The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-05-10

comets appearing in the centuries
when credulity vas so intense and
critical sentiment so little developed.
the simple grand aspect of a celestial
visitor of the shape and size OF that
one explains and excuses the eNagger-
atoms OF awe which brings into play
the celestial anger or the demons OF
the internal regions. Let US Judge
each epoch by its respective eniight-
eminent. We shall see later that this
comet measured no less than 116 mil
lions of Kilometres in length.
In order to make the miracle dis
appear, it was therefore necessary u
find the laws Of the motion of comets,
and that IS what Newton did on the
OCCASION of the great comet Of 1850.
Having established that according 10
the laws Of universal attraction the
path of the comet must be a very
elongated curve, he attempted, assist
ed by HALEY, his c~ollaborator and
friend, to represent mathematically
the course of the new star. and he
succeeded completely. Haley eagerly
mastered this branch of astronomy.
and recognized later that the comet
of 1852 was so similar in its path
around the sun to two comets pre-
%viously ob-erved in 1881 and in 1907.
that it was doubtless the same one
which, in that case, must reappear
toward 1853.
BY the theoretical labors of New
NoAAJ oiid ~ AilC SdI1didliof4S - q
ley, the prediction of Seneca was ac-
compliShed: comes or at least some
among them, moved on regular or
bits. Their return could be forecast;
they ceased to be accidental appari-
tons; they were true celestial bodies
with a fixed and regular course. The
miraculous disappeared; or, better, it
was transformed.
HALEY had With great effort cal~-
lated that the motion Of the planets
would Tetard the next return of the
comet, and ne had predicted it for
the end Of 1858, or the beginning of
1859.
1t was necessary to calculate exact
~ the period Of this return with per-
feet Mathematics formulas. Clairaut
undertook and accomplished in mas
terly fashion the algebraic part of
I the problem; but there remained the
| immense task of calculating the for
mulas numerically. Two ~reckoners
had the courage: the La
lande and Nine. Hortense Lepaute
(Who, by the way, has given her name
to the Hortensia, brought from the
Indies by the astronomer, Iegentil).
For six months, scarcely taking the
). time to eat, the two mathematicianS
put into numbers the algebraic for
mulas of Clairaut. The latter finish
e ed the calculation, found that Saturn
would retar its return by a hundred
q days, and Jupiter by five hundred and
eighteen, in all, six hundred and
S eighteen days OF retardatiOn; that
: is, its revolution would be a year and
eight months longer than it's last rev
o~lution, and, finally, it would reach
C perihelion toward about the middle
: of April, 1859.
Never did a scientific prediction ex-
: cite a more lively curiosity from one
end of Europe to the other. The
comet reappeared; it traVerscd the
a oath announced among the conStella-
tons. 1t reached its periheiOn the
18th of March, 1859. just a month be
fore the day Indicated. have all
o observed it." wrote Lalande, so that
st it is beyond a doubt that comets are
Y actually planets which ~reVolVe ike
e the Others, around the I'M HalleY'S
S comet. in complying With the predic-
II ton Of the astronomers. opened a
o new era for cemetery astronomy.
: Due on May Fl.
| This prediction was truly worthy
of admiration. If We remember that
- at this epoch the orbit OF Saturn
marked the limit of the solar system,
,, we can conceive the daring il took
=, then to shoot a comet to the distance
where hat curve was seen to run
:. The orbit OF this comet is today com
;, pletelv determined. 1t has accom-
plished one revolution from 1853 to
- 1895. lis last perfection took place
:, the 10th Of November of that year
~ which makes 2S.0O6 days for the rev
=" olution of 1859 to 1885. inste0d Of
27,937. which had elapsed between
16S2 and 1859. there has been an
$ increase OF 125 DAYS due to the mo
lie ton of Jupiter, and q decrease of ct
H. due to Saturn. Uranus, and the earth
lie Its next return is to occur the 24tf
l. Of May, 1910; this revolution TO be
n shorter thar the preceding ones. 81
II only 27.217 days. in other words, a
J. wears and six months, according e
N the calculations of PontecouIant
V From 1895 to 1873 the comet moved
+ away from the sun: this year it has
n, attained the icy arkne of its APP
y helion, and from that time on II ma.
d begun its voyage of return to"ar5
r the brilliant regions of the earth and
the sun. We shall all see it agar
ia