Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-04-28

coming month. Twilight colors and
the gamut Of change thru which they
run are also dependent on the amount
OF dust In the atmosphere, They also
might, therefore, afford some informa-
ton In regard to the tail Of any comet
through which the earth may pass"
After the eruption of Krakatoa there
were seen for number Of years at
terward in low latitudes family lu-
minous cloud masses very high up.
1T is not certain that they were due
IN the least to volcanic dust. but still
they should be looked for since they
might be created by the dust we pick
up on our passage thru the tail Of
Halley's comet" Similarly, the dust
or the electrified particles Of the
comets tail might affect the zodiacal
light or that even more mysterious
phenomenon called false dawn" So
tar argues our foreign authority.
Granting then, in the words of that
well known popularizer OF astro-physi-
cal phenomena, Mr.. Waldemar
Kaemptfert, who writes in Golfers
Weekly, that through the glowing
appendage of Halley's comet, as poi
sonous as it is beautiful, the earth
will plunge on the night OF May 18th,
1870" what will happen? Nothing,
replies this careful student:
Evidently a tail is not so formid-
able as it's chemical composition or
it's length of 2O,OO0,OOO to 10000, 900
miles may lead one to suppose. In
truth, the air we breathe is as dense
as iron in comparison with the dia.
phanous thinness of comets tail.
Stars may be seen undiminished in
brightness through the tail. A cubic
mile Of it could be packed in a snuff
box. That is why the atmosphere Of
the earth will not be appreciably af-
fected on the night of May 1s.
IT the tail were denser than it is,
this whisking of the earth might
prove fatal. Suppose that, hydrogen
were present in large quantities in
the tail. :, The atmosphere would be-
come bubble of gas, which would
ignite with a terrific explosion at the
touch OF a flame. Suppose that the
gas Of the kitchen stove were abund.
antly present. Every animal and ev.
cry human being would be suffocated
as quickly as candle is snuned out
by gust Of wind. Suppose that
cyanogen were to mingle with the at
mosphere. Again instant death would
be the result. And lastly, suppose
that the vapors composing a comets
tail we're so to combine with the air
that the nitrogen constituting eighty
per cent of our atmosphere would be
converted into dentists Laughing.
gas Mankind would dance delirious'
ly happy, to An anesthetic death.
Most of these Nightmares have been
luridly dwelt upon by the imaginative
Flammarion. No scientist Of repute
takes them very seriously"
The computed time Of the passage
of the comet over the suns disk, says
Professor See in Munsey's, is between
the hours Of four and ten in the even
ing. Pacific standard time-corres'
ponding to the hours of seven in the
evening and one o'clock in the morn
ing in New York-on May 18th, which
will make the phenomenon visible
chiefly along the Pacific coast and
over the Pacific Ocean. ..
1T is not probable that Halley's
comet will greatly obstruct the suns
light, but it may be sensible to obser
yation, and that is what observers will
endeavor to determine. Transits over
the sun are such rare events that II
is felt that every care must be taken
to observe it, in the hope of extending
our knowledge OF the constitution on
comets.
1T is unfortunate that the transit
will be visible, if at all, chiefly over
the greatest ocean and from the least
inhabited portion of the globe. But il
the transit really occurs, the earth
may pass, on the same day, through
the tail Of the comet, which, for a
brief interval, would be one hundred
and eighty degrees long. In other
words, while the transit is being OBJ
served over the Pacific Ocean, the tail
extending beyond the earth, would be
visible as q faint phosphorescent glow
in the midnight skies Of Europe and
Africa. and in the evening skies Of
our eastern States. Accordingly ev'
cry one should be on the watch fol