Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-10-04
368.
COMETS.
Some Facts of Interest Concern.
ing These EFTRtic Heaven
ly Visitors.
London Post.

LONDON fOst.
The comet Of June, 1882, has been
the subject of conversation at many
hundreds Of dinner tables and Of
more public curiosity than such OBJ
jects, when not SO brilliant as to force
themselves on public attention, have
hitherto received. A great comet,
visible to all the world, is q of the
most striking and startling of celestial
apparitions; a new star is in reality a
much rarer and much more surprising
object. But those who can recognize
a new star outside the narrow circle
Of practical astronomers are few in.
deed. Moreover, as new stars are but
rarely Of the first magnitude and ap
pear at intervals OF centuries, no su.
perstition, even in the fourishing days
Of a~strology, has ever attached to
them. That q sun once invisible, or
RAJ ely visible to terrestrial eyes should
suddenly become a striking astro-
nOmical object is the most strange and
amazing Of all scientific facts to those
lew who understand its meaning. The
stars, Of course, are suns, and, in all
probability, each Of them has its own
circle Of planets. For all we know,
each Of them may haveAdependent
upon it worlds peopled by creatures
equal to or eyen superior to mem crea-
lures whose fate, il we could under
stand or know it, would excite our
keenest sympathies. Now the change
implied by the assurance Of a so-oalled
new star to the worlds dependent upon
it, and to all their inhabitants, must
be in the last degree terrible. 1t is as
if our sun had suddenly 10 blaze out
ten or hpnared times as large, as
bright and as hoe as now. 1t is
scarcely necessary to say that such an
occurrence would neither be remem.
bered nor recorded, for no life organ
ICED under the existing conditions OF
life in any n of the planets of which
the amount Of solar light and heat is
the most important element could sur.
yive such a change for twenty four
hOura, Even sppposlpg that the In.
crease Of heat and light is much more
gradual than it seems to telescope OBJ
servers on such occasions, an addition
even of one fourth to the total heat
emitted by the sun would probably
destroy all the higher forms OF ANNA
nature. The total heat received from
the sun must not, of course, be meas
ured by the nominal scale Of the Their.
mometer. Zero represents an amount
of warmth practically derived 10 its
entirety from the sun, compared with
which the difference between zero and
tropical sun heat is but trivial.
II is supposed that il the heat oil
the u were absolutely withdrawn the
temperature Of our atmosphere would
TALL to moro than 200o below zero Ia.
renheit, "a cold which, ii is needless Ia
say, no life could endure for many
hours. Similarly an increase Of the
total heat received from the sun,
though merely in the proportion Of
four to three, would produce a TEN.
perature of which no earthly life has
had any experience. 1t would raise
a summer temperature of 600 Fahren.
heit to at least l5Ua Fahrenheit
Were the suns heat doubled TO.
morrow we should be exposed to q
temperature of over 600o-that is Il
say, a heat sufficient to melt lead and
TO convert all the waters on the earth'i
surface into steam. The revolution
implied by the appearance Of a new
or the sudden brilhancy Of faint, stal
is infinitely greater than this, and
means nothing else than the total de
struction Of life on all the dependent
worlds. Yet awful as are such catas.
trophies, they hardly impress the i'm.
agiDation OF astronomers, and are re.
garded by the public with utter indif.
ference.