Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-10-24

| Ing 4 universal deluge in 1J24 lowing
| 10 the conjunction of several planets il
| watery sign"-the watery signs are
! Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. At hi:
| ominous words thousands fled TO the
mountains, and others took refuge il
| boats. Awinoi, n doctor of law and
canon of Toulouse, even built a sort
| of ark on four pillars as haven OF
refuge There was no need OF such
excitement No flood came. On the
contrary. the season was even calmer
and drier titan usual. Stofler had, i'll
deed, made Il serious blunder and one
for which many of his fellow astrol-
ogers. including Cardau, never par
dOned him.
Stofler, however. is only one in Il long
list of prophets whose predictions i'll
regard To the end of the world have
proved utterly false. AS far back as
the year 1000 many communities i'll
Europe were driven half distracted by
rumors that the day of Judgment was
close at hand, and again, in 11SG, whole
cities We're paralyZed with fright for
the same reason. Now and again dur
ing the latter part of the middle ages
the same extraordinary phenomenon
was witnessed, though III Il lesser de-
gree, and ever since the modern re-
ViVal of occultism there have not been
wanting erratic prophets of the Jean
Stofler type.
Years ago a Mr.. Baxter created n
sensation in England by his prediction
that the world would certainly come to
an end i'll 1857. Thousands believed
in him, and great was their surprise
when they discovered that he was mis-
taken. Yet such is the crcdulity of
human nature that their faith i'll him
remained mistaken, and, no matter
what year he selected as the final one
of the worlds existence, they accepted
his prediction as gospel truth.
Equally bold. though doubtless not
as popular as Baxter, is the Able Du-
pin, cure of the village of Dion, in
France, and author of book with the
following extraordinary title: ''The
grand coup or universal cataclysm Will
ravage the world between the 18th and
21st of September. 1886, according to
the Scriptures. The prophecies of the
Old and New TcStaments compare
with those of the fathers and with
the secrets of La Salette, in which is
fOretOld the great war which will de
stroy nine-tenths of the human race.
the coming OF antichrist and his
reign, after which the church will
triumph over her enemies and the
reign of Christ begin on earth" The
author fixed September, 1896, as the
time when the great coup" as he call
ed it. would take place, but lie added
that if it did not take place then it
would certainly occur before the close
Of 1899.
The appearance of comets has fire.
quently given rise to similar predic-
tiOnS. This was the case when the IA
nous comet of 1850 appeared. Wills
ton aScribed the dcluge to its former
and such an excitement
did ii cause among all classes of the
people that Bayle wrote Il treatise TO
prove the absurdity of belief founded
ON these portents. Mime. de Levigne,
at the same time, said:
I'VE have comet of enormous size.
It's tail is the most beautiful object
Every person of note is
alarmed and believes that heaven, in
terested in their fate, sends them n
warming in this comet. They say that
The cOurtiers of Cardinal Mazarin. who
S despaired of by his physicians. be
ievc this prodigy is in honor of his
passing away and tell him of the ter
'or with which it has inspired them.
lie had the sense to laugh at them and
o reply facetiously that the comet did
him too much honor"
NJ Camille Flammarion. the distin-
,uished French astronomer. says on the
same subject: In this century predic-
ions concerning the end of the world |
nave several times been associated |
With comets. 1t was announced that |
he comet of Biela, for example, would |
ntersect the worlds orbit on Oct. %. |
81. which did as predicted. There |
vas great excitement. Once more the |
nd of things was declared at hand |
was threatened. What was |
,oing to happen? The orbit-that is TO |
ay. the path of the earth-had been |
onfounded with Tie earth itself The |
after was not To reach that point of |
Is orbit traversed 10y the comet until /
>ov. 30 more than a month after the
omet's passage, and the latter was at
10 time To be within 20.01O. coo leagues |
f us. Once more we got off with n
God fright"
In his entertaining book la Fin du
Ionde," NJ. Flammarion gives Il graph
: description of Il collision between
he earth and IL comet which is TO take !
lace some time in the twenty-fifth
entury. These two heavenly bodies.
he earth anf the comet he writes.
will meet like two trains rushing !
eadlong upon each other with resist
ssS momentum, as if impeIled to mu-
Ial destruction 10y an Unsuitable rage. !
tut in the present instance the veloci-
Y of shock viii be S6J times greater
nan that of two express trains having
lch Il speed of 100 kiiometers per
our"-Ncw York Herald.
Undisputcd.
First IaWyer-IOu are 4 cheat and a !