The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-02-23
NO CAUSE FOR ALARM.
Perrine's Comet VIII Not Do
Us Any Harm.
WILL NEVER REACH THE EARTH.

Garrett y. seFyiss Gives several Reason.
Why the Comet WIN Mlss Us-Hs Re.
laiss Some tnterssiing Facts Concern.
I Ing The aakeup Of These Bodies aud
Their Uitimais Disappearance.
NEw YoRK. Feb. 22.-0arret p. Ser.
viss, in an interview. discussed tho re.
port that Perrine's comet IL travelling
toward the earth at the rate Of ] 100000
miles day and that a collision was
probable. He said:
II judge tho comet is a small ono
perhaps a. large a. tho earth. Tha,
would not be very large for q comet. It
probably il not coming toward US as the
dispatches say. II Il IL, then there IL
no possibility Of its hitting us. We are
travelling 10 miles second and by
March Il, the date they talk about he
arrival. we shall be millions Of miles
from where we are aow. To hit Us it
must be travelling toward the spot 40, =.
100000 miles from here where we shall
BE- on March Il. Whether or not the
calculations that have been made about
the present position OF the comet, its We
looity and course are exact. depends on
whether the observations have been
good. Il IA not likely that they are ex.
act for comet Is hazy body and it be
difficult 10 get good observations II it
was point like a star It could bo told
with mathematical certainty just whore
II would be AZ a certain minute or hour.
bui b,ing a hAzy thing it is dificult 60
20 tell exactly what the comet is'dolng.
You remember In ls9l IL was thought
for some days that q comet was going
% hit us aud than it was discovered
that the comet was going away from
us, instead Of coming toward us.
"a comet l. not a solid body like the
earIh Itismaie up Of minute bodies.
We might compare Il with a dust cloud
While In sizs it u a. large a. the earth.
there Is no comparison In the solidity
OF tho two SO far A. we have been
able b earn there are no large particle.
OF matter In a comet They are made
up Of atoms Of fast. iron, nickel OF
some other metal. Our atmosphere b.
practically inpsrvious 20 such a body
Seventy or eighty miles above the
earth. where the atmosphere Is 90 rarC
that the vacuum Is almost as good a.
that Il a CROOK aud tube, there Is sull
enough resistance 10 disintegrato and
destroy q boiy like a comet travelling
with tho swiitness with which comet
travels The particles would become
infinitely dno-no larger than the ulii.
mate atoms Of matter. They would
ultimately reach the earth. While in
bulk and space the comet may occupy
the room Of the earth and in that sense
is As big a. tho earth, it Is not packed
sold Ike the earth.
Take an ordinary dust cloud for ex
ample; IL may cover a mile square OF
space. but II all the PARTICLES were com.
pressed into the smallest space possible
they would occupy very little room.
80 a comet as large a. the earth might
not contain more than enough matter
20 make layer one ten.thousandth OF
millimetre deep, II spread over the
earth H. comet was made OF solid
chunks OF matter the result would b.
different The heat gathered by the
contact with the atmosphere would De-
sufficient TO melt things For instance
a ioO.ton piece Of iron might burn q
hole a. big a. the state Of New York |
Under the tremendous heat the Garth
and stone in the immediate neighbor.
hood would b. vAporiEed Immediately. |
But there ars no large particles OF mat /
ter In the makeup Of the comet. There I
is Just one possibility OF unpleasantnoss
In n comet hitting the earth. That is
the subsequent effects ON the atmos
phere. n would seem likely that the
atmosphere would be filed with gaseous
matter, and II the comet was very bis
one, made up In part Of gases as they
Arc. Il might introduce matter into the
atmosphere that would b, dNleterious (
health. Il might give us the grip OF
predispose us % the attack Of other dis