Sharp County record., 1881-08-25
Danger From Comets.

rrovored will cause mischief to the earth
or to the solar system. l also learn
somewhat to my surprise, that l nave t
somewhere expressed the OPINION @ tnal
our system is threatened in very
serious manner by the comet when ap-
neared in the southern skies in FeOru-
arv. 1880. and find myself earnestly
called upon to explain what are tne
DANGERS to which we are thus eAP0Seu'
at is hardly necessary to explain
nerhaps. that the idea of danger to the
earth from comets arose originally from
entirely incorrect ideas respecting the
movements of comets and th6lr Po,
sitions in space. Men saw what l0oAeu %
ike a blazing star, followed by a long,
luminous appendage apparently IN the
air over their heads. What could De
more natural than to suppose that tne
presence of such body in the ar IGI II
only portended mischief, but actually
cansed mischief? If plague or peStl-
Innce chanced to follow soon after the
annearance of such an object it was
natural to suppose that the comet haa
Jistributed the seeds of disease through
tbe atmosphere. If great conllagratlonSS
occurred, then the comet had scattered
.nhIooiston' over the cities which had
81 suffered. or had so dried the ar
as to render any fires Wnlch
MIGHT occur more disastrous. And 1t
was even more natural to suppose, If a
warm summer followed the appearance
of comet. that the exceptional warmth
was caused by the presence OF that body
in the air. So soon, however, as men
learned the true movements OF comets
all such ideas were seen 10 be absurd.
The comet which seemed to be in the
air was seen to be millions of miles be-
vond the EXTREMIST limits of the atmos-
Dhere. The path which seemed to
carry the comet over the cities and
countries of the world was found to be
path in interplanetary space, having
no more special relation to one terreS-
tial region than to another. Neither by
its mass nor by its intrinsic heat or
lustre could comet in any way affect
the earth; while instead OF pursuing a
special path in the heavens to warn men
Especially Kings and Princes) of dan
ger, comet obeyed throughout its
entire course the same simple law OF
gravitation which guides the planets
land among them the earth itself in
their courses.
THAT the comets dis covered this year
or any other comets should portend eX-
ceptionable weather to the earth simply
because they are seen in our skies
appears then to the astronomer an idea
altogether absurd and scarcely ly worth
the trouble of refuting To the student
of science, accustomed to ask when par
ticular effects are concerned, the ques-
ton how and why such effects are to
be produced, it is sufficient to note that
in no way known to science can comets
bring dangers of the kind considered
"But it is otherw Use when the general
question is to be asked, Can comets in
any way bring danger to the earth?
Science cannot in this case answer posi-
lively that there is no danger. The fall
of a comet on the earth, utterl y unlike
" though such an occurrence may be,
might bring danger of q very Seriol
kind. For Instance, we Know tfTr-sJ-tTr7S
comets of comparatively small dimen-
sions are followed bybillions of billions
of meteoric bodies, and when the
earth passes through such train
thousands of falling stars-that is,
of meteoric bodies rendered in
candescent during their flight through
our air-are seen. Larger com.
cts NAV be, for aught we knoW--nay,
probably are followed by similar trains
of larger bodies-of bodies, therefore,
which might penetrate the soft yet
strong aerial armOr Of the earth and
reach her surface as dangerous, death
dealn g missiles. If the earth passed
through a denser portion of the meteoric
train of such a comet as that Of 1911 ii
is probable that many would be killed
BY the Hrolithic masses rushing witt
planetary velocity through our air. But
if,instead Of the train, the earth encOunt
cred the head of such a comet, where
probably the meteors are more densely
/ strewn, the mischief would probably be
more serious still. 1t is by no mean;
| improbable that if the earth rushed
through the head and nucleus of such g
comet as that of 1911 tens of thousand:
would be killed by meteOric downfall
Fortunately the danger Of such an en-
counter is so small that it may be esti
mated almost as naked nothing
" The real danger to which the eartf
and the other planets are exposed is O.
a different kind. No astronomer, Sc
far as | know, before the time of Sil
Isaac Newton. recognized the danger
He pointed out, when discussing the
movements of the comet which bear;
his name (the comet of 1680), that if the
course of the comet should be directly
toward the sun the heat of that lum
mary might for a time be so enormously
increased by the comets downfall as tt
destroy every living thing on the face
of the earth and of whatever other plan
cts may be the abode of life. 1t is trut
he did not rightly apprehend the way
in which the suns heat might so be in
creased. In his day the sun was regard
ed as a great mass of burning matter
and he regarded comet which shoulC
fall upon the sun as bringing his orb
supply of so much fuel. We now know
that the SIN is not a mass of burnin,
matter. We do what Hamlet seems t,
have regarded as impossible-we 'doub
the stars Gncludinp our SUM- are fire,