The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-03-21
MANY PREDICTIONS CONCERNING
THE END OF THE WORLD.

N Far Back a. the Year 1OOO-JThe
Fear Of Comets.
In 1921 Jean Stofer. q German,
plunged Europe into terror by predict
ing q universal deluge in 1924 lowing
to the conjunction of several planets in
q watery sign"-the watery signs are
Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. At his
ominous words thousands fed to the
mountains, and others took refuge in
boats. AwinOl. doctor Of law and
canon of Toulouse, even built sort
of ark on four pillars as a haven Of
refuge. There was no need of such
contrary, the season was even calmcr
and drier than usual. StOfer had in
deed. made serious blunder and one
for which many Of his fellow astrol-
ogers, including Cardau, never par
doned him.
IStofer, however, is only one in long
list Of prophets whose predictions in
regard to the end Of the world have
proved utterly false. AS fur back as
the year 1000 many communities in
Europe were driven half distracted by
rumOrs that the day Of judgment was
close at hand, and again. in 1856. whole
cities were 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 in a lesser de-
gree. and ever since the modern re.
vival Of Occultism there have not been
wanting erratic prophets Of the Jean
Stofier type.
Years ago a Mr.. Baxter created n
sensation in England by his prediction
that the world would certainly come to
an end in 1887. Thousands believed
In him, and great was their surprise
when they discovered that he was mis-
taken. Yet such is the credulity Of
human nature that their faith in 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 Abbc 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 10th and
21st Of September. 1896. according to
the Scriptures. The prophecies Uf the
Old and New Testaments 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 1t, would take place. but he added
that If it did not take place then it
would certainly occur before the close
of 1890.
The appearance Of comets has fre.
quently given rise to similar predic.
tions. This was the case when the IA
nous comet Of 1850 appeared Whis.
ton ascribed the deluge to it's former
appearance. and such an excitement
did 1t cause among all classes of the
people that Bayle wrote a treatise TO
prove the absurdity Of belief founded
on these pOrtents. Nine de Levigne.
writing at the same time, said:
we nave n comet Of enormous size.
It's tall Is the most beautiful object
conceivable. Every person Of note Is
alarmed and believes that heaven. in.
terested In their fate. sends them
warning IN this comet. They say that
the cOurtiers Of Cardinal Mazarin, who
Is despaired Of by his physicians, be-
iieve this prodigy is in hone Of his
passing away and tell him of the ter.
ror with which 1t has inspired them.
lie had the sense to laugh at them and
to reply facetiously that the comet did
him too much honor"
NJ. Camille FlammariOn, the distin.
guished French astronomer, saws on the
same subject: "In this century predic-
tiOns concerning the end Of the world
nave several times been associated
with comets. 1t was announced that
the comet OF Bicla. for example, would
intersect :he wotru's orbit on Oct. %.
1882. which did rs predicted. There
was great excitement. Once more tho
end OF things was declared at hand.
humanity was threatened. What was
going to happen? The Orbt-that is to
say. the path OF the earth-had been
confOunded with the earth itself. The
latter was not TO reach that point of
Its orbit traverscd by the comet until
Nov. 30. moro than month after the
comets passage. and the latter was ut
no time to he within 10000. 900 leagues
or us. Once more we got Off with
good fright"
In his entertaining book. la Fin du
Monde" NJ. FlammariOn gives graph
ic description of n collision between
the earth and n comet which is TO take
place some time i'm tho twontv.6fth