Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-05-31
attistellaneou5 8rading.
THE STAR Of BETHLEHEM.

some Time ago various newspapers
of Europe and America contained the
startling intelligence that the star
which guided the "Wise Men" would
again appear. This star was connect
ed with that celebrated one which,
91S years ago, suddenly disappeared
from the constellation of Cassiopeia,
and it was found that this star of 1872
had previously appeared in the years
1864 and 945, and, if counted back,
must have appeared in the year of the
birth of Christ. If these facts were
we'll established, we must certainly
expect the star to appear again in our
days. We should then see new body
in the heavens, entirely unlike any
fixed star, to be seen in full daylight,
which would in q short time again dis
appear. Every astronomer in recent
times has asked hundreds of questions
on this subject. Is it true that the
Star of Bethlehem will again appear? ?
Is it periodical? Is its place in the
sky appointed? The next question is,
What really happened in 1872?
1t was few months after St. Barthol-
omew's Night, Tycho Brahe, the great
observer of those days, tells us, that :
"One evening, as I was watching the
heavens in my accustomed manner, l
saw, to my great astonishment, in the
constellation of Cassiopeia, brilliant
star of unusual clearness." This was
on November II, 1872. Three days
before the star had been seen by Cor
nelius Gemma, who spoke of it as "this
new Venus" In December of the
same year it's luster began to wane !;
and in March, 1874, it had entirely
disappeared, leaving no trace. As to
the stars of 945 and 1864, we have no
authority except that of the Bohemian
astrologer, Cyprian Lowitz. No his
torian mentions them, and the Chinese
chroniclers, who watched all appear
ances in the sky with great care, do
not speak of them. Even granting the
appearance of these stars to have been
a fact, their resemblance to the Star of
Bethlehem is doubtful. 1t is true that
by counting back we come to the years
$50, 315 and 0; but the star should
have again appeared some time be-
tween 1880 and 1891.
With regard to the Star of Bethle-
hem there are five assumptions: W
1t had no existence, and the entire
statement is beautiful Oriental fairy
tale. (2) The fixed star, seen by the
Wise Men, was Venus, at the time of
its greatest splendor. (S 1t was a
periodical star like that of 1872. (D
The phenomenon was occasioned by a
conjunction of planets. (S 1t was a
comet. Of these assumptions the most
probable is the second. Thatit was a
periodical star is scarcely likely, for
Ptolemy and Ma-tuan-lin would have
spoken of it. The fourth statement
was suggested in 1926 by the German
astronomer Ideler, and repeated by
Encke in 1881. In the year B. c.,
there were conjunctions of the planets
Jupiter, Mars and Saturn on May 80,
September and December 5, but on
none of these days were the planets
nearer together than degree, so that
the Wise Men must have been very
near-sighted to take them for one star.
The fifth assumption is also not to be
considered, for people already knew
how to distinguish a comet from other
stars, and, besides we have no knowl.
edge of "a comet at that time. For all
these reasons we have not the least
occasion to expect the return of the
Star of Bethlehem at the close of our
century. And even if such a star
should appear, it would simply be the
Goth such case observed in historical
times, and the interest attached to it
would be purely astronomical.-Ca-
mile Flammarion in Deutsch Revue.