The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-03-08
Remarkable Comets,

The earliest observers of comets were
either among the Chinese or Ohaldeans.
Among the most ancient nations, espeo.
lally the Greeks and Romans, comets
were regarded as not only precursors
OF evil, but frequently also of good fort.
une. Thus in the year 344 B. @. the
appearance Of o great comet was thought
to be token of the success of limo,
Icons expedition to Sicily. Again, in
the year 1874 or 132 B. O., the birth of
the great Mithridates was signalizad
by two remarkable comets whose bright
ness, we arc told, eclipsed that of the
MONDAY sun, and which occupied a
! quarter OF the heavens. The accession
OF Mithridates in the year 118 B. @. to
tie throne of Pontus was likewise
marked by celestial Yisitant of the
same nature. A comet which shone in
the year 86 B, O. was thought by Pliny
to have been the forerunner of the civil
commotions which took place during
the consulship of Octavius, and another
which appeared in 43 B. G. was be-
lleyed to be the soul OF Julius Cesar
transported to tho heavens. Later on.
number of comets, during the reign cf
Nero, were seized on by that emperor
MS pretexts for all kinds of persecution.
Iacitus, referring to one Of these, re-
marks that it was 20 kind Of presage
which Nero always expiated with noble
BLOOD" Josephus relates that in 69 A.
d., among the terrible omena which
foretold the doom Of. Jerusalem, was
comet with q tail in the shape of
sword, which hung for yoar over the
city, Comets were frequently regard
ed III past times as the presugcs of tho
death OF some illustrious parsonage.
Comets aro said to have foretold the
death OF the Emperors Vespasian, Con-
stantine the Great, and Valentinian, of
Attlla the Hun, Mahomet, Louis the
Second, Richard C@ur dc Lion, Philip
OF Spain, Francis the Second, and many
other potentates too numerous to men-
ton. The historian Sozomenes do.
scribes n terrible comet which hung
over Constantinople in the year 400,
md was believed to be the cause of the
pestilence that devastated the o,ty.
During the Middle Ages comets were
almost universally considered as fore
telling calamities. We read leae Of them
as presaging an auspioious reign or
honoring tho birth Of great hero, than
hs the precursors of plague, famine, or
war In the year 1000 it was popularity
believed that the world was coming to
an end, and it may be easily imagined
that mems minds were il state ~ ex-
aggerate the Importance Of any phen-
oinenu in the heavens. Il comet which
was visible in that year for nine days,
was described as being shaped like
dragon, and as having many impossible
uccompaniments. Shortly before Will
liam tho Conaueror erossad to Brit IN,
a comet with three tails made it's
pearance. which was said by his 49, :.
iers to pro We the divine right Of the in
| vader to the throne. t."
This comet has been proved to be
Identical with that afterwards discov-
cred by HALEY. and had already ap-
peared several times, in the year 684
A. D., IL B. G., and possibly 1876 B.
| O., in which case it was the same as
that which announced tho birth of
Mithridates. Previous to tho time of
Newton the appearance and movements
OF comets were great puzzle to the
philosophers, and numerous were the
speonlations as to their nature. The
Chaldeans had by no means totally
false notion of the causes of their ap-
pearance and disappearance, attributing
them to the fact that they revolve IN
orbits for above the moon, so as to be
only visible to us during o small portion
of their revolution. They were also
right in believing them to be Of ma
ture allied to the planets rather than
nero atmospheric phenomena. This
view was adopted by the astronomer
Appolonius of Myndus, who as Seneca
relates, receives his ideas from the
Chaldeans. It was also held by Dloge-
nes, the Ionic philosopher, that, nip
pocrates of Chios, and several OF tho
Pythagorean school. Seneca had the
same opinion. The great comet Of 1861
created considerable of sensation by
the suddenness with which it blazed
out, and the shortness OF the time dur
ing which it was visible IN our lati-
tudes.