The Red Cloud chief., 1882-06-22

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more Interesting hcaa>e mn a sc3sace
are no exscfly ia accord uppa T. NJ.
Procttr h not fix only astronomer Who
| thinks that IL ever the worsd 10 to be de-
ssroyed with he.; IL sill be when . great
comet plunges into the san. Even those
who think Mr.. Proctor IL mistaken IN
his coneissioas admit thai. xivrna com-
c; big enough and massive enough. IN
doabieiiy 10 fail upon The sun would
| prove disas;rous io the earth Bat they
say Il would require = body having ,
mass something like that IL Jupiter 90
produce such effects. and compared with
Jupiter the mos; massive comets ever
seen are mere pigmies- besides. there
seems good reason 10 believe thsf a
comet would. on approaching close
enough To the sun. be pulled 10 pieces
and 80 drop pieeemeal into the great
orb. the fall being prolonged PERHAPS
through many revolutions, 50 tina; the
accession of hea; caused by the con-
version Ut the comets motion would be
distributed over q considerable period
ii time. Besides. n Prof. Young has
pointed out, IL n comet fell into th. sun
the increase II bea; would be mainly
used up in producing expansion u the
suns orb. and would aftcrward
be- radiatesi out again through q
long space III years. Another very in
icresting objection has been raised 10
Mr.. Prpcior's theory. namely. iha; as
thrce-guarters Of the surface which the
earth presents To the sun IL covered
deep with water. such an increase of
the suns heat rs the fall Of = comet
might produce would cause a great in
crease Of evaporation, which would use
up the extra heat, and 50 protect the
earth from harm. According 10 this view
We are reasonably safe 50 long as the
oceans last and the sun does not get too
hot.
OF course the reply may he male To
these objections that. although no
known comet is great enough q cause
us harm by its downfall upon the earth.
Vet We do not know but that comets
exist thousands OF times more massive
than any that human eyes have ever
seen, and that such a comet may nj
some time pay Us Il visit. In fact. we
have had n rather distant view Of one
comet that really seemed to belong TO
al order Of magnitude different from
that of ordinary comets-a sort of
celestial whale among fishes. This was
the famous comet OF 1911, which had q
head almost as big as the sun itself.
But it kept far away. its perihelion
being some ninety million
miles. II such 4 comet n that
should rush upon the sun, Mr.. Proctor
thinks. it would soon show US what
it could do. But his opponents say that
cven the downfall Of the comet Of 1911, |
although il might make the weather I'm.
comfortably hot for us. would not eds
the elements with fervent heat"
Those who may have a lingering suspi-
cion Of danger can take comfort in the
fact that when this huge comet disap-
il was travelling on a track that
have carried il uncounted billions
Of miles away from the solar system, SO
that il is not likely to return in thou
sands of years. il ever. That the as
themselves are not much
is shown by the fact that they
are all very anxious To witness the prom
ised spectacle of the downfall of a comet
1897 or Whereabouts.
Whether the coming comets close
approach To the sum will throw any
on this interesting question Of
course cannot be fcrctold, but all the
indications are that il will pay
IS respects to the ruler Of the solar sys-
em with royal splendor. presenting
perhaps such a scene as was witnessed
yhen the great comet of 1864. which
TO return as expected. in 1850,
'panned the heavens with its tail. In
he meantime there is no occasion for
anybody 10 be alarmed. but good reason
or everybody to rejoice that we are
likely to witness one Of the grandest
phenomena of the skics.-Ne,o York