Evening journal., 1898-12-20
WAYS OF COMETS.

The November meteOrs, of which s1
much was said and so Autle was seeL,
were the outlgdeIs OF one OF those
splendid pageants that occur three
times century. The periodicity Oh
these displays is attributed to the fac,
that they travel cease.essly in clrcA
about the sun the circumnavlg gstlon OF
which takes them thirty-three years
and a fIactio. The length OF the pa
geant is such that the outriders are a
year or TWO ahead Of the vanguard. Bat
ultimately they all get there, if getting
there can be said to be- During Oh
last procession which passed here Tn
sky was as full of aerolites as a snow
storm is ful Of fakes. The attrac-
tiJn which we have fer them is slight
it is as Wei perhaps. People acquaint-
ed with them and their kin say thai
every day we enjoy the visit Of nil
Ions OF boNdes, we're they not con.
sumed by friction of the atmosphere,
wound necessitate the use Of imp.r-
vious umbrellas. The moon has ne
protection of that kind, and when ii
is considered how they must pound
there it seems but natural that from
Luna lunacy should be derived. Bul
the point is els. where. Before the
present proce ession there ran, as herald
perhaps. a little comet Previously
there was another AnteriOrly there
were more. Thus far this year there
have been seven. What they are has
always been a delightful question
Maupe-tius. who was on astronomer
dec.nred them TO be inhabited. After
al, why not? Yet If so. are not their
! fr4It. . q. vie IN, In 4 b.
delight of jOurneying not over the
world, but over the universe, of junket-
ing through the Milky Way, OF shoot
ing over the abysses and exploring the
wonder lands Of space
MaupeItius' idea was not accepted. II
was 100 poetic. Yet, If comets are mol
inhabited, the excellence OF their in
! fiuence is not disputed any more. The
Hon. lgnatlus Donnelly is one Of the
last of those whom they frightened. He
wrote quite thrilling account Of whar
would happlh should we meet in col
! lisiOn. Button maintained that the
earth was fragment which a furious
comet had struck from the sun. Bui
that Is ancient history. Recently 1t hai
been estimated that the weight OF {
comet a million miles long would mol
! bulttu an lu4ouA. NUl lCuB ago Out
WAS seen to approach and envelop Jnp
iter. The latter did not mind it in th'
least. We may even assume that 4
Fixed It, AprCpos 10 which there 4
announced as in preparation chart o.
the heavens which when complete viii
show the position of every star up 3,
the fourteenth magnitude as readily al
town or a map. The possibiiit!
CT making it photography suggested. I
was fund that the camera could re
tain stars which the telescope ooul
n-t in.ercept. One and all. they aggre
gate thus FAR about sixty million. How
many more there are imagination is in
competent to eurmise. There are star
so remote that their light takes thou
sends CT YEARS to reach us. There ar
\ others SO remote that before the ligh
/ has reached us they have ceased to be
B'TCnd them are ether stars. Cthe
systems other worlds. Wherever in II
weariress imagination would set
limit there is space begun This sub
! iect might Interest those whom thei
own Importance bothers. Said Tenny
son: "Wbat are We but hlckerir0
Fnats in the glare Of a million, mil
hon of sune?'-Collier's Weekly.