The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-11-27

that il had been seen on ten previous 70
turns, its period being about six and three
quarter years. In 1886 ID performed The
most extraordinary feat ever recorded OF a
comet mp to that time by splitting into
two parts. TIL separate portions of the
comet swung around the sun almost side
by side. but separated by a gap Of upwards
of 200. 600 miles. In 1852 the two oometa
returned. their distance apart having in.
creased TO more than q million and y hall
Of miles. When they were next
due they could not be found.
and it was mot until 1879 that
astronomers got track Of the missing and
divided comet. On the night of November
81, in that year. a fiery rain was ~aprinkled
from the foot of Andromeda, and the or
bit of these metsors proved to be coincident
with that of the missing comet, which
should then have paid US another visi..
In truth a cometary mass. not unlike the
one now visible. was seen from the south
ern hemisphere apparently retrenting from
the earth after the meteor shower, which
has Just been mentioned as having occurred
in the northern hemisphere. and IL was
at first supposed shat this was the very
swarm which had encountered the globe
and sprinkled its dust over it. Afterward
IL was shown shat the comstary object in
question was probably yet another mstsoric
cloud which had departed from the parent
mass of Bisla's now disintsgrated comet.
Now 1t 10 to be remarked that during the
display of mstsors I have described. al
though the sky was aglow with the flying
sparks, not n reached the ground. They
were all consumed in the atmosphere.
Again in November. 1885, the earth met
some of the debris of Bisla's comet and
there was another shower OF failing
stara," but az before they were burned up
before reaching the ground. II is true that
during this meteorio display Of 1886 an iron
meteorite. " aighing about ten pounds. fell
near Mazarii, in Mexico. This meteorite,
which is now. I believe. in a museum in
Vienna. was at first thought by some to be
a piece of Biela's comet" but no satis-
factory proof of its identity as such has
ever been produced, and it is highly proba-
BILE that it was, like all known metsorites
which have touched the earth, u~nconneoted
with any meteor swarm. and its fall during
the prevalence of the Biela shower was
simply a condolences. II is plain, then,
that the history OF our previous meetings
with meteoric clouds belonging to the
oroken-up comet of Biela, gives US reason
for thinking that there are probably no
masses included in the debris of that comet
large and compact enough to survive the
fiery passage of st least eighty or 100 miles
which awaits them if they undertake to
penetrate our atmosphere.
But while | am certain that the coming
comet will not strike the earth vet. if il ia a
part of the Blela cometsry system, 1 think |
1t probable that about Nov. ~ we shall see
an unusual number of meteors radiatinp
from the constellation of Andromeda, near
the point whore the comet now appears.
The reason for this expectation is that.
what we do of the wonderful dis
that the substance of this comet has
experienced. it is but fair to conclude that
strewn for millions of miles along the orbit
in which the comet travels, far in advance
OF and far behind the chief mass. there
must be a large number of meteorio par-
tloles. and when the earth crosses their path
about Nov. q, many of them will plunge
INTO the atmosphere and be there consumed.
A word as to the effect of such e%xtraneous
entering the atmosphere and being
into dust and vapor. It has been
asserted that epidemic diseases might be
bred from such a source. There is no good
ground for any such prediction. II the
mass of the approaching comet could
be consumed in the atmosphere it would
not add az much dust and vapor to it a.
we're belched out by the great explosion of
krakatoa in 1888 and subsequently borne
ound the globe by the winds. Besides,
modern researches tend more and more to
prove that dangerous epidemics arise from
microscopic living organisms. Last sum-
mer we were told that simple boiling was
to kill the dread bacillus of chol-
ora. What then of the fate that would await
any micrococci emanatlng from the comet,
sven if it were the very breeding place of
The great death? One hundred Thousand
above the boiling point is the dc.
lance of the atmosphere.
GARRETT p. SERvIss.