Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-03-08
MARCHETTFS COMET
Mill 1t Collide With the Earth as
Scientists Predict?
THE IMPACT WON'T WRECK US

Garrett p. Serviss Says That the Fiery
Body Which Is Rushing to Earth Is
Dust Dangerous.
Professor Matteucci of the Vesuvius
observatory is quoted as saying that
toward the end of March the substance
of the new comet discovered by Mar
chetti will come i'll contact with the
earth's atmosphere, with consequences
probably dangerous to the world. His
brother is of the same opinion.
The prediction of collision between
the earth and Marchetti's comet about
the end of March may or may not be
fulfilled, but in any event nobody has
any cause to run for shelter, and it
would not do any good to run, for no
body can tell just where a comet is
going to strike, if it strikes at all,
York American.
This is a small comet, and it's en-
tire substance, if condensed into a
solid mass, probably would not exceed
a good, big New England bowlder in
size. Yet the thought of such a COLI
sion is a thrilling one, and even very
small comet fairly hitting the earth
would make the greatest display of
fireworks ever seen and might do con-
siderable damage.
Astronomers have long recognized the
possibility of such collisions In fact,
the earth has narrowly escaped them
several times in the past century, and
since comets come from all possible
directions and seem to be unlimited in
number an accident of that kind is al
most certain to occur some time Or 9th
er. A part of Biela's comet plunged
into the atmosphere twenty-five years
ago, but there was not enough of it to
more than furnish a fiery splutter Of
meteors, none of which got uncOnsum-
ed to the ground.
Forty-six years ago the earth ran
through the tail of a really big comet
and enjoyed one night of curious lumi-
mar skies in consequence; but, al
though epidemic diseases that quickly
afterward afflicted mankind were as
cribed to some foreign substance intro
duced into the atmosphere by the COM
cts tail, the alleged connection Of the
two phenomena was never positively
established.
Now, however, since the recent dis
coveries in radio activity and the dis
Indignation of atoms, an encounter with
comet or it's tail would form intense
scientific interest and might lead to
important discoveries. We know now
that the sun ionizes the substance of
comet and sends off from it with the
speed of tens of thousands Of miles in
a second vast clouds of electrified cor
puscles a thousand times smaller than
the smallest atom, and just what the
effect would be of the sudden intrOduc-
ton Of billions upon billions of these
electric nuclei into the atmosphere it
is difficult to say.
1t is believed that the sun sends no
such corpuscles whenever great explo-
sions take place on it's surface, but
comet would be like blowing a cloud
of poisonous dust into room. The eff
feet upon life might be stimulating or
the reverse, according to the nature of
the substances introduced.
Every corpuscle carries a charge of
negative electricity, and the electric
state of the atmosphere could not fail
to be affected by their Introduction in
great quantities.
AS to the direct mechanical effect of
a collision with a comet, there would
be none unless the comets head or
nucleus itself hit the earth. In that
event the effect would be mostly local
ICED at the spot where the blow fell.
If the comet were big one, like that
of 1911, it might melt q huge hole in
the earth, but a little one, like Mar
chetti's, would not produce much more
damage than has several times been
caused by falling bodies, which usually
burst asunder on nearing the ground,
the hot fragments sometimes penetrat-
ing two or three feet into the soil.
The fact cannot be blinked, however.
that the earth has been hit at various
times in the prehistoric past by com
paratively huge masses which may
have been comets. The immense mass
es discovered a few years ago at the
Canyon Diablo in Arizona and in which
minute diamonds have been found
We're of this character. SO, too, the
huge fragments of meteoric iron found
in Greenland a specimen of which
weighing several tons was brought
back by Lieutenant Peary after one of
his polar expeditions, may once have
navigated the sky with glowing trails
in the form Of comets.