limited to slightly altering the elliptical orbit of the earth, and beyond that they have assumed toward our smaller planet an attitud of per feet complacency.