Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-04-05
COMETS.
Bishop Clark in the n. Y.

COMETS.
Bishop Clark in the n Y. Ledger.
Last year we were favored with visit by
one of the most beautiful comets that has
appeared in modern times Millions of
eyes looked upon it; some with scientific
interest many with vague and unthinking
curiosity some with solemn awe, and some
with fear and dread. From the earliest
ages, and in all quarters of the world, this
erratic wanderer of the heavens has been
regarded as the harbinger of dire events
and the prophet of woe.
"When beggars die there are no comets seen
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death Of
princes
Comets have batfled the investigations of
science, and their origin, constitution and
purpose, in days gone by, have been remit
ted to the region of "the unknown and the
unknowable." They come and go; some
times in accordance with the prediction of
astronomers, and sometimes when they are
not expected, sweeping round the sun
with inconceivable velocity, and then, with
the new impetus acquired by this close con-
tact with the great solar luminary, they
shoot off into space, Ikea stone hurled from
a sling, and are seen no more for ages.
Some are enormously large, and with an
incalculable orbit, while others are of COM
paratively moderate dimensions and keep
within reasonable limits. In 1862 a comet
appeared which accomplished it's orbit in
six years and three-quarters, re-appeared in
1882, when, if it had been on hand only one
month earlier, it would have struck the
earth. AS it was, it came near enough to
our globe to split itself in two, and went
careering off, each part with its own head
and tail, and about $4,000 miles apart. The
look very much like the head of goose
with a brilliant eye in the centre, and long,
open beak, and gosling alongside of much
smaller size, but constructed after the same
fashion with its father. thought to have re-
turned in 1852, but it has never appeared
again, the presumption being that the shock
which it received from its vicinity to the
earth was too much for it, and so it went to
ruin. The two heads may have gone off
somewhere, and are perhaps wandering
about to-day in an aimless manner, but
"they left their tales behind them," and
ceased to be comets any more.
In the year 1867 comet came SO near the
great planet Jupiter as to derange it's course,
"and went bobbling around Jupiter until
1779, when it became entangled with Jupl-
ter's moons, and then it lost its orbit again,
and was whisked off into infinite space, new
er more, perhaps. to be seen by human
eyes,"
Nine years ago comet came between the
earth and sun, travelling at the rate OF 800
miles per second (more than 100000 miles
per hour y and when it took it's sharp turn
around the sun the distance between the
two was only six times the breadth of the
suns face. 1t is very possible that the sun
might swallow up quantity of the smaller
comet fry without feeling itmuch and with
out its making any perceptible impression
upon us but to consume at one meal such
a creature as appeared in 1S43, with tail
long enough to reach from the earth to the
sun-with fifty million miles of tail to
spare-might tax the digestion Of even such
mighty being as the sun.
We are accustomed to regard the comet as
a somewhat rare phenomenon, but Kepler
affirms that "comets are scattered through
the heavens with as much profusion as fish
es in the ocean," and those which belong
to our solar system are counted by millions:
1t may be we'll for us that only an occasional
visitor intersects the orbit of the earth for,
even as it is, we have sometimes come very
near hitting one Of these fiery monsters.
What would be the consequences OF an act
ual collision tmay be difficult to determine:
There are scientific men who say that COM
cts, so far at least as their tails are concern
ed are made of such light and tenuOus ma
terial that we might 60 directly through
them, without any danger, and perhaps
without knowing it while there are Others
who believe that contact with comet would
be disastrous. Even if there were no solid
substances in the comet capable Of doing
harm, there may be, and undoubtedly there
are gases and electric potencies Which it
In fc, tol, To
A recent writer, to whom l am indebted
for many of my facts, describes what is 60
ing On in the heavens as "a celestial game of
ten-pins, with the solar system for bowl
ing alley, and the earth waiting for a ten
strike" 1t is not pleasant picture, but L
do not think that we need concern ourselves
about the danger to be apprehended in that
quarter; whatever may have happened in
the earlier periods of the world, we have
been going on quietly enough for many
thousands of years. and shall probably con-
tinue to do so for many ages to come. 1t Is
the opinion of the writer from whom have
quoted that in ages long past there were
collisions of comets with the earth, and he
has just published very ingenious and en-
tertaining book to prove it.
More space would be required than is at
my command to give anything like salts
factory statement of his argument. He has
ransacked the literature Of all nations for le-
gends and myths which indicate the tradi-
tions of such an event, and summons the
Bible to his aid after fashion that would
astonish the ancient commentators. He is
evidently well posted in astronomical SCI
ence, and is we'll worth studying, whatever
one may think Of his conclusions. The title
of the book to which 1 refer is Rdy7adrok,
which means the "rain of dust"
L.. al. 10 and Ii
tions of life on the earth have not always
been what they are now. Tropical plants
once flourished in the arctic, and tropical
beasts roamed there, which by some sudden
and awful catastrophe, were destroyed:
The destruction must have been swift, and
probably instantaneous, because the flesh OF
these animals is found in perfect preserva-
ton, no time for decomposition having oc-
Cured after their death. Later on, sheet
of ice enveloped the greater part OF the
earth, and at some period the line of the
elliptic appears. to have been changed.
What changes may await the world IN 1u-
ture times heaven only knows. Its enough
for us to know that there is supreme and
all-wise Power behind all the phenomena
of nature and that He doeth all things well.
AS the globe on which we live had begin
ming, so it must, sooner or later, have an
end. "The things which are seen are tenn
poral - it is only "the things that are not
seen which are eternal"
The GREAT WALL OF CHINA.--An
American engineer who, being engaged in
the construction of a railway in China, has
had unusually favorable opportunities OF eX-
amining the famous Great WALL built to OBJ
struct the incursions of the Tartars, gives the
following account Of this wonderful work:
g