The Republican journal., 1908-11-26
CONCERNING COMETS.


The great comet that was so brilliant in
1859 is again approaching the earth, and
will be visible through good opera glass
by the time this article is published.
The ancients considered comet sign
of war and called it "the flaming sword
on high.
We know comet only as brilliant
mystery, up to date. Probably part OF
mission is to bring additional energy to
the earth and to all other planets. Added
energy would make warlike people
more warlike.
If a comet brings energy, the fact will
be shown by better general health
throughout the world and by more
healthy crops, and ought to be shown in
greater mental energy expressed by an
increase in inventions and discoveries,
the production of great poems, etc.
remember that many said the comet
was likely to strike the earth and de-
stroy it. Scientific investigation lndl-
Gates that a comet is without solid mat
ter and is lighter than the lightest known
gas and has no substance to strike with,
and that this earth may have passed
through comet many times.
A comet looks like ball OF fire with
long spreading, fiery tail, but there is no
certainty that its apparent shape IS real.
As comets tail always points away
from the sun | was inclined to believe
that the apparent tail was only so much
space made more brilliant by distant
nebula. because the suns rays were cut
off of so much space by the comets So
called head, but this theory would lnd1-
cate either that the comet "head' was
actually larger than its light indicates,
or the body of the sun is much smaller
than we have been led to believe, or the
SUMS rays are DETECTED or spread by
passing through the head of the comet,
which would indicate that the head was
concave-convexed in shape. That the
tail is not made by shadow is proved by
the fact that the shadow behind planets
that 90 out cone-shaped into space pro-
duce no such effects.
1t may be that comet is an immense
nebula, and what we take for its head Is
in fact its CENTER and that the so-called
tail is just so much of this nebula body as
the changed suns rays, passing through
the center, cause to shine. This seems
like reasonable conclusion, and that the
apparent length of the so-called tail is
lust half the diameter of the real comet,
and that the supposed head is the bril-
liant center of the body. The comet is
so transparent that our view Of the stars
beyond it is not cut off in the least.
We do not know anything of comet s
forces. The way the suns rays pass
through glass indicates that the suns
rays are magnetic. If the comet is also
magnetic its conduct ought to indicate
this. If it is electric it ought to move at
right angles to the suns rays as the
planets do, because electricity and mag
netism always operate at right angles to
each other.
1t may be yet shown that comets and
planets tend to repel each other. They
certainly cut some strange routes through
our solar system. Such points if establish
ed would materially affect the science OF
astronomy. People who are interested
in such studies are hoping for great
amount of additional dates to be gather
ed from this visit of the great comet,
which in not many weeks will be visible
to the naked eye and will be the glory OF
the heavens for many nights, and leave
us a kind of lonesome feeling when it
disappears. y. 5. dKlfFlN'