Connecticut western news., 1910-03-17
STATISTICS OF HALLEYS COMET
APPEARANCE REPORTED 66 A. D.

COmetS anu me Longest AUSent
 Has Been Associated With Impor-
 tant Epochs in Worlds History.
 The following short history of Halley's comet was written by Arthur V. Reeve, and appeared in Munsey's Scrap Book: Hah There it flames, the lonR-expected
 star,
 And darts it's awful glories from afar Punctual, at length the traveller appears From it's long journey of near four-score
 years.
 Lo the reputed messenger of fate Arrayed in glorious and tremendous
 state.
 The Gentleman's Magazine, 1885.
 Inseparably, hlscrutably linked with the history of the human race, Halley's comet came swinging again into teles- copic vision last notwithstanding sunward at the unthinkable speed of half thousand miles minute. Before the year closes 1t will have hurled itself through space so much nearer our earth as to be visible to the naked eye, splen- did spectacle.
 Once every seventy six years, or there- abouts, this huge pendulum of history ticks off an epoch on the clock of time, d celestial moment, as it were, equal to the span of mans threescore years and ten.
 There was time, not so long ago, either, when people regarded comets with fear and tre nbling. Haley comet vas no exception-ratheri it was the rule. Oldest known of periodical comets, long 9st absent, it's return will be the most important astronomical event of the year. Not one in hundred who sees it yer saw it before; not one in one hun red who sees it will ever see it again.
 Its earliest important appearance was n 66 A. D. That was the year they put
 t, Paul and St. Peter to deathin Rome. t was the year of the great revolt of the ;ews, when Josephus tells us that a
 star," shaped like huge sword, hung or months over the doomed city of ter lsalem before its destruction by Titus.
 The next great epoch in history ticked off by the comet on its return was in 451 \. D.-the great defeat of the Huns at Chalons-sur-M Marne, where Attila, "the 5courge of God" was routed by the Romans and Goths under Aetius, aud later, after laying Italy waste, was killed himself.
 The next great epoch was that begin ming with its appearance of GOT, when Mohammed was assuming the character of prophet and beginning to preach in Mecca. It returned in 760, and success sively up to 1465, when Mohammeds $ invasion was checked.
 There is a picture of it in a Bayeux tapestry showing the fleet of invaders under William the Conqueror about l066. An old chronicler records: "Guided by a comet, the Normans invaded Eng land" When the star was pointed out toWilliam he was sundaunted ,and merely said: "It means that a kingdom wants king" So great an impression did it make on people of that and subsequent times, that even to-day one of the jewels in the royal crown of England is shaped after the tail of this comet.
 Its coming was recorded in 1901 and 1878. In 1531. Pizarro, as he swept down on the ancient Empire of the Incas, in Peru, had welcomed the appearance of the comet. And with 1907 the appear ances of the comet began to signalize great advances for the human race, fer the events were now transferred to the new continent of America. That was the year that saw the first English settle. ment at Jamestown. When it returned again, in 1882, it looked down on LaSalle traversing the broad stretches of the Mississippi Valley, two centuries later to become the granary of the world. Also it saw Penn purchasing East Jersey and Pennsylvania from the Indians.
 In 1759 it shone over the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe was capturing NbueDeC IIOLu houkCdlul' HIS Was d critical beat of the great pendulum, de- ciding the fate of America. Since then. the return of 1885 saw only minor events but we may say that in 1909, Halley's comet comes back to find the North Pole, goal of three centuries of human endeavor discovered.
 Some time next June this celestial wis itor will withdraw. not to appear again until near the close of the century.
 The comet will be nearest to earth on or about May 10th, after which date it will begin to recede, carrying its tail be. hind it. Astronomers say that it will not come as near the earth Gs it did in