Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-07-23
TiIHiBDCOMET OF fsaa c


90
orhusiar astron9rRers are in Doubt a.
60 Whether the Comet fow visible in the
northern heaSens is 1.-THE same as0 thai
which wasodiscsyefed a few. days ago By
DR.. B. "A. Gould 4apthe National Observ
atofyoin Bueaos Ayr6s, for if it be4so it.
movements must 'haveo been more re
markable tlmn thoseOf any other inhab
itahts Of the skies Of which there is rec
ord. tits not even known whether TIN
comet u, a new or an old one % wbethe
1T Is appOaclllng to or receding iron
o the sun. what is its composition orwhs
Is it's orbit. Ino short, we as yet know
3ittle more abnlt it othAn that it exists
o which is enough, however, to fill tn
o Superstititus, who take the anltndwn a
the most solid basis Of the dangerOu
q and pOrteDtous, with a sudden shudde.
O ing awe of the approach Of the Dies r.
which has been drawing nearer, {
course, ever since the creations dawt
and which may now be At hand-as ais
5 it may not be, And it is possible ais
that poor old Mother Earth, who b
been white hot, battered by storms
metal, parched by the sun, frozen ov'
with ice and peited by meteors fro
q time immemoriai, may OF last recei'
her coap, de grace from comet. b
though this Is possible IT is highly il
probable, and until it is at least asce
tanned whether the new fiery visitor
approaching the earth or not, good pc
pie, may be permitted to possess THE
souls in patience, excepting, natural
those several astronomers who hi
ielegrapbed in haste to Rochester ch-
ing The prize OF $500 offered for t'eh
covery which they all clsimto b ,,
the first to make. 10 reil
Professor Henry Draper, o 14r ms
known to the world Of - s,s VI tle
skill in spectroscopic ,,stnsl pG.l les
chemical composition I'd i"H p,,o III We
has mildly taken w ~ t "a, r nn",o IS
rennt ~ md 5ntiGc men in gen
I rex s'S,, any guished Englishmsn
ernl thst n prophecy wnleh Is yir-
o,,a,, ,'ttss, epoH hIn TO the effect !
,. 80. uI ~ fesent year \ comet was TO
te en.'y destroy the earth. OF course
oo a teor never could have done this
TSe himself has briefly summed up
That is known of comets in such a
= ny that anything can be predicted con
'erning their action. Astronomers, he
lays, can tell what path a comet is trsv-
Ding upon, and say whence it has come
Ind whithet it will go; they can in !
'aany cases predict the periodic returpg
If q comet, and analyze the substance
If these strange wanderers, and they
rave recently discovered a Singular
'Ohd of relationship between comets
md those, other strange viSitmts from
he celestial depthss-the Shooting stars.
But astronomy has hitherto, proved I'M I
BILE to determine the origin of comets.
be part they perform in the economy OF
be universe, their real structure, the
laltsaS Of the marvellous changes of
'fhape which they undergo as they ap.
roach the sun, rush rohnd him and
,aen retreats 1t is believed that this
latement by Professor Proctor is not
richly accurate, speetroscopic analysis
aving shown something ino relation to
ne component elements Of some comets
ON which something has been inferred
j regard todheils structure, aid being
nowp that the, quantity of. matter
-hich they coqtah Is not Tets great.
me weH.known 'sstronpmef has said1
,aat the highest cloed that floats I'M the
oarth's atmosphere on a fine day IN sum-
Ter is y dense body when compared
2ith comet. 1t has been corfiectureds
lat comets and metorites, by falling intel
ne sum keep up the heat of The Central
2lminaryDf our system, but az present
he weight of 0opinion seems to be
g9ina this theory, no comets having
5er been known to fall into the sun.
should be remembered, also, o.that
lose people who dread destruetion to
)1eo Oayth from comets COMMONLY are
ot'ipto the fear 10y the lotion that these
andereEs to the sun from beyond the
Dnfnes of tho orbit OF Neptune may
rike the earth and so by the force of
le impact KNOCK our ancient mother
It of TING, soto saye and into space, or
light set her on fire, whereas there is
me reason tobelievethat comets have
fore nov graNed the earth without DO
? g her any injury and without having
y appreciable effect upon her what
Ser. In fact, she has probably hurt
EN- more than they have hurt her.
'hatever real danger to the earth is
b volved in an approach of o comet to
sun is to be- sought, however, in all
'obability in the hypothesis that so
'easA, an Increase in the suB's heat
B ould follow the fall of q comet into the
n that life on the earth would be burnt
1t, in which case if we were ever to
I'VE an inhabitable globe again a new
pply of living germs would have to
me from outer space, borne on the
ings of Sir William Thomson's me-
orites.3
1t is likely that the terror of comets
hfch is always felt by ignorant people
purely traditional, and comes doYn
luslK h1time VASssvabe1e, bodies were
oked upon as being unlike the stars
I'd planets, in that their motions, APP
1,arGnces and disappearances were
ought to be purely arbitrary and Eu-
,verned by physical laws, or iFnot
richly arbitrary, then to be governed
the power of the gods who sent them
portents nearly always of calamity and
ldom of good to the human race. A
marable exception to this rule that a
met is portent of evil is that of the
NJ Vs hlnse9hem. At all events, Prof.
'octor, who has somewhat deliberately
Gated of this subject, SAYS that "the
ar in the East" mentioned in the Now