The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-03-08

+ hci usual course Is exposed TO the
chance Of coming into contact with
them all the time. But comets are
impondcrable bodies, a mass Of gas
and vapor, through which the earth
passes like cannon ball through q
swarm of flies. He asserts that this
actually happened on June &C. 1851
his authority being .Iir. Hind, the
highest reference on the subject of
comets, and again in 1872 the earth
pas 'cd through the tail of Bella $
comet, without even singing itself.
| 1t might possibly make some differ
cncc if we were to encounter the comet
itsclf-cspecially if we met it "hcad
on, as railroad people would say
and it might then be question as to
which head was the hardest and heavi-
est; but it is not likely that the orbit
of the comet will be identical with
ours, and the motion the reverse Of
the earth's s, which is the only circum-
stance that could bring about such a
collision. The chances are much more
in favor Of a glancing blow, and if we
could only be certain of the exact mo-
ment OF impact we might avail our
selves of it to put an end to the trou-
bic in the Philippines, by arranging
SO as to bave it strike in the midst of
them and quiet the natives for good
and all.
The thanks Of the public are due
the New York XcruM for the trouble
it has taken to interview Mr.. Flam-
marion and to publish to the world
his reassuring opinions; for many
times in the past considerable panic
has been created by alarmists like Mr..
Falb, with their disquieting prcdic-
tions. One of the most comforting Of
the distinguished French scientist 8
assertions about the Biela comet is
that ''it is no longer dangerous, if it
ever was so, for it is about dead itself,
having been broken into millions of
shooting stars. So far back as 1916
this comet was seen to split in two,
and for the four months that they
we're visible the two portions we're
seen to recede from each other. When
they reappeared to watching telescopes
six years later they were eight times
farther apart, and since then they
have never reappeared. but in their
place is mass of shooting stars which
follow the same orbit, and are believ-
ed to be the fragments of the disin-
tegrated comet Of Biela."
At intervals of thirty three years
our globe passes through these frag-
ments, which is described as a current
one hundred thousand miles vide,
moving at the rate Of more than twen-
ty-six miles second: but we never
see these meteors until they plunge
into the atmosphere Of the earth, as
the very strongest telescope yet in
vented has failed to reveal them at
any other time. When Che shower of
stars was seen in 1888 comparatively
few persons had ever heard of Biela s
comet, and being taken by surprise,
when at midnight the stars began to
rain down from Heaven, as it appear
ed, it is no wonder that the general
feeling was that the end Of the world
had come, and that the prophecies of
the Book Of Revelations were about to
be fulfilled. By 1866, when the next
shower occurred, the public was much
better Informed and consequently
there was hardly any apprehension
felt; while astronomers had very en-
joyablc time watching the celestial
display and cndeavoring to count the
mcteors, while they noted the pecu-
liaritics Of them. Very naturally
they a. making great preparations to
observe the spectacle promised for
this November; and it is ia to pre-
dict that many thousands of telescopes
beside those Of regular observers of
! the heavens will on the night OF No
/ vc!nbcr II be directed towards the
constellation leo. that being the part
Of the sky from whence they appear to
issue.
1t is strange what an effect pre-
diction like that or Mr. Falb can cx-
crci>c over the human mind, notwith-
standing the fact that our lives arc in
far more jeopardy every moment from
commonplace accidents than they
would be in the midst Of shower of
falling stars. Familiarity with thou
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