The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-05
BY PROFESSOR WILHELM BoEI.sCHE
Copyright 1903 by r. c.. Mcclure

The comet and the end of the world!
ike blossom and flower, they belong
10 each other in the mind of man.
Nv basing deduction on astronomical
4apres that are strictly exact, it is
POSSIBLE to deduce that in the last 1000
Years alone quarter of a million COM
cts have traversed our solar system.
We know, too, that our earth has
rassed through what We're remnants,
At least, of comet swarms even in our
own day.
From this we should have to con-
clpde that the danger of collision be-
tween earth and comet does indeed
hang over us like sword of Damo-
Cles.
BUT let us consider the matter in the
light of another solidly founded sci
ence.
We can count at least 5000 years for
the history of our human species in
The sense of a history of culture.
These 5000 years are only a tiny frac-
tion of the time during which man has
avisted on the earth. And again, this
greater period of time is insignificant
when compared with the tremendous
lengths of time during which amman
and plant life developed on the earth
before the creature man was even
possible.
wonderful contrast between the mil
lions of years of world history and the
few thousands of years of man-his-
tory.
Suppose that the millions of years
since the world began were represent
ed by one day of twenty-four hours. IN
that one day the primordial history of
the world would occupy twelve and
one-half hours, from midnight until
half-past u noon. The following
sepoch, during which the present COAL
LAYERS were green forests and the fish
developed themselves to izard-fish
salamanders and lizards, takes up the
succeeding eight hours and five min
utes-till about half-past s in the even
ing Then come the ichthyosaEians
Their history occupies up to quarter
past II at night.
Now we have left only three-quar-
tiers of a hour. That time, with the
exception of only two minutes, is oc-
cupied by the development of the ter
tiary world-the world of the monster
mammals And the two minutes thai
are left-they are the time of the whole
life of the creature man from the gla-
Cldl eDOCn uItii iOM. Anu Otiy lUt
last 5000 years are a history of civil
ICED MANN other words, the last five
seconds of those last two minutesi
Let us apply this to the question OF
the terrible comet.
In those five seconds comets have
passed through the path of the earth
at least 500 times; in our whole solar
system there were, no doubt. hundreds
of thousands, perhaps as many as
three-quarters of a million. Now cal
Culate, so many in five seconds means
how many in twenty-four hours?
One gets new idea of the heavens
No Catastrophe in EOns.
And yet in all those twenty-foul
hours-our hundred millions of years
there has not been a serious col
dsion between the earth and any me-
teor. Never have there been de-
yastating catastrophes on this planet
Never has the steady evolution of life
on earth been interrupted. Never
could the thread have been torn be.
tween the oldest, primeval bacillus anc
the man of to-day. Had it been other
wise, man could not be here now. Not
the tiniest Vestige in all the geological
ayers of those almost endless epochS
hints at the wind fall of anything from
the sky or at rude encroachments or
cne chemical substance of our at
mOSphere
This permits only two conclusions
IN the millions of years during which
comets swarmed through the planetary
system by millions and more millions
there either has never been a grave
collision between earth and comet OF
the earth has passed through so many
hundreds of thousands of comet tails
comet heads, comet parts of every
Nnd-and they puffed themselves into
harmless Star showers" on striking
our atmosphere.
In either case there appears to be
nothing in the scare about comets. II
me planets appear as the big, protected
children OF the sun, the comets are
IKE gaudy soap bubbles that play
around the ehildren's heads. Who is
aairald to run into soap bubble with
hls hard head?
But suppose the sun were some day
10 eat her child, the earth.
suppose the flight of the earth were
10 lessen. Immediately the attraction
OF the sun would become predomi-
sNnt. The earths path would change
from circle to a spiral. The great
power would pull the little planet to
Ns heart A shock-and the earth
planet goes up in steam, turns into
naming gases. The sun, which-per-
naps-gave birth to the world I'M
counted millions of years ago, has
!aKen it back. An awful mystery
If the sun Dies.
Or: some day the sun becomes dark
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