The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-05-10
That is, Since the First
Record of 1t
IN THE YEAR Z, B. c.
How 1t "GuideI' the Normans in
Their Invasion of ritain-Fear
and BeuSiderment 1t Has Caused

and BewSiderment 1t Has Caused.
TRANSLATED from an article in LIE
Figaro by Camille Flammarion.)
of all the stars, comets are surely
those whose appearance arouses the
interest of mortals most intensely.
Their rarity, their singularlty, their
mysterious aspect, amaze the mind of
The most Indifferent.
lnquestionably at first sight the
majestic uniformity Of the heavenly
motions seems disordered by the sud
Den ~peara Of h hairy comet,
whose remarkable aspect seems like
;he form Of a supernatural visitor.
Thus ancient writer's always depict
them in the most frightful
They were j~avelins sabres. swords,
helm luz severed heads, with
hair and beard on end; they gloWed
with a splendor Of ~blood-red hue, or
yellow or livid, like the one the his
for;an Josephus tells of, which ap-
peared during the ~frightful siege or
jerusalem. Piiny discovered in this
comet "a w%hiteness go dazzling that
one could scarcely look at it; the
image of God could be seen there IN
human form
Each epoch has its superstitions,
and in our time We have some quite
as ridiculous.
The Middle Ages surpassed, If that
IS possible, the mad ideas of antiquity,
and made descriptions of certain
comets in which the fantastic exceeds
the bounds of the imagination. Para
CELSIUS assures Us that angels SEND
them as a warning. The blood-thirsty
madman called Alphonso VI, King OF
Portugal. on learning Of the appear
ance Of the comet of 1864, rushed to
his terrace, overwhelmed the comet
with abuse, and threatened it with his
pistol. The comet majestically pur-
sued its course.
We shall see later that one of the
most famous periodic comets Of MS
tory is the one which today bears the
name Of HALEY, in memory of the
who calculated and pre-
Gicted the first of its temperatures.
This comet has, in fact, appeared to
shiS earth twenty-four times, since
the year u before our era, the most
distant date of which a record has
Heen kest. Its first memorable APP
pearance in the history Of Franc is
that Of the year S37, in the reign OF
Louis /, the Pious. An anonymous
cIr0nicler of the time, surnameC
THE Astronomer" spoke of it in the
following terms: In the midst Of the
holy Eastertide, a phenomenon al,
ways baleful, and Of evil portent, ap'
peaTCd in the sky. AS soon as the EN-
peror, who was very watchful of sucf
phenomena. had perceived it, he nj
1'IN-@f NdU Il moment peace u
mind. \ change of rule and deatf
of a prince are f0retold by this sign,
he said to me-" He took counsel 0
tho bishops. and was told that n
must pray, build churches, and foun'
mcnasteTies. This he did. But he die
three years later.
Guide to the NormanS
iIaIioy's comet appeared again !
April, 1905. at the moment whe'
William the COnqueror was 1nNadln
England, The ~chroniclers writ
unanimously: THE Normans, guide
tN d comet, are invading England.
The duchess-qGeen, Mathilde, WI
Aam's wife, has quite naively pic
trod this comet and the amaZemeT
ri her subjects on the piece of tapes
Try, seventy metres III length, Whlc
any one may see at Bayeux. TIL
klngs Of England. say these chronic
jrrs, still wear in their crowns a gel
Drawn from from the tail of tn
comet which had 50 great an influ
ehce on the victory of Hastings.
But the most celebrated Of it's al
p~rarances IS that of 1856, three yea
alter the capture of C~onstantinop.
oy the Turks. Europe was still
prey to the emotion produced by tn
terrible news; tales were rife that TT
church % Saint Sophia had been COZ
NeIted INTO a mosque; that all Chrl
nan people had been murdered or r.
uuced to captivity; men treInbled f
me safety Of Christianity. The com
appeared in June, 1856; it was lar;
ana terrible, say the historians Of II
PERIOD; its tail covered two heaven
Signs, that is. 60 degrees; it was Of
DFilliant golden color, and present.
me appearance of an undulatil
lame. People saw in it a sure sign
ulv!ne wrath; the MusSulmen dist
6ulseG a cross, The Christians
Eataehan. In so great a danger, Pol
Naiixtus III urged the faithful to r
peat the Angelu with greater fervs
IA order to ward off the comet al