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

IN response to the subject of absorbing in.
Ieg->t now under discussion by scientists as to
! tic simultaneous arrival OF all the major plan.
cts 10 their pcrheia, ln!liCtng dire Results
land bringing about the most fearful CIami.
/ ties known 10 history and resulting in the
most devastating disaster TO men and beasts,
Professor Lewis Swift has written a lr,lcr to
the Rochester NerIld in which he says:
For the last two years the popular mind
has been excited 10 an UNUSUAL degree over the
statements made by u few visionary cnthu,i.
ass, who, with a great flourish of apparent
wisdom, have spread before the world the pre-
diCuon that, owing to the simultaneous arrival
Of the ma Ur plahctS to Their pcrihcla during
the present year, the most dreadful Calamitcs
ever recorded III history are To occur, such rs
earthquakes on IA vast and destructive scale,
devastating tornadocs widespread pes,icncc,
great loss of life by shipwrecks famine and
! wars and a thousand other things too dread.
!ul 10 contemplate In AL communities there
is a certain class who VIII give u listening ear
! to anything, no matter how absurd, that par.
takes largely OF marvelOusness; hence this he
lief, which has not particle of evidence to
support it, is widespread IN al civilized coun.
tries.
| am constantly receiving letters asking
when the planets will scverally be IN perihel.
on (nearcst the sum, and when We are to lock
for u tultlment OF these predictions that will
make the year 1881 famous for all coming
time. These questions convince me that the
deluslon still exists, and has sunk deep in
the minds OF men, and that perhaps il would
be advisable to prepare n statement setting
forth the facts ~ they exist, and with slight
variations, will cuntauc to exist AS long as
time lasts.
All planets move in orbits or paths more or
lala nil t,t,
mon focus OF them all II therciDlC ncccssari.
~ follows that planet is sometimes nearer
the sun than at others. In our age (ouGit will
not always be SOY the earth Is about three mil.
lion miles nearer the sun on the LIST of Janu.
AIRY than on the I'd day OF July. On January
|, therefore, the earth Is III perlhc!iOn, and OF
course ia in that situation once ayear Every
planet is IN perihelion once during its year
Mercury, the planet nearest the sun, has a
smaller orbit than ours, and hence its year is
coIrespondingly shorter, being only eighty
eight Of our days and must therefore be in
per:hellon every eighty-cight days On the
contrary Neptune, the most distant planet
known has year equal IN length to one hun.
bred and sixty-fOur and onehalf of ours, and
Is consequently once in perihelon during that
time. Ii follows that the time must come
when all the eight planets will be in perlhellon
at once 1t is only question in simple ar
ithmetc how often this will happen.
IL has been stated, and insisted upon, that
this rare event. which probably has not &C
Cured since the Mosaic creation, would take
place during the present year. That this is
not the case the following table shows:
Mercury. Feb. 81, May 20, Aug. IT, Nov. Il, 1881
Venus. ............... -. March 4, Get, II, 1851
Earth ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Jan J., iSSl
Mars. May u, 1881
Iu,,ifpr Scr "a 1850
saturn '.'''' aug ~ inN,
Uranus NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. March %, 1882
Neptune Observation-Disclosures. Oct ~, lHH2
1t Is not denied that this is close agree,
nent when it Is considered how long some ot
the PERIODS of revolution are. But what Of it:
Who has ever proved or presented evidence
that has any scmbIance OF proof that planets
arriving at their perlhelion points have the
least perceptlblC influence on either the sun or
earth or any Of the other planets?
Each planet, even the giant Jupiter is
pigmy compared To the sun: IN fact he will
all of them combined by more than
700 times. What cIIecs then can the SIMPLE
difference in distance of any single planet, say
of Jupiter have on the heat, and light and
spots, etc, on the sun, almos. 500 900 600 miles
distant?
The planet Mercury is comparatively near
the sun and almost rs dense rs lead, and the
eCccptricl,y of his orbit is so great that he is
over 29O0OUG0 miles nearer the sun at peri
hehon than AT aphelion, but has any one ever
perceived any changes on the sun once in
days. Has any recurrence of
magnetic storms, earthquakes, plaques. or an
excess of calami,cs of any kind ever been no
ticed during his perihelon passages? lfnot,
then it is safe to say none exists and the sub
ject may be classed with the thousand other
which exist in the minds of melt
anG for which no remedy is known save a
and universal education or all classes
of society,