Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-10-26

mass Of the earth. and entirely inca
pable OF appreciable effect upon our
temperature. Assuming even the largest
estimate Give hundred tons n day1 and
also that the average velocity with
which meteOrs enter our atmosphere is
fifteen miles . second (probably con-
siderably too large). we find that the
heat annually received from them by
the earth Is only about fifty-three Gallo
ries Tor each square meter of her sur
face-less than would be impaired by
two minutes perpendicular sunshine,
and only about 100000 of the heat ac-
tually received from the sun in year.
Retaining the same extravagant estimate
of hVe hundred tons a day, il appears
thai The earth's diameter would grow
an inch in about one hundred millions
OF years, and that her distance from the
sun would be reduced about eighty.
three feet in a million wears, in conse-
Puence OF the resistance experienced in
moving through the meteoric swarms.
III would not. however, be Just to the
general reader to dismiss the subject with
out ia notice that some most eminent
rs ronomcrs hold views at variance with
those above expressed. The late Prof.
Peircc maintained to the end that the
heat of the sun is chiefly due to the i'm.
pact OF meteOrs, and also that the earth
Itself receives rs much heat from meteors
as from the sun, a necessary result il
the solar heat is really so produced. OF
course we have no space to discuss the
matter here, and must be content with
merely saying that the quantity of mat
ter which falls upon the earth, if his
idea IS correct. ought TO be easily no:
ticeable, amounting 60 about fifty tons a
day ON each square mile. II involves
also serious difficulties in the planetary
theory. 60
Solar rs human beings arc concerned,
the most important question connected
with our subject i whether ANYTHING is
TO be fear'd from comets, rs cSIise-
quenee sitLer sf collisiopswith the earth
or Of their fall into The sun. II may be
said, Just rs of the stars before, FIRST
that cometary collisions either with sun
or earth, must be Every rae occurrences:
and. secondly, that they are practically
certain TO happen some time or other.
Babinet computed, on the one hand
that a comet would Strike the Garth Oh
the average about once in u. OO0. no
years; on the other, ne know II least
three comets who's, orbits cut the
earth's path so closely That if they
should ever reach the crossing nj the
same time as the earth collision must
occur. These comets arc known rs
Biela's 5, Temples 5. followed by the Leo
MD mctcoes in its train. and the comet
otrle62. which precedes tho Perseids
One OF the three. however (Biela's), has
PROBABLY ceased u exist rs a comet,
and it is quite possible that The other
two may vanish In. TIC same way before
we meet them.
As to cometary encounters with the
sun. no comet has yet been known
actunlly To strike the sun, but several
have graZed very near IL. The great
comet of last year brushed through tie
cOfoRa, and eams within. three hundred
thousand miles of the photosphcre, and
thcre.is no assignable reason why; some
other comet should not actually pierce it,
Asto the, consequences OF n comets
collision with the earth, it is impossible
to predict them with scientific certainty;
probably, however, they would be insig-
niiicant. We know absolutely that the
whole quantity of matter in comet
Technically, its NASTY is extremely
small &C impaired with that of the earth
but just how small no one can saw. II
Is impossible to contradict authorita-
lively either the man who SAYS he could
carry comet home in his pocket if
properly packed, or one who asserts that
n comets nucleus is equivalent to an
iron ball one hundred miles in diameter.
An attempt has been made to get ut the
density of the central MI ,leus on the as
sumption that it holds to itself the enor-
nous volume of the head and envelopes
by Its graviiatiOnal attraction, rs if the
surrounding nebulosity were an atmos-
phere in equilibrium around the nucleus;
but the assumption is more than doubt
full, and the derived conclusion, OF
course, is of little value. 1t seems, on
the whole. more probable that n comet
Is throughout only cloud of dust and
VapOr-a mere smoke wrcath-than that
there is at the center any solid kernel OF
preponderant mass.
Ii CONT really has at the center
any great mass of stone or iron, or even
n clOSc-packcd swarm OF aerolitcs
weighing ton or two apiece, collision
with IL would of course be n most seri-
GUS matter, spreading devastation and
contiagratiOn possibly over half the
globe ut once; not amounting, proba-
bly,, 10 anything like destruction of the
world, but far more disastrous than any
earthquake or volcanic eruption. IL is
far more likely. however. that the en-
counter with n Gomez, would be entirely
harmless-simply q most magnificent
and brilliant shower of shooting stars
lasting for an hour or two-a phenom-
.enon which one might wei desire 10
see.
As for the effect of collision be.
tween n comet and the sun. IN respect
to which there has been much disduiet-
Ing speculation of late. the probability
is that we on the earth, should never
know II, unless we -happened to be ex-
pressly watching the event. For few
minutes, just as the nucleus was pierc-
ing the photOsphere.f there might be
some unusual flash ofsbriIiiancs and a
fine outburst Of solar prominences, fol-
lowed. perhaps, and very probably, By
intense magnetic and atirdraf disturb.
ances ON the earth; but the main ther-
NAL Transformation of the impingiLg en-
ergy would be effected far below fhs
visible surface of the sun, and would
result merely in slight expansion Of its
bulk. far too slight TO be dctec;ed by
terrestrial astronomers. 4. YDunq,
in North Amerieun ReUieto. -
So
Va M,,ro I,,s..~ No.