Evening star., 1911-05-28
EFFECTS OF COMET
Explanation of HoIoCauSts and
General Drought.
MORE FIRES EXPECTED
Disturbed Atmosphere is Slowly Re-
adjusting Itself.
By Edwin Fairfax Naulty.

The fire at Coney Island, which de-
stroyed sS,000,000 worth of property
without the loss of a single life, is the
latest of series of confiagrations that
have worked havoc in the last year.
Following closely on the Bangor fire
and a great lumber fire in New York
the Coney Island disaster shows that 1t
is more than mere accidental ignition
of intiammable material exposed to or
binary fire risk. And this fire, serious
as it is, is only the beginning of a
series of such holocausts to which in
fiammable material and explosive COM
pounds will be subjected before the
summer has ended.
Readers of The Star will recall that
last summer the writer forecasted lust
such series of disasters. This predic-
tion has been only too lamentably full
filled. Every woodenbuilt town and
city in the northern hemisphere, every
large pile of lumber. every store of
raw wool. every explosive magazine.
every chemical warehouse and every
coal mine is exposed to a condition that
renders them extremely susceptible to
destruction by ignition. The forest
fires OF last summer and fall Will be
exceeded In magnitude and extent by
have begun to break out thus early all
over the country
Facing Water Famines.
No one who has tried to raise a few
vegetables in a garden patch needs to
be told that the earth is parched for
want of water. New York and New
England are facing water famfnes, and
In dfcfric
as through other parts of the country.
IS as dry as a Sun-baked bone. Back of
this drought is the absence Of sufficient
rain and snow fall since last autumn,
but back of the deficiency in moisture
lie other causes. themselves the result
or antecedent causes. and it is with
these primal causes we have now to do.
At once / hear the reader say: Here
Is that man with more talk about Hal
leys comet. and the effect of its pass
age on the earth. Halleys comet has
gone out into space. and surely 1t can
not be the direct cause Of a fire in
Maine or New York Halley's comet
has indeed gone from our vision, but
some OF the effects OF its visit. coupled
with disturbances In our sun. now ex-
lstlng. and for which no man can give
dennite cause. are still with US.
we must not forget that humanity
nVes and human structures exist at
tne bottom OF great aerial ocean: that
TINS ocean OF air Is the means by which
solar energy Is transformed into light
and heat: that through it we receive
al the known and unknown impulses
OF energy that are transmitted to the
SOLID earth, not only from our own sun
Dut from every sun in the galactic sys-
tenn; that 1t is also the transformer OF
SOAR energy into electric magnetic
and chemical conditions; that it has its
regular currents, tides, waves and
movements. ordinarily as well defined
as those OF the oceans of water: that
normally this wonderful atmosphere of
our earth, Is In a condition within a
range OF 15O degrees of temperature.
ana constant molecular status to per-
form all the functions of natural phe-
nomena
Time a Factor.
II may seem long Journey from
Comet visits and sunspots to drought
ana great nres, but 1t must be remem-
oered that time is a factor in all things
even to the passage of light
through space. and that all results
must have antecedent causes. and that
The result of one antecedent cause may
tSe1 become an antecedent cause of a
, TURNER result. Sunspots are usually
lescriped as evidences of unusual solar
activity. On the contrary. they seem
10 be evidences of lessened rather than
increased energy. and their presence in
naxlma seems to be associated with the
passage or large comets. with the peri
,f the planets, as we'll as with a fairly
we'll defined cycle of minima and
naxima or their own. covering period
,f about eleven years.
No matter whether our view is that
of q eelf-consuming sun, giving out
tI,4 Salor uGfa a q