The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-03-21
WORLD ENDS THIS YEAR
Dire Prophecy TO Be Fulfilled
November Next.
PORETOLD BIZ GERMAN SCIENTIST
Timid People to BE on Plus and Needles
TIL After Next Sovember-German SCI
enlist Prophesies Collision with Comet
Pittsburg Astronomer Says There Is No
Hurry. as the Event Is Not scheduled
Until 10, ooo, 900 Years from Now

Until 10, 600, 900 Years from Now
From the PittsbarE Dispatch.
And mer we're burnt with great beat. Rev.
xvI-s
The end Of the world is on the eve OF
being contaminated PrOclalming tnls
lugubrious news is perhaps an ungracious
way Of closing the second month OF 1888,
and may unnecessarily frignten umid
minds. But, since 1t is decreed that ms
awful catastrophe threatens Us, We might
as well prepare ourselves for 1t imme-
diately.
"A prophet has been raised up from
among the Germans" 10 follow Scripture
phraseology. ito call Us to repentance 1T
sackcloth and ashes" He prOclaims that
We are all going to perish. and our eartn
also, on the 18th of November, 1888. pre-
ciseIy between the hours Of and O'Clock
in the afternoon!
This prophet is an astronomer VINO
teaches geology in the University OF
Vienna and mathematics at the Cniver-
sisy of Prague. He has acquired great
popularity through his prophetic Anna
nae" He foretells storms, sunshine, nan,
frost. thunder-storms, snow, great noOds'
the eTuptions of volcanoes. earthquake
everything that he calls Critical Days -
Of which. certainly the most 'critlcai Is
the fatal afternoon Of November -, 1893.
This fateful Jay, according TO Dr. Fab.
is TO be the last day Of the human race.
We must prepare 10 be destroyed-by
fire!
Scriptural Confederation.
This is the kind of end also fOretold in
the Sacred Scriptures it is also the one
promised US by the sinister Niennese cal
culator. On the day and at the hour an
nounced. our little earth will be crushed
burned, annihilated by a monstrous COM
ct, whose enormous, fiery tail will envelop
Us. setting our atmosphere on fire with
poisonous ana deleteriOus gases, empty
ing upon US the frightful discharge OF my
RAIDS of burning stones.
In the annals of the world, the comet
has always been the supreme bugbear
The Middle Ages saw in it frightful SYM
bols: swords stained with blood. fantas-
tic faces. animals with monstrous bodies,
things well adapted to spread terror in
those ages of easy despair.
Arago ana Laplace did not consider a
meeting O1 lUt tdi III WIN q NS'ASS 80 -
possible. Newton announced that in 2205
a comet would collide with the sun, and
that the violence would be such that The
end of the world would ensue, the sun,
after this collision, being no longer capa-
bic of furnishing light and heat to the
inhabitants of this earth.
And yet, how many comets have already
passed near US? A few hours more OF
less and the earth was in fatal collision
with planet in formidable and perhaps
mortal embrace.
Countless Comets.
1t is estimated that there are no less
than seventy-four billion comets floating
in space, and these seventy-fodr billion
bodies do not travel alone; they are ac-
Companied by a large nebular escort, an
innumerabe army of satellites which fol
low in their tracks as the soldiers or d
regiment follow their chief.
viii the 18th of next November really
witness the end of the world? 1t is not
the first time that men have shuddered at
the thought. During the present century
NOT to speak of the terrors of the mid
die ages that have preceded our epoch
the end of the world was announced for
January Is, 1873 and for October -, 1882
Ohe meeting of the earth with Biela' 5
comet: but oCr earth suffered no incon-
Venience from these prophesies and cred
ulOus people recovered from their error.
Yet, We must add that if Biela's comet
had met with one months delay, it would
have reached the point of intersection of
the orbits of the two bodies, and a col
lision would have occurred
Of all the dangers that threaten our
earth, that which people dread the most,
the comet, is probably the least danger
Gus. If. on the day indicated by DR.. Falb.
our earth comes in collision with the tail
of a wandering heavenly body, as in 1873,
1861, and 1872. &c, it will be in nowise
| injured thereby. On the contrary, We
! shall be indebted TO that coincidence
! for the great sight of a shower of shoot
| ing stars that will present the sky as d
sea of fire.
Now, there is nothing to fear from those
stars that ''shoOt" and then-disappear;
| there are, on an average, from 700O,v00 to
| 100000 of these shooting stars that fall
| every night, and our earth receives no in
| jury for all that; they shine for few
| seconds, ;, TO- 20 leagues above our heads,
| and die out without reaching us-unlike
bodies that are not from shooting stars.
! but rather pieces of dead stars that fall
/ upon our earth when, sometimes, but
| rarely, they hill people and crush build
| lngS.
If our earth should come in collision
| with the nucleus Of the comet instead OF
| becoming entangled in the resplendent
| tail, the danger would not be much great
/ er, for this nucleus is not very solid, and
I the only inconvenience would be the fall
| of bOlides and the evaporation OF incandes-
| cent gases.
| The Director of the Berlin Observatory,
| Prof. Wilhelm Forester. in a letter mend
/ ed to quiet timid minds, says: LAS a re-
I INN dan
/ preted, many have believed that the end
/ OF the world was fixed for November Il,
/ 1888. What gave rise 10 this error IS the
| fact that, on that date, the earth viii pass
! through a multitude OF small asteroids :.
/ as was the case in 1866 and in 1893 and
/ 1879 This phenomenon contains nothing
! calculated 10 inspire fear.
| Celestial Escorts.
Comets do rot travel alone in space
| they are accompanied by large nebulaI
escort that follow in the same train as
/ soldiers follow their guide. But as there
| are Iaggards in an army, so some Of these
| nebular followers. losing some of theiI
momentum become separated from tht
| parent comet by the attraction OF the sun
| and a multitude of asteroids are formed
| here and there, as the rings Of some 81
! ga1tfc collar. and are continuously IN
| rolled and scattered into space. 1t Is
! these asteroids that in crossing Oul
earth's atmosphere take fire and give rise
10 shooting stars.
on the periodic passage Of comets in
| their perihelion, the earth may cross one
ef these sWarms of asteroids. This la:
/ very often occurred; a shower OF stars i
| the result-one OF those marvellous snow
ers Of rockets Of all colors that Illuminate
The sky with their dazzling luster.
| During The passage Of the comet OF 1893
there we're observed in a single minute.
| between the hours OF ana a m, moF'
I nan / t.5 Of these rockets. They seemeG
/ 10 start from the constellation Leo TIVE
/ hundred and fifIy thousand were observes
during that night.