The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-29
BIELA's COMET COMING.
Celestial Tramp Charged With
Threatening Disnster TO Our Globe.

Threatening Disnster TO Our Globe.
From the New York Herald.
Biela's comet, the most strange and &C.
centric Of the celestial tramps of our sys-
TEN, is now rushing in his revolution of
six and two-third years, toward the earth,
and the time table of the spheres makes
his advance guard OF shining meteors due
at the grade crossing of the earths orbit
about the middle OF November, though
the main train of the dissipated and eX-
tended cometie mass WIZ not be due there
until our globe has made one more cir
cult of its path
Then, about Nov. A. We may expect to
see numerous meteoric flashes In our up
per atmosphere, but an entire year must
pass before We Will plunge into the great
mass of debris of this wrecked comet. Dur
ing all of the coming year the remains of
the comet win be sweeping through the
November section Of our orbit at the rate
of about two and half millions of miles
daily, and when we come around again we
VIII see the pyrotechnic effect of cometlc
matter coming in contact with the earth's
atmosphere.
Bie5as comet is unique. No heavenly
body known 10 astronomers has behaved
after the manner of this comet. 1t has
been divided into two distinct comets, has
gradually been dissipatad, and has been
looked uponcas a visitor who threatens
dire disaster to our little globe, and who,
with his coming, brings fire and pestl-
lence.
Ignatius Donneny, that great juggler
Of facts, who has genius for arranging
them to support strange and starting
theories. charges many Of the earth's heat
ed, spells, the presence of epidemics and
the scourge of great fires 10 the presence
of Biela's comet In this manner he ac-
counts for the great London fire in 1854,
when a backward calculation from the
discovery of the comet shows it was due.
He also attributes the Chicago fire and
the great forest fires of 1871, likewise the
Minnesota and Wisconsin fires of 1894, to
this same fateful visitor In his "Ragna-
noe" he says that "combustible gases and
vapors hurled against the earth by BIZ
elias cometlhaVe not only produced atmOs-
pheric conditions favorable to confagra-
tions, but may be responsible for the fail
ure of the corps, general sickness and hu-
man depression that lead to national up
risings.
Mr.. Donnelly quotes Humboldt in Cos
mos" where he says, 1T is possible that
the vapor of the tails of comets mingled
with our atmosphere in the years 1919 and
1922 and then for himself says, Beyond
the more solid nucleus of a comet is a
tail of stones diminishing in size until in
the after part they are simply dust, while
| prolongation into gaseous matter" 1t is
| this gaseous matter that does the damage
rather than the solid particles.
Yet disaster from the solid portions of
| the comet coming in contact with the
| earth has been prophesied more than once,
particularly previous 10 ats visitation in
| 1S45.
That visitation of 1915 was the most re-
markabfe of all. In the January follow
| ing, when the comet was in perihelion, it
| was observed that it had separated into
| two distinct portions of unequal bright
| ness. In the two returns Immediately pre-
| vious ID was in an unfaVorable position
| for observation, but in 1926, when seen by
the Austrian Biela, after whom it was
| named, it appeared as one body. 1t was
| the same when seen in 1905 by the French
| astronomer, Poms, and likewise when
1 viewed by Montaigne on March Z, 1772,
| likely the first observation ever made
of it.
When in january, 1886, it appeared as
| two comets, it attracted the attention OF
| the entire scientific world. During the
| following two months the lesser comet in
| creased in brightness, until it became
| equal to the other. Then IL grew small
| er, and in March vanished entirely, though
| its companion was seen for month long
| er. Finally it disappeared into the depths
| of the solar system.
It's return in 1852 was looked for with
| great interest, and when it appeared, on
| schedule time, it was still divided, and
| the two portions were one and half mil
| lions mile apart. In September both por-
| lions disappeared, and have not to a GER
| talnty been seen since.
| Though not seen since 1852, two meteoric
| streams with periods corresponding to
those of the two parts of the divided comet
| have appeared. At the time of its return
in 1872, Mr.. Bogson of Madras thought he
! saw it, but whether he did or not it is
| certain that in November of that year
| we had a remarkable double metoric
| stream. AS many as a thousand shoot
| ing stars" were counted in a single hour
| These streams, closely following the
| track of the comet, are accepted by as
tronomers as lis fragments.
| IT, during the next few weeks, you see
| failing star" you can be quite well
| satisfied that it is a small portion of BIZ
| elias comet, that has been drawn within
| our atmosphere and consumed through
the friction its rapid passage produces. II
| is a forerunner telling of a greater dis
| play to come next year.
This comet is apparently doomed. Piece
| by piece its solid particles are being con-
sumed, or are failing to the earth as me-
| teorites. Not only to the earth, but tC
| the sun, and likely TO every planet in
| the solar system. They are growing or
the debris from Biela's comet, particular
| ly the giant Jupiter-the policeman of the
| system-who arrests more cometic wan
| derers than all of the rest together With
this process continuing Biela's comet, with
| its real or imaginary baneful influences
| wil, In time, have disappeared.
| No wonder the colonel got mad. He
was shot in the leg at Santiago, and on
coming home was deservedly a hero. He
was met by one of these fussy old chaps