New-York tribune., 1903-03-16
ruE sTAR OF BETHLEHEM.

4 fresh attempt has been mace 10 eApi"iii
the impressive astronomical phenomenon "hlcn'
according to the Scriptures, accompanied 'Ae
birth of the founder OF the Chr1stlan fe
Iigion. Inasmuch as 1t was OF snort uuA" @
,ion and exceptional brilliancy, it has often
been suggested that 1t was temporary Sl"l'
like that which blazed out suddenly In the con-
s+elIatjon of Perseus over two years ago. IN
deed q belief for which there never was any
substantial foundation was once entertainer
thst the Star of Bethlehem may have been lden-
ticsI with the star which TychO observed III
1872 To accept this latter theory 1t was neces-
sarv to assume that the object in question was
ir the habit Of reappearing regularly at inter-
walls of about three hundred and fourteen years.
A few creduIous people actually looked for It's
temperance in 1856, although no reputable
astronomer encouraged the expectation. 1t did
not come, and nobody now takes any stock IN
the idea of identity with Tychos star.
The latest suggestion, offered by Davies
Forbes, an Englishman, is that the Star OF
Bethlehem was not only comet, but was the
same one which bears Halleys name. This
comet has had a peculiar interest for astron-
omers because it is the first whose return was
ever predicted After it's visit to the vicinity
of the sun from outer space in 1852, HALEY
found records of the paths followed by sinNlar
bodies In 1907 and 1881. These conformedAs
closely to the orbit just computed that he felc
justified in declaring that the dates represented
three separate appearances Of one comet ana
that fourth might be confidently expected III
1886. Though HALEY did not live to see 1t, the
comet came back exactly on time, and ap-
peared in precisely the right place. If nothing
happens to it. therefore, it ought to be OBJ
served once more in 1911, or eight years hence.
Mr. Forbes also tries to identify Halley's comet
with one mentioned by Josephus as appearing
at the time Of the destruction Of Jerusalem,
| 10 A. D., and another which he says siSnalized
| Pompey's defeat of Nfithridates nearly one
hundred and fifty years before.
In favor of Mr.. Forbes's conjectures this
| much may be said. Comets of transcendent
| brightness have been wonderfully scarce in the
| last two thousand years The interval between
| the undoubted appearances of Halley's comet,
seventy-fVe years, corresponds closely to that
| between the beginning of the Christian era
and the fall of the Jewish capital, though some
| squeezing is needed to make it fit POmpeys
victory over the Fersians. Moreover, HALEY
| himself thought that certain inequalities which
he had noted might be accounted for by the
attraction exerted by the planets Saturn and
| Jupiter when the comet passed them. On the
| other hand, one needs to consider the question
whether the three Wise Men from the East
| knew tnO UiueTonCe DStWeeH d tdllleSS t0Fcu IL
| temporary star and a comet. In the next
place, when Mr.. Forbes comes to figure back
from the earliest appearance of Halley's comet
to the destruction Of Jerusalem, he finds that
there is an excess Of fifteen years over and
above the time required, and his explanation,
which assigns the discrepancy to defective
chronology during the first few centuries Of the
Christian era, is not altogether satisfactory.
Finally astronomers Will not fail to note an i'm
portant difference between Halley's and Mr..
Forbes's evidence. The latter relies only on the
length OF the period between successive an-
pearances. The former also took into account
| the routes traversed a knowledge Of these is
essential to any convincing proof Of identity.
| 1t is not unreasonable, then TO imagine that
| the Star of Bethlehem was a comet or to sup
| pose that 1t was seen in the centuries imme-
! diately preceding and following the birth of
| Christ The notion that it was the same as
Halley's comet, though, is less credible. That
| the two were one is remotely possible but the
| inadequacy of the proof forbds its acceptance
by those who are given to weighing evidence.