St. Landry democrat., 1890-03-08
ITO be continued
The Moons Influence.

The Moons Influence.
HOW FAR DOES IT EXTEND OVER THI
GLOBE AND ITS OCCUPANTS?
Within two short years pseudo SCIENTIST
and would be Smart Alexis" hav,
allowed their opinions to undergo q radi
cal change. In predicting the ultimat.
fate of the earth they no longer calculate
that the suns fires will gradually burr
out, and that the temperature will COO
until the charging glacial zones drive
shivering humanity toward the equator
where the remnants of the mighty nations
will be crowded out of existence or perish
from excessive cold. Neither did they
profess to believe now, as they once did
that our water supply will eventually
become exhausted. We are no longer
bounded to death with the idea that the
surface of the earth will subsequently be
devoured by the restless roll of the
ocean. The astrologer who few years
ago warned US of the impending danger
to which we were being subjected on
account of the perihelion of Uranus, Sat
urn, Neptune and Jupiter is however,
now in his element. 1t was in 1880,
believe, not further back than 1878, at
any rate, that this occult seer promised US
fifteen years Of suffering and death.
Counting from the last date given, the
time during which the atmosphere, &C
cording to his opinion, will reek with bale
| full influences, is not finished by over
three years. Hear what the communer
with the unknowable says in regard to
"Perihelion and Pestilence -
TRYING TIMES.
During the fifteen years following the
| year 1880 the vitality of every living thing
viii be put to severe and trying ordeal
Evidence in abundance points to great
disasters, unexampled cold and a preva-
| lence of flood and disaster in all directions.
We do not write to alarm any one, nor to
make sensation. Readers can judge for
themselves what importance to attach to
the subject That the conjoint perihelion
of all the large planets of the solar sys-
tenn, one of which, Jupiter, is 1000 times
larger than our earth, must disturb our
atmosphere and temperature very consid-
erably is probable, that this disturbance
must be Injurious to health and life is
certain, and that these periods have hith-
erto been pestilential is a matter Of
record. How much we shall suffer dur
ing the next twelve or fifteen years
depends very much upon how nearly we
live in accordance with the laws of life
In the estimation of the superstitious
(the msjority of the human race come
under that heading education and boosted
Nineteenth century enlightenment not
withstanding) the prophecies Of the IN
known seer have, to degree at least,
been startlipgly fulfilled. Surely we have
had atmospheric disturbances enough to
be considered verifcations of the widest
imaginings of this "prophet of evil.
The most disastrous floods and the
most violent tempests of the last thous.' d
years have occurred since the ''Perihelion
and Pestilence" prophecy appeared in the
Science of Health. Earthquakes have
claimed $4,000 victims, and other
disasters twice as many more. Seven
comets ssshook their fiery names" during
the season of 1881, followed Immediately
by period of red suns and blue moons,
What effect, if any, the extraordinary
aspect of our sun setting ia sea of fire,
or of the moon hiding her face behind
cerulean veil, has on terrestrial inhabit-
ants the writer will not attempt to say;
that in her normal condition she exerts
mighty condition for veal or woe, he does
not doubt.
THE MOON AND THE SCIENTISTS.
The great scientists and astronomers
concur in the opinion that only the ignorant
common people believe the moon to exeT-
else an influence over human affairs; only
to tell us on the next page of monstrous
tides invisibly put in motion and induced
by the very sgency sneered at in pre-
ceed1ng chapter. That our attendant sat-
elite does exert powerful influence over
our little globe may be inferred from what
we know of it's tioe producing power alone.
AS our planet sweeps along at an unthink-
able rate of speed it is drawn toward the
moon very perceptibly, enough to produce
tides on opposite sides of the earth's sur
face at the same time.
If these great mountains of water can be
put in motion by the 'spale, white orb of
night" why should we not attribute it to
minor influences, even though they be of
detrimental or pestilential character De-
nying the truth in the case can never help
matters. "But how can the moon be the
cause of tides in America and in China at
the same timer" some one says. Accord
ing to the best authority on the subject of
tides, that part of tie earths surface
which is turned away from the moon or
sun has smaller degree of attraction than
the side next the luminary exerting the |
sspulling" power; thus. in effect, leaving
the water behind and producing tide on
the opposite, as well as on the side acted |
upon directly by the force of gravity.
The moon is now $40, 900 miles away ;
biologists and astronomers tell us that |
there was time when it was only 10000
miles distant, only one-sixth of what it is
at the present moment. The tides of to-
day average all the way from three to fifty
feet. Say that they are now three feet at
the Eads jetties at the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi; what would be the result of the
moon being brought fve-sixth nearer, or
back to the old mythical 40, 900 mile mark
Instead of tides being three feet at the
mouth of the parent of waters, they would
rise to height of 648 feet The whole
Of the Mississippi valley would present
the appearance of vast beach ST. Louis
would be covered out of sight, and waves
sorty-eight feet high would flow through
the streets of Chicago into Lake Michigan.
The writer is not an astrologer, astronomer
or soothsayer; he knows nothing of
adivinations" or black art does not even
profess to believe that we are on TIE eve
Of pestilential visitation, but will not
deny believing in moon infuences.-Joh's
W. Wright, IN st. Louis RfpG6ss;.