The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-02-19

What They Are and How They Arrive.
New YORK TIMNtl


In the best encyclopedias, uuCtr In me
comels, may be found page Illcr i+lgc 1T the
choicest italics and ticroIl pines knoNn la
scientific persons. 1t is impossible moi ,o hayr
the highest respect for whatever these rrypt"-
grams may mean, hut for ucurlal reading
something more incligi 'lr, even II less exit
ing, seems To he demanded. There are in AL
about $50 recorded comets. The $40 seen be-.
fore 1910 must, of course, have been observed
with the naked eye. The first known comet
appeared in l710 Il. Csc thar the AVERAGE ot dis
COvery then WAS about one in twenty four years
But from the birth Of Chrl>t Ia the invention
of the telescope they were seen much more
frequently. In those 1000 years the average
was one comet for every four. In the 2IO years
since the invention oi the telc cope, POO r"I
cts have been seen, but only trw at them
without alds To vision. Tyrho Brahc, the
DANISH astronomer vino died III 1901, WAS the
iirst 10 show that they were celestial bodies
moving in regions ia beyond this rarlh'S AZ
mOsphcrc. And Isaac Newton first showed
that their apparently erratic paths were strict.
liy governed by the laws at srnvtatIun. A
modern invention, the sprctrnsc"pc, shows that
they consist in part ot vaporizrd carbon 81
that while great deal II man To he learned
about come, +, yet enough Is known to make
them no more pOrlcntoms olJcCis than ANY
planets. Even in quite recent times, however,
the ignorant have been deeply moved by
them. Thus, William Niller's predictions OF
the coming of Chr st at the end OF the word
found no small support III the comet OF lS43
which was visible to the naked eye al noon
Even more ludcrous WAS the heief Of some
taht the first steamboats, which e.cr sailed on
The ONO WAS the comet of 1911, winch mad
fallen into the river The extreme abSnrdity
OF this best appears from the almost Incon.
cCivablc tnnuily of the substance OF II C met.
In comparison with 1t air is almost II solid.
Thus u comet may be hundreds Of millions of
miles abroad, and yet faint stars may tie s,en
shining through ii. So that even though they
move % million miles an hour-somcthing
which is hard To believe OF 80 inCohrrcnt a
mass-they would suffer far more Than this
world in case of collision. II is, inuced, be-
licvcd that the word did pass through the tall
of "A comet on June 30, 1861, and there WAS
not even u smell of smoke. And the collision
between Jupiter and IA comet IN 100 il known
to have resulted disastrous!y To the comet. II
did, it is true, try lis best to pass the planet,
but the planets attraction was far too strong,
and the comet became caught among jupIer's
moons Not one Of those lille bpdics WIS
disturbed in the slightest degree, hut the com
ct when 1t was released after some four
months confinement Was so changed in its or
hi, that it could scarcely I've recognized 10y H.
most intimate friends. THIS liability To dis
mrbance makes computations about Cometary
orbits liable Ia errors. Otherwise they would
arrive according to schedule time with far
greater regularity than any raj road trai :.
Brorscn's comet is expected III 1854 and Hal
lry's in 1911, and many others might be
named.