The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-07-22
Four Planets in Perihelion.


currenee will take place in the heav-
ems which has not been know foi
more than eighteen centuries. The
four largest of the planetar.y bodies
Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune
are approaching their perihelion
point in space, are sweeping in their
gigantic orbits nearer and nearer to
the sun, and their simultaneous
approximation to the central mass
of the solar system has inspired
some minds with fears as to th
possible results to that particula
on which we dwell. There is nc
need for any anxiety, however, as
such an event happened several
times before, and probably will hap.
pen often again, without causing
the smallest Inconvenience to any
human being. The perihelion of q
planet bring that point IN iss orbit
where it comes nearest to the sun
and all the planets being atditferent
distances from that luminary, it fol
lows that some of them approaches
the sun-or are in peihelion-more
frequently than others. Neptune,
the most distant of all, takes one
hundred and sixty four years to com.
plete its movement round the sun;
while Jupiter, in size the king of the
planets, he whom the Greeks called
Phaeton, and the Egyptians "the
Brilliant" sweeps round in less than
a twelfth part of that time.
The last occasion when a stellar
phenomenon similar to that which
is about to happen occurred was at
the beginning of last century, when
all four of these wandering worlds
neared the sun almost simultane-
ouslv. That was in 170S and the
following year, and, if there were
any grounds for supposing the earth
quakes and plaques attended these
unusual events, history ought to in
form us of dire calamities at thai
time affecting the globe. Ye
there is no satisfactory proof of thu
earth having been disturbed
about that period; on the contrary
she seems to have adopted an stti-
tude of perfect indifference, in spit
of the proximity of the major plan
nets. The great plague happened
in the year 1865, and can hardly
therefore, be put down to the malig
n: mt influence of planetary perihelia
more especially as it can be accoun
ted for by other causes, such as un-
sanitary conditions of life, and alb
sence of a sufficient amount OF frui
and fresh vegetables in the popular
diet of the age. If there are any wh'
would attribute the war of the sue
cession to these resplendent heaven
lv bodies they should, in common
fairness to Jupiter and Neptune, re
member that the peace of Utretch
which ended the contest, was happi
ly cemented in the year 1713, at
time when, according to astrology
not only "the dogs of war;" but the
more terrible wolves of famine, t.
say nothing of earthquakes ant
tempests, ought to have been revel-
ing in slaughter all over the world
Why should we ascribe baleful pow
ers to any conjunction of the count
lacs host of heayen2 There is really
no shadow of astronomical grounC
for believing that the other planets
exercise any sensible sway over thu
meteorological conditions unde
which we 1--we. The perturbins
power of .hese bodies is limited t.
Slightly altering the elliptical orbi
of the earth, and beyond that they
have assumed toward our smalle
planet an attitude of perfect com
placency.