National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-06-14
THE MOONS ECLIPSE.
IT'S EFFECTS ON A REPORTER.
Interesting Interview With Professor NeWcomb al
the Naval Observatery-Comets Which
- Have Appeared and Which
Are Yet to Come.

A reporter called at the Naval Observa-
tory yesterday morning seemingly in some anxiety.
"This is awful" said he to Professor Newcomb.
"What do you mean ?" he was asked.
"Why, the morning paper says that new comet
has been discovered, which is great in size, and is
thirteen degrees apparent distance from the sun.
| Is it true?"
1t is quite likely"
but Professor Proctor said in one of his lee
lures that he should regard it very ominous for
the earth if two comets discovered this year,
and one has already been found by Professor Swift
| at Rochester"
Professor Simon Newcomb's somewhat rigid
mathematical features relaxed as he heard of the
| timid mans fears. Yes he knew very well that
the discovery of a new comet would give alarm to
many people, and did not wonder at the fear ex-
| pressed to-day.
eff there ever was any greater nonsense than
this idea of the end of the world resulting from the
discovery of two comets have yet to hear of it,
| it," he said.
"But Proctor has been quoted by some of the
| papers as having made some such remark, was
| said.
az cannot think that Proctor ever made any
such remark" said Professor Newcomb. "This
fear of comets is delusion, know, as prevalent
as it is difficult to disabuse people of. Why no
harm would come probably from running into
any number of comets"
Professor Newcomb added that he had not yet
received any information relative to the reported
discovery of the great comet, and that the an
nouncement of such a discovery would be trans
United to the Smithsonian Institution, and as yet
no report of that kind had been received there.
Gould we see the comet if it is in the position
assigned to it by the published report this morn
ing?" the Professor was asked.
With the utmost gravity he said: " You had
better go and look at the sun and see.
Suppose it is on the other side of the sum-"
"Then anybody anxious to see it might get on
thetop of Washington Monument and look at the
sun at sunset with a curved telescope
The mathematical Professor was plainly joking
Speaking seriously, he said of comets that nc
body could tell when the earth would be visited by
another great comet like that gorgeous and terri
BILE heavenly object that seen in 1855. The
first great comet with known orbit that astrono-
mers predict will be visible to the inhabitants of
the earth will appear in 1910.
"a large comet IS liable to appear at any timer
"Oh, yes"
SIS it true that the tail of a comet ever swept
the earth?'
at is supposed that the earth passed through the
tail of the great comet that appeared in the six
teenth century,
One of Professor Newcomb's assistants here said
that the earth meets fifty million of comets, more
or less, every year. Almost all of them ignited
by the rapid passage through our atmosphere, and
become shooting-stars. Now and then enc does
not ignite and strikes the earth. These are called
meteoric stones, of which very large specimen is
in the Smithsonian Institution. The universe is
full of them.
The assistant added that it was held by some
astronomers that the result which would follow
CIV CIR !, owl, Lave
would be TO resolve both bodies at by the con-
cussion into clouds of ncandescent MIST gaseous
matter, result which would be so sudden and in
Simultaneous thatth inhabitants of the earth would
never know what had happened.
1T is probably fact" continued the astrono+
mer, " that the world is growing by the accretions
of these mineral deposits from other worlds. There
is no question but that mineral matter, sky or
comet dust, filters down through our atmosphere
mikes with the aggregate, and increases the
body of the earth. The weight in year is of
course inappreciable, but the effect in long ages
must be great.
"But the most serious question is, what is going
to happen to the sun? Our great organ of light
and heat is shrinking in volume, and heat is
maintained by this shrinkage. Ofcourse this can
not go on forever. The sun will at some time be
extinquished.- The only way then to relight and
reheat it, so to speak would be for large body to
strike the sum- dissolve it into incandescent mat
ter, out of which another universe would slowly
evolve"
"Al these are contingencies, many years OFF,
"Well, yes. 1 do not think anybody now liv-
ing need to pass any sleepess nights account of
them
"Nor on account of the discovery of the new
comet?"~
Not on that account" And here the astronc-
mer turned to his table and instrument-Ne,o
YnrL. SIM.