South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-02-03
SeUen Eclipses in
1917; wv otch for an
Orgy of Superstition
BY Garrett p. Serviss.


the American scientists at their re-
cent meeting in New York. a spe-
cial discussion might have been de-
voted TO the superstitions that are
let loose like fiocks of night birds
whenever the human spirit is deep
ly perturbed. The tendency to su-
perstition is strong in all OF US 1t
is our inward confession that we do
not know everything.
AS knowledge widens. supersti-
tons retreats. but it always remains
in the background, towering, or
standing over" (the root meaning
ways a region of mystery eurround-
ing the frontiers Of science, no mat
ter how far they have been pushed.
But one man may have driven the
area of superstition so far away that
its clouds are hardly noticed on the
remote horizon of his mind, while
another is closely enveloped in their
shadow.
There Will BE Seven EcIipses This
Year-Just Watch Superstition
Revive.
Take, for instance. the matter OF
eclipses. This is going to be a re-
markable year for those awe-inspir-
ing phenomena. There will be seven
eclipses-the greatest number that
can possibly occur in any one year
and three of these will be of the
moon. the greatest number OF lunar
eclipses that can occur in one year.
One of these, the first total eclipse
OF the moon that has been seen
since 1913, has already happened,
having taken place just one week
after New Years eve. The next
lunar eclipse will occur in the mid
die of the year and the third IL
December. Then there are the four
solar eclipses which the year is 20
witness, although none of them will
be total, so that they will lack spec
tacular features.
A precisely similar combination
has not occurred since the year
1897. and will not recur before 1892.
In extraordinary eclipse years.
when there are seven eclipses in all,
il is more usual for five to be solar
and only two lunar
1t is hardly necessary to point
out what a magnificent opportunity
this sublime play of celestial shad-
ows, the moon and the earth ex-
changing thrust and riposte with
their fuliginous swords like gigan-
tic fencers, while below them hu-
manity is blowing itself up with
dynamite, affords for the supersti-
ton mOngers, who seize every such
that science has partly expelled.
For a hundred persons who credu-
lousy listen to astrological vaticina-
tons based on aspects and occur
rences in the sky, is there one who
reflects that all of these phenomena
have long since been proved to obey
laws as simple and as unconnected
with human fates as the rotations
of the wheels of a watch?
The Man Who is SuperstitiOus is
Himself to- Blame for His Igno-
rance.
There are persons who believe
that il is unlucky To pass under a
ladder leaning over a sidewalk, be-
cause somebody has told them so;
here are others who for a similar
non-reason will not cross a street
ahead of a funeral procession; 9TH
ers who carry a horse chestnut to
keep off rheumatism; others who
are thrown into shudder if a
cross-eyed man happens to look
them in the face, or If a snake
glides across the road ahead of
them The man who is afraid of
the shadow of an eclipse or thinks
that it portends either good or evil
is on the same intellectual level. Ig-
norance puts him there; soOth-say-
ers would keep him there, but it is
his own fault if he remains in that
humiliating position.
The moon does not come be-
tween the earth and the sun except
in the regular performance of her
duty. which duty is simply 10 hold
the path that gravitation prescribes
for her. She does not pass into the
shadow Of the earth as a token that
wrath and misfortune are about to
descend upon any man or nation,
but merely because She cannot avoid
the shadow which lies across her
way
If eclipses sometimes occur with
unusual frequency, il is because the
position of the moon in space with
refernce TO the sun and the earth
periodically changes in obedience to
laws that are we'll understood by
astronomers. as is proved by their
ability to predict all eclipses long in
advance of their occurrence.
There is nothing mysterious or
occult about II. But there is some
thing about it that is immensely
interesting. Ii has all the fascina-
ton of a great game, played ac-
cording To fixed principles, but
with certain variations allowed
which introduce complications re-
curing the exercise of sharp atten-
ton, close observation, knowledge
of the rules and acute reasoning on
the part of the spectators who fol-
low its developments.
We are the spectators instructed
in the rules; the sun. the moon and
the earth are the players, bound by