San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-01-04
COMETS.
Ma, One Ever Struck the Esrthi


T. there anything incredible or even
nr;sing in the hypothesis that q
umet might have struck the earth in
e co.. rsmote past9 Is it not rather a
us .veI. Mr.. Donnelly suggests, thai
nai Garth should escape collision for a
u. ,;mgIe century? Kepler affirmed that
sln Ssts are scattered through the heav-
eOu u With as much profusion as are
s snT in the ocean. Arago estimated
as fine comets belonging to the solar
ln within the orbit of Neptune
syS"'hered 17,5O0,00O. Lambert re-
nsrds soc, 900, 900 as a very moderate
SSSt;mate. These computations, how
sU0r do not include the fiery wander
e ers who may at any moment visit us
s.om outside the solar system. But
how many of these comets come near
.ho orbit of the earth? 1t is certain
t t some actually intersect its orbit,
While others approach it very closely.
In the former category may be men
,;oned Gambart's comet, Brorsen' s
.omet Encke's comet, Halley's comet.
The comet discovered October 10,
1890. by Louis Swift, of Rochestes,
n " was only distant from the earth
about tenth of one per cent. of the
distance of the earth from the sun.
The new comet, discovered June %,
1891. was at it's nearest point distant
loss than one-third of one per cent. OF
tbSdistance of the sun from the earth.
In the year 1779 Lexcll's comet ap-
nroacbed the earth so closely that it
would have increased the length OF
the sidereal year by three hours if its
mass had been equal to the earth's.
This same comet did actually strike
our fellow planet Jupiter, or, at all
events, became so entangled among
Jnniter's satellites as to lose its orig
;nal orbit. Not one of the satellites
altered it's movements hairs breadth,
INIT # must be remembered that we
had then and have now no glasses
that would enable us to discern the
effects of a visitation upon the surface
Of Jupiter or it's moons. The comet
might have covered Jupiter with clay
and gravel 100 feet or 100 miles thick,
and have formed clouds of it's seas five
miles in thickness, without our know
ing anything about it.
Many of the comets belonging to
the solar system are so small that
their contact with the earth might
produce but trifing results. Yet even
the admixture of an inconsiderable
norton of comet gas with our atmos-
phere might produce local disturbances
of a serious character. Humboldt
EXPRESSED in Cosmos" the opinion
that the vapor in the tails of comets
mingled with our atmosphere In the
wears 1919 and 1928. There is reason
to believe that part of the gaseous
prolongation of Biela's comet came IN
contact with the earth between 1852
and 1872, and Mr.. Donnelly would
ascribe to this cause the remarkable
confagrations which, in the autumn
of 1871, broke out with all the sud
denness of spontaneous combustion IN
Wisconsin, Michigan and Northern
Illinois. It is certain that this small
comet crossed the orbit of the earth
in 1882 only month before the earth
arrived at the same point, and that IN
1889 and 1916 it came nearer and
nearer to collision, having actually
been split in two by it's proximity to
the earth. In 1852, 1859 and 1866
this little comet should have returned,
but it did not. 1t was lost. 1t was
dissipated. That it's material was
hanging somewhere in fragments
about the earth is proved by the fact
that in November, 1872, it was re-
discovered moving off from the earth
into space it had decided nucleus,
but the tail was gone. The meteor
shower experienced in Europe in No
vember, 1872, is unhesitatingly as
cribed to the fall of gravel stones once
belonging to the tail of the Blela
comet, but which, as they fell, blazed
and consumed themselves with the
friction of our atmosphere.-N.f.S ""'