The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-10-13
FORETOLD BY COMETS
Is THE EARTH INFLUENCED BY
THESE CELESTIAL TRAvELERss
Supposed TO Have Foreshadowed Ma
p~oIeon's Career, the American Civil
War and other Events.

maintained DS dSlfOlOSefS or ali ages.
Albumazar tells Us that comets. becoming
first visible in Aries. signify evil to the
countries ruled by that sign, and that
drought will be especially prevalent. Now,
the comet of 1870 appeared in Aries, the
sign of Germany, and in that year the
Franco-German war was begun and sew
eral districts in Europe suffered severely
from drought. Donatfs comet appeared in
1865. and was followed by the Italian war
OF 1853. The appearance OF the great comet
OF 1861 conceded with a most destructive
cOnfagration in London, and was immedi-
ately followed by the outbreak of the civil
war in this country. The assassination of
President Lincoln belongs TO the same
epoch This comet appeared in Gemini,
the sign Of the United States and London.
The great comet Comet b was first seen
in Gemini on May %, 1881, and on July 9
of the same year President Garfield was
shot. Tn same period was noted for its vi
client storms and hurricanes. Now, the
ancient astrologers taught that the appear
ance Of a comet in Genini always signifies
severe tempests and the death of some IL
l~uStrious man.
Evidences Of a like nature abound in his
tory. A comet tenanted the heavens for
several months before the birth of the
6AN6~ -No1O-CCHs c-HA G1NCtAACA O4C vi vast
splendor became visible ct the beginning of
September. 1871. when he was at the height
Of his glory. More curious still, it attained
it's greatest luster In the latitude OF Paris,
and it vanished over the latitude Of Cor
sica- When Napoleon was dying a comet
appeared again-for the third time in his
notable life.
In 1906 a comet appeared in England in
the watery sign OF Scorpio, and soon after
ward there was a terrible inunadtion in
Bristol. Somersetshire, Norfolk and the
eastern counties. Nostladamus, by the
way, predicted his flood in 1866, fifty years
before it took place.
Oriental ~potentates have for centuries
been swayed greatly by comets. Timour,
when one appeared, consulted AbduIIah
Lisson, a famous astrologer. and was in
formed hat it presaged the utmost dis
aSterS TO his enemies, and especially to the
Ottoman Empire. Abdullah predicted thus,
seeing that the comet was in the west of
Timour's dominfons and in the sign of
Aries. Timour prepared for war, entered
the enemies territory and utterly over
threw them. In the reign of Selim the
Second Q752) there appeared a comet, which
had the brightness. and magnitude of Venus.
This excited the monarch's apprehensions,
which were augmented by the predictions
of his a~strologers, who foretold that this
phenomenon announced the calamities
which excessive rain would infiict upon the
empire. Forty days afterward," says the
historian, they imagined themselves
threatened with a universal deluge; inces-
SAINT rains overlooked the monarch's domin-
ions in Europe and Asia, laid waste three
OF his chief cities, swept away men, cattle
and houses, and rendered the bridges and
public roads impossible for several weeks"
Winston has conjectured that the deluge
mentioned in the Bible was produced by
the near approach of a comet to the earth,
and he further surmises that the end of the
world may be produced by the approach
of a comet prodigiously heated in its peri
helion. 1t is interesting TO compare his
views on the subject with those expressed
by NJ. Flammarion, in his book entitled La
Fin du Monde"
VIEWS OF THE ANCIENTS.
Even the great Charlemagne regarded
comets as p~ortents. Seeing one appear a
few weeks before his death he consulted
his astronomers, and in reply to his secre-
tary. Eginhard. who urged him not to
grow uneasy, he said that he was not dis
mayed at such signs, but feared the Divine
am VI tACAAAs VIZ 0~@ho 49, "N~s
anger against a people or a prince. is
wont in this way to admonish them of
his wrath and to call them TO repentance.
Other famous men held similar opinions.
Cicero writes tina I'm the civil war be-
tween Octavius Augustus and Mark Antony
it was observed that. comets were the har-
bingers of the miseries that then befell
them,' and expresses the opinion that
''such appearances foretell great events
Pliny writes: "A fearful star this comet
is. and not easily expiated. as it appeared
by the late civil troubles when Octavius
was consul. as also a second time by the
intestine war OF Pompey and Caesar. and
In our lays about the time that
Claud:us Caesar was poisoned and left
the empire to Domitius Nero, in the time
of whose reign and government there. was
a blazing comet continually SEEN" Seneca
exlaims: some comets are very cruel and
threaten US with the worst of mischiefs;
they bring with them and leave behind
them the seeds of blood and slaughter
Socrates, writing of the siege of Constan-
tinople, says: so great was the danger
that huns over the city that 1t was fore
told by a huge blazing comet, that reached
from heaven 10 earth. he like of which no
man ever saw before" Anna Commend,
the daughter of Emperor Alexius, speaking
of a comet that appeared before the in
vasion Of the Gauls. says: This happened
by the usual administration of Providence
in such cases, for it is not fit that so
great and strange an alteration of things
as was brought TO pass by that coming Of
theirs should be without some previous de-
nunciation and admonishment from
heaven"
FEARED IN ALL AGES
Machiavelli. writing on the same sub
ject, says: Experience shows that some
great comnotions are the consequence Of
such signs as these Milichius. a noted
mathematician. says: much experience
and observation shows that comets an
ncunce great slaughter to the world. such
as sacking OF cities. subversion Of king
doms ana other public disasters" The
learned Grotius observes that Comets and
fiery swords and such like signs are wont
to be the f-orerunners of great changes in
the world" Raphael tells Us that "The
great comet in 1850, followed by a lesser
one in Isss. was evidently the forerunper
OF all those remarkable n disastrous
events that ended in the revolution of
less. IL also evidently presaged the revoca-
ff0, of Tho eafo. Of Nantes and the crf1el