Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-22

That the famous tail of Halley's COM
ct is nothing more or less than the
suns rays; that the earth in reality
did pass through the TAIL and that
these thories have been borne out by
the actions of the mysterious sky wan
derer is advanced by Ellis Mallery, a
prominent geologist of Los Angeles, In
addition to being a trained geologist
Mr.. Mallery is an astronomer. In dis
cussing the comet and its tail Mr.. NAL
lery stated:
"The visible tail of the comet in it's
greater entirety is nothing more than
light refraction caused by the dehec-
ton of the suns rays as they pass
through the comets head.
ut is known the head of the comet is
composed of various gases which he
come more dense as the center of the
body is reached The more attenuated
of these. gases form an envelope around
the central nucleus which, there are
reasons to believe, possess more or
less solid matter toward its center.
"This gaseous envelope surrounds
the nucleus much as ourt atmosphere
envelopes the earth, only that in the
instance of the comet the envelope IS
proportionately much thicker.
"That this envelope is highly trans
parent has been determined by the OBJ
servation of other heavenly bodies
which are plainly visible through 1t;
in fact our atmosphere, though SEEM
inglv thin and transparent 10 us, is eN-
ceedingly more dense than the major
portion of the comets head.
COMET LIKE \ LENsE
"This explanation brings us to the
more vital point-the tail question.
The matter as just set forth describ-
ing the existent conditions Of the
head. make a clearer Interpretation Of
the tail possible. These gases sur
round the central body in concentric
layer, and this spheroidal structure.
coupled with the transparent nature OF
the gases, make it logical to assume
that here is q factor, potent for light
refraction.
"The rays of the sun as they fall
upon the surface Of this gaseous mass
are absorbed and DETECTED the same as
a lens absorbs light rays and defects
them to q common center, where they
cross and diverge to an ever increasing
degree until they disappear by the
process of lost effectiveness through
scattering.
1t is therefore seen along this line
of reasoning that we have In the COM
cts head a body of the necessary
composition and of suff1cinet size to
gather and project rays of light to
considerable distance through space.
The diameter of the head, which mas
been estimated to be 10000 miles, II
spoken of as a lens, would certainly
be one of some magnitude, quite large
enough we can assume to project a
shaft of light to the distance through
space such as the twenty million to
thirty million miles which has been as
cribed to the comets tail
PROJECTS SUNS RAYS
"In srbstantiation of this the nearer
the comets head approaches the sun
the longer becomes its tail, which is in
keeping with the known principle Of
optics As the source of light is ap-
preached there Is a proportionate In
crease in the number of light rays
which fall upon the object, and there
fore a greater power of projection ts
embodied in the lense.
"Some contention to this interpreta-
ton of the matter might be raised on
the ground that such DETECTED rays
would be invisible because of the abb
sence of matter in space to reflect them.
Based on the latter belief much weight
has been given to the theory that the
tail must necessarily be composed of
particles of matter as a constituent part
of the parent body, and that these min
ute particles accompany the head
through the heavens. The tall is ad-
mitted to be exceedingly rarifed; so
exceedingly so that it is difficult to
imagine such matter could follow a
traveller which has the propensities of
this speed merchant of the skies.
ut seems on the other hand reason
able to presume that the matter which
permeates space even though it be
infinitesimaI, is still sufficient to re-
fleet the concentrated rays passing
through the comets head. Such an
explanation as outlined would furnish
a simple solution of some of the mys-