The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-01-26
Yitlrmond nispatth.
..,nxrspAY. JANUARY &c, 1881
rnd of che world.

80, rrhlShcS tue toitpW'ug
8 hN " I,b, Article has been going the
81 lt,n, mess. aud recently Appeared
q ou""' p'.f announcing the startling pre-
N 'O' ,h,i thcIe was great Danger OF lhe
81 ' ming 40 an end some time during
q '' mis- prophecy was little more
4 .... ,,,,o the famous one a. Neither stlr"
Sr.t Debated the manner in which the
4 =. .fruction was t. be accomplished.
as. In brief. that there is ut present
a.. universe a hOdy-Smail perhaps IN
80, rs..on a Ms distance from the sun,
Ir,,.t ipooncfiNahly dense, by reason
t..p,,nrt OF matter which is crowded
.,iieb * proceeding drt civ toward
,c some slime during this year the
action alleged this great mass ""uld
,,fo our lpminaTy. and the immense
.pdtepiy generated thereby was TO de-
I'm sue higher forms Of life on The
II MAS very sObcrly stated that the
I. 81 mo poles. although their tempera-
q voujd bc Greatly increased, might pos
.t,. .urv.vc this tOriblc heat, and thus re-
i, ,..,o the Garth. The event thus detailed
.. called "a ca,aciysm. II was either ltue
.ot trnp. and 50 settle the question,
Il ,r..b certainly possesses considerable lhui-
\ .5..J interest, POST reporter has beeh
l..i,iue the views ~ the Government aS-
-. am the subject. The Naval OO'
<.r,,for, Sc, the tir,t point visited
PROFESSOR BALL,
,cprh abe o discover Mar, satellites, has
~ ,rf found The comet which Is TO pay
Iu,b gn important part IN The destruction
l. t1c world. ,..,.,,o
i .u j. Tie first time have been made
.s le II the imrco0ing danger, ne saiu'
4 -, gi,nccd over the article when Inc re-
II .,.r showed him.
H B.. Eui can there he any foundation lor
i ..l prediction!
.Opiy iu tnis, that ! have seen some
i, .l, a statement that the comet OF Iel-
n n return about this time. But we
81 .A nothing certain. Indeed IL ls i'hpoN-
4 .. DO Snow anything posiliVe about
Nets. We can only observe sucn very
r.4 portion 81 their immense orbits lhai
e., ..pno, .,timale them with exact preci-
4 on Bu. fbe likelihood OF lis falling INTO
f., -un ,t striking the earth, even II IL dld
l,utn, is uGuite>imai.'
"up yrg 'l,nk that the earth WI ever
De- -IUck by comet
.. I,eIc f. Just about one chance III mil
l.., ana mu.iouS that such thing VIII
..e 20 pas.
And Il 81; did
.Iu my opinion no one need ttaf me con-
...urpcr- iu the leqs'. But these matters
.,. liw.,> mad a strong hold on the public
.r.pd. remember, a> far back "a, IN loio,
.r...., or,lt comet Ha> seen in the heavens.
a.. C,i...a,nce. The MIllerites about TIE
,.. t,u., ,r.dicted the end Of the world.
NJ. ,,.y uo, believe n, bit the appearance
/. OF .hc con, made great man! cOh'ei>lon9
90 jha; faith. .,...
nm Won are not concerned about this
production: ,o.sr,cu.
late ab9ulif. for there are many matters OF
flr moic value % which my Time clu De pe''
ter devoted.
PROFESSOR EASTMAN
W., found IN hi, room bu,ily at wolk. tie
li,.hed rs be read the article which the
pa,irfporlcr showed him.
81 don't know anything about ". ne
said. - ho aid 1t on the desk. which was
covered With calculations. /" y oil see thele
sr. periodical waves Of speculatlOns among
amateur astronomers, and suppose this Is
iHr --latest. Sometimes thew labor to snow
fh.f the spots on the sun exert great lnnu-
cnce on mundane affairs, and sometimes 10
show the connection between meteollc
showers aud comets. These gentlemen
speculate inaeniouSly, and people always
read that .ort Of matter, without once en-
d,4,Cring 10 ascertain the real facts Of the
cg,c. For instance, there Is an apparently
weU.qutlcnfc,ted tradition that TychO
Brshe. an early astronomer, predicted tbat
I'm, wear would be one Of great sickness
and several other terrible things, because
four planeis-VcnuS, Jupiter, Saturn, ana
NEPTUNE would be in conjunction.
81, that not so:"
The Professor laughed more heartily ihan
ever. ..Of course NOT" he said, " the
planet, do not come in conjunction TINS
Ycsr IL aiI. In addition to this, Neptune
va, NOT discovered until Tycho Brahe had
been dead about three hundred years, ana
be- could not therefore have predicted lis
CONJUNCTION with ANYTHING. Yet suppose
that three out OF every five people nave
been more or less influenced by lhls pre-
dicrion. and some have gone to sleep al
ni.ll thinking OF the awful events which
were going 10 happen"
DO YOU think that the predicted reap
pcaancc II The comet Of 1872 Is sufficient
ground fIr ihe statement that The world VIII
come 10 an end tins YEAR,"
II ID not think,i answered Professor
EI,tman, THAT this prediction OF the end
Of me world arose from that source. 1t Is
true that some French astronomers, who
have been STUDYING Enakc's comet, which
W, supposed to have period Of eight
thousand years, have announced that u
might appear some time within this century.
Bur ny idea is that This article, II 1t DID not
originate altogether IN some imaginative
brain. WAS based on statement regarding
>Nitt'- comet
WHAT was tha, 7" inquired the Post.
THAT IL va, moving directly towards
the earth. Three comets have been discoV-
crtd recently, one OF which was SwIfts.
ID was announced from the first that two OF
tbc comet, were moving in an orbit which
would never come near the earth. But
Swift stated that he could detect no motion
lu hi, comet, and be reasoned, therefore,
that il was moving directly towards the
earth. Had his observations been cor
rect. hi, conclusions would have been
Unsuitable. When, however, we look
cd at IL through our glass we de-
tccted a very rapid motion, visible even
without The aid of the measurements Ordl'
narily used Professor Frisby, who has
been making a study OF the orbit OF SwittS
comet, finds that II has period q about
i've and a bali years; 30 there is no danger
Of ID striking the earth or falling into the
SUI. IL there Is any other comet coming
don't know it,"
PROFESSOR HARKNESS
w., also busy with some astronomical Ia
be, but took time TO carefully read over
The article.
What DO YOU think Of H." asked the
Fool, when be had flushed reading.
II can dispose OF it in three sentences.