The Portland daily press., 1881-01-01
New York SUM-


Mother Shiptons Prophecy.
1t would be difficult to describe all the sinis-
ter predictions that have, as by common con-
sent, been concentrated upon the com; ng year.
The soothsayers, divines, oracle-makers as
trologers and wizards seem to have combined
to cast their spell upon it. Superstitious peo-
pie of every sort, and some who are not will
ing to admit that they are superstitious, re-
gard the year 1881 with more or less anxious
expectation and dread. As the earth, on New
Years Day, swings out into another round
about the sun, it will go to meet host of evil
omens. 1t will so cursed by theomancy and
bibiomancy. Aeromancy and meteoramancy
will glare at it from comets and shooting stars.
Oneiromancy will intercept Its path with WIS.,
ions of evil, and nomancy will shake the
ominous, backward reading numerals 1881"
before it. 1t will be beset with scare-crow
figures by arithmancy, and with menacing
phrases by stichomancy Yet there is no rea-
son why persons of good digestion should not
60 to sleep on New Years night confident
that, after having encountered the average
quantity of storm and sunshine, the one-horse
ball that We call the world will bring them
safe through the perils of its 500, 1000, ,OOo-mile
flight round to the starting-point again.
Timid persons first began to look forward
with some alarm to the year that is about to
open, when, several years ago. the key to the
so-called prophetic symbolism of the Great
Pyramid of Egypt was made public, backed
by the name and reputation of the British
astronomer, Piazzi Smyth. Others, using Mr..
Smyth's observations and measurements, have
gone much further than he did in drawing
startling inferences; but no one can read his
book without perceiving how powerfully it
must affect those who have the slightest lean
ing toward superstition or credulity. Besides,
this record of explorations and experiences in
the heart of Egypt's greatest marvel has all
the charm and interest of DR.. Schliemann's
descriptions of his discoveries in Homer's
Troy. Such book could not we'll be neg
lected by the world of readers, and by the
nature OF the human mind. Many Of its
readers were sure to be imbued with its ON
inous dogmas. So the belief, or at least the
suspicion, spread, that the secret chambers of
the Great Pyramid, under divine guidance by
the most mystical character in all history,
Melchisedek King of Salem foretell, among
other things, taat the Christian era viii end in
1881.
Mother Shipton's so-called prophecy fixes
upon the same date for the end of the world
The ominous jingle of her rhymes has prob
ably done at least as much to disturb the
equanimity OF credulous persons as the more
elaborate vaticinations of the pyramid inter-
prefers. Moreover Mother Shipton is repre-
sented as foretelling that in the latter days
England will accept jew" As England
has, with considerable emphasis, and more
than once, accepted the remarkable son Of old
Isaac Disraeli for her Prime Minister, this has
been taken as a fulfllment of the prophecy.
So Lord Beaconsfelds dramatic personality is
made principal figure in the murky cloud of
evil prophecy that hangs over 1881.
AS if the evil eye of Mother Shipton and the
mystical menace Of the Great Pyramid were
not enough for one poor twevemonth to bear,
the 'horrors of the perihelia' have been de-
nounced upon the coming year. About two
years ago certain pamphlets were circulated
about the country, purporting to be written by
men OF science, and predicting that awful con-
sequences to mankind would result from all
the great planets reaching their perihelia, or
nearest points to the sun, together. Accord
ing to these prophets, the sinister effects of the
perihelia were to begin making their appear
ance this Fall, when Jupiter passed its perihe-
lion, and next year the scythe OF death was to
be put to tho harvest in the far East, and to
sweep westward, with swathe as broad as the
continents, until it reached the Pacific Ocean
The narrow Atlantic was to be no more than q
brooklet in the path Of this terrible harvester
Plaques, pestilences. famines, fires, earth
quakes, floods and tornadoes were to scourpe
the human race until only few remained,
like Noah and his family, to re-people the
earth with asturdier and more God-fearing
race
So much alarm was caused by this hocus-
pocus Of pretended science and prophecy, that
some real men of science-Mr. Proctor among
others-were at the pains to show that so far
as these predictions professed to rest upon
scientific facts they were baseless. The great
planets will not all be in perihelion in 1881,
and they will not all be in perihelion together
at any time. 1t is true that several Of the chief
planets will reach their perihelion within few
years, and that it is rare for them to be
grouped so close together as they will be at
one time next year. 1t is also true that re-
markable condolences have been observed be-
tween the existence Of great storms on the |
possibly meteorological changes upon the |
earth, and the presence of Jupiter near his |
perihelion. Astronomers have also suspected |
that the influence or some of the other great |
planets upon the earth can be perceived, but |
they have never discovered any reason to be- |
lieve that the combined force of all the planets |
could, under any circumstances, produce upon
the earth 1,000th partof the evil effect ascribed
to them by the astrologers, ifiindeed they pro-
duced any evil effect whatever.
are repeating substantially the same predic-
tions OF evil things to begin, if not to culmi-
nate, in 1881. Because, as they saw, the |
ravages of the Black Death in the middle ages
followed Ino nearly cOlnclQont per1hella OF
four great planets, they predict similar conse-
quences from the confguration of the planets
now. But neither in their premises not their
inferences does science recognized any validity. |
In truth, however, the astrologers, not less |
than the astronomers and all star-gazers, will |
have plenty of phenomena in the heavens to
occupy their attention for the next twelve |
months. The sky will not present such bril-
liant pageants again this century. There will
be remarkable series of conjunctions, and |
double and triple coniuctions. The most in
teresting of these is the great twenty-year con-
junction is one of the strongholds of the as
trologers. AS it occurs in the sign Taurus,
which they say rules Turkey and Ireland, |
they feel safe, on account of recent occur
rences, in predicting very momentous effects
in those countries from the conjunction.
There will also be conjunctions of Jupiter
and Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Saturn and
Venus; and the far-away giants, Uranus and
Neptune, will play part in this remarkable
planetary levee.
Venus will reach her greatest brightness in
the spring. and will be so brilliant as to be Wis
ible at noon-day. Her delicate crescent will
be a favorite object in the amateur astrono.
mer's telescope. Saturn will open still wider
its wonderful rings, and will be one of the
chief attractions Of the evening sky for several
months. Jupiter will not lose much of his
present .brilliancy before he becomes MORN
ing star in April Mars Will begin to brighten
IN the latter part OF the year, and then his
snowy poles and shadowy continents will
again become the admiration of those who
gaze through telescopes. In short, there will |
be no end of attractions in the atarry heavens,