New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-20


omers disagree who shall decide
For the astronomical people do radically dis
agree touching the identity of the comet of
1880, and the effect which its future brilliant
career is to have upon the sun and the earth.
OF course they agree on some nOn-essential
points. For instance, they all hold, in effect,
that this comet could not travel i'll more
eccentric orbit If it were the National Green
back party itself. But their agreements are as
nothing compared to their disagreements.
They quarrel cOpiousy in their endeavor to
determine who the comet is. Some or them
argue that it is identical with the comet OF
1913; others that it answers to the description
of the comet of 1868 a third faction are con-
fident that it is the monsieur Tonson come
again whose first appearance was in 1906
One observer after closely inspecting it writes
that this menacing comet" as MIR. Proctor
calls the comet of 1880, is certainly not to be
COMPOUNDED with the comet OF 1913. In sup
port of this position he compares the tails OF
tho two comets, and shows that they fail to
correspond. The comet Of 1913 was so atfiu-
ent of tail that according to trustworthy
measurements, it was one hundred and htty
million miles long. The comet Of 1850 dld
not begin to have so imposing tail. Its tail
was about on par with its head, and both
head and tail Qike the head and tail of the
ticket which the last National Democratic
Convention nominated) lacked Especial brill
iancy." This astronomer makes strong argu-
ment against the theory that the comet of
1880 is the comet of 1913 but, after all, who
shall say that the latter has not suffered
portion of its phenomenally prodigious tail to
be locked since it commanded the attention
of this earth, forty years agol We can well
imagine that after a comet had become sur
feited with the fame which the possession OF
such tail would very properly bring to it, it
would soon weary of it and pine for terser
and more unObtrusive afterpiecc. SO great an
authority as Mr. Proctor is persuaded that the
comets of 1S43 and 1850 "really are the
same" On the contrary, Professor Charles y.
Young, Of Princeton, asserts that the identity
of the two has not been proved to the salts
faction of an intelligent jury. Elias Colbert,
Chicago astronomer, while admitting that the
comets of 1G6S, 1913 and 1850 have all pur
sued the same path, does not admit that they
are one and the same comet. Years ago PHncb
remarked that the way astronomers arrived at
planet or comet was to guess at half the dis
lance and multiply the result by two. The
storyis notparticularly Apostle But 1t occurred
to us just here, and we thought 1t well to tell
it before we forgot It, Does anybody suppose
that ono could guess who the comet Of 1850
was as effectually as the astronomers have
worked out the problem2
But If the astronomers are divided touching
the identity Of this sensational but heavenly
body, still further apart are they in regard to
the nature of it's future movements. Mr.. Marth
has informed the Royal Astronomical Society
of London that the comet of 1880 is going to
fall into the sun, in the course Of the next
quarter of a century. aud that, in cOnse-
ouence, the earth will no burned to
cinder. Of course Chicago, which has once
been through this experience can think
of the catastrophe with comparative eQua-
nimty. But the pen Of the readiest un-
derwriter cannot depict the Inconvenience it
would cause to the rest Of us. Still Mr..
Marth, although he is backed by Mr.. Proctor,
may be mistaken. Even Mother Shipton has
proved fallbe Mr. Proctor gives fair warning
that If this comet Of 1850 over does fall
into the sun, and on the whole he thinks that
is where it will bring up, the result will be
"to excite the frame of the sun to lustre far
exceeding that with which he at present
"shines, and the sudden access Of lustre and
"of heat would prove destructive to every
Giving creature or at any rate, to all the
"higher forms of life upon earth" This
is sufficiently narrowing for people with
nerves, who are egOtistical enough to
believe that they belong to the higher forms
of life upon earth. But let them look before
they leap INTO the abyss of despair Professor
Young hopes better things Of the comet Of
1880. He trusts that if it falls into the sun it
will do so by piecemeal and at intervals, and
so not make our weather too warm to be en-
durable. Mr.. w. Mattieu Williams, author of
"The Fuel of the Sum- and q well known
scientist is still more reassurng to the insurance
companies. In a late number of The GeRtlcman'S
Nqqa:ine he concludes an article on Comet
ary Collision with the sun" as follows
Summing up all these considerations, I ven
ture to conclude that if the comet of 1850,
or any other comet, shOuld presently shower
" its contents into the sun, its utmost effect
upon Us here IN England will be an improve
" ment of the harvest of the succeeding years,
a. and upon our neighbors little further south
:" fuller ripenng of their grapes, justifying the
" old tradition concerning comet vintages."
Such is the character and such the tendency
Of the comet of 1880. And since both char
acter and tendency are possibly dangerous and
at the best uncertain, all prudent men must
feel that it is comet that will bear watching.
As for the duty of the sun in the premises, we
need say nothing. 1t is too obvious. An extra
stout picket fence warranted to keep out
comets would appear to be one of the great
popular wants of that luminary.
MONEY And BUSINESS.
Tho hanks Gained LARGELY last week and