The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-03-05
TURNED ABOUT
And Is Now Travelling the 9th
er Way.
THE PERRINE COMET

Could Not Injure the Earth, Even If
a Collision Had Taken Place Some
thing on a Subject of Great Interest.
There is no danger OF collision be-
tween the earth and the Perrine comet.
This comet, which is just now exciting
so much interest, is now whirling along
in space millions of miles away from this
planet, and going in a direction that
takes it hourly further away. At the
present time the threatened destroyer of
I the world is near the Lacerta constellation
and moving rapidly toward Cassi Peia,
where it will arrive either Wednesday or
Thursday morning. The comet may
collide with the latter constellation,
which is about 60, 900, 900 miles from the
sun.
In talk with Cincinnati scientist, he
was asked:
Had any Of the comets of 1868 or 1889,
the greatest of modern times,
come into contact with the word, what
would have been the effeCt?'
81 do not think that it would have
affected us in the least. Possibly some
large fires might have taken place and an
immense amount of meteors would have
fallen all over the world, but as to de-
stroying the world, why, there would not
be the least danger, and do not believe
that it would be possible to destroy this
earth by simple collision with comet,
no matter how large it might be.
PROF. Young, who is an authority
on astronomy, states that some time or
other the earth will collide with a comet.
But this event, according to his figures,
will only occur but about once in 10, ,OOO,-
600 years.
"Eyen if these two large comets, the
one Of 1858 and the one of 1889, were to
collide with the sun the earth would not
feel the effects of the heat. We're
thousand comets to collide and bury them
selves In the sun it would not affect us.
No, we are safe from being destroyed by
comets While in volume they may be
thousands and millions of times larger
than the earth, their mass is very small,
and necessarily would not do much harm,
OAOSPO ioohiiy' nave urlOu 10 ODS6rVb
this Perrine comet but the moon is at
present too bright"
The world may go on It's regular way
now that IL is definitely known tina
neither the Perriue comet nor any other
comet can hurt Mother Earth. Should
this comet collide Wednesday or Thurs
day morning with the Cassiopeia constel-
alton, astronomers all over the world
would be able to state more conolusively
what the effect would have been had it
struck the earth.
Garrett p. Serviss, the great astron-
omer, says "a comet Is not solid
body like the earth. 1t Ia made up of
minute bodies. We might compare It
with dust cloud While In size it com.
psres with the earth, there is no compari-
sonan the solidity of the two. So far as
We have beer able to learn there are no
large particles of matter In comet.
They are made up of atoms of dust of
Iron, nickel, or some other metal. Our
atmosphere is practically iInpervious to
such body. Seventy or eighty miles
above the earth, where the atmosphere Is
so rare that the vacuum is almost as good
as that of CrOokes tube there Is still
enough resistance to disintegrate and de-
stroy body like comet travelling with
the swiftness with which a comet
travels"