Year: 1874

/ VI huS eaEBh IS approach


lng-one which to man shall be


mo:e important than all except that


which rendered his existence posi-


bic. For If the calculations which


in company with other astronomers


have made shall prove correct
and of their correctness in a rnathe.


matical and physical point Of view
there is hardly room for doubt-but
short time remains for man to in
habit the earth; he shall pass awav
as the fossil fauna and fora have
passed away, and shall make room
on the planet for the appearance of
other and higher organism. The
time has fully come for the open and
deliberate assertion of this truth,
and l take it upon myself to assert
in all its length and breadth that
which Professor Swift and Mr.. Park
hurst have, through what I hold to
be an unworthy fear of CONSEQUENCE
es, not more than half breathed.
That they knotc that in passing
through the tail of the comet the
physical conditions of the earth and
especially of its atmosphere must
undergo marked and well defined
changes, is scarcely worth saving.
No physicist believes that, for in
stance, the addition Of the millionth
part of the carbon which, as the
spectroseope shows, is present in
such comets as have been observed
thus far-Donati's-would not be
sufficient to preclude the possibility
of human life on the globe. But It
has not yet been demonstrated that
that portion Of cosmic matter which
appears in comets is entirely carbon,
and the probabilities are vastly in
dIsfavor Of such q belief. The con-
tinuous spectrum of reflected light
which some comets afford is not
conclusive as to the physical eondi-
ton of cemetery matter, and all that
has as yet been settled in regard to
these visitors from the intersteliar
spaces is that they are gaseous.
What the gss of which any pafticu-
lar comet is composed is must be
decided in each case. We know that
in the spectra of the sun, stars and
comets lines are presented which
are given by no earthly substance
with which science is acquainted
Thus is opened a wide field for con
lecture which, confined with strictly
scientific limits and methods, has a
well-defined result which / shall en-
deavor to make plain to persons who
have not had the advantage Of
special scientific training.


In the main my observations of
the new comet, made with fully
ten-fOot aehromatic telescope, agree
with those made by MIR. Parkhurst,
but we differ materially, by s full
day and a hall, in regard to the mo-
ment when the earth and the comet
shall be in contact. l fancy that
Mr.. Parkhurst made use of, logarith-
mic tables which are somewhat an
tiquated; but as to the main point
that on contact at Iast-I think
we are fully in accord. My calcula-
tions lead me to believe that as early
as July 10th instead Of the 22nd We
shall be within the eastern edge Of
the comets tail; but, after all, that
is matter of Importance only to
the scientific world. The results
which shall ensue are of Importance
to US all.


The new comet is coming 80 near
ly directly to the earth that on or
about the 20th of July We shall en-
ter its less dense matter-the nu-
cleus shall not touch us. Such q
phenomenon is not known to have
occurred before, although it is sur
missed that once-a few years ago
we touched upon the faintest out
skirts Of the tail of one Of these
bodies. The season Immediately
after this was unusually "sickly,"
and for three years afterwards CON
tinued to be so, as I have found.
no one else so far as know, having
noted the fact-by reference to NOR.
tuary tables of most of the Europe
an cities. The wcll-msrked increase
of pulmonary and throat diseases at
that time might be well accounted
for by the undue prevalence, say, Of
chlorine, left in the esrth's atmos-
phere. Since the appearance Of
Donati's comet diptheria has been
very prevalent Indeed, the disease
was hardly recognized before. ]
state merely the facts here, being
unwilling to offer a theory, or even
an hypothesis, in medical science.


Let us suppose now that when the
spectroscope shall be employed in
the examination of this new comet,
as it soon will be, it shall show the
spectrum of carbon into which, in
highly comminuted state, we are
about to enter. The carbon difused
throughout the earth's atmosphere,
while it will infinitely conduce to
the life of plants, viii be extremely
deleterious to human life, and the
earth will in a few years revert to
the carboniferous era Of giant trees
and the most luxuriant vegetation,
which in turn must give rise, if seeds
of rare animal life be brought from
the comet, to new animals of the
gigantic size known to geology but
not necessarily to megalosauri and
iehthyossauri. Gigantic men, rath-
er, will the earth bring forth, in &C
cordance with the well understood
doctrine that in each era the advance
| of intelligence has always been mark
| ed. Hitherto the tendancy of na-
ture has steadily been the successive
production of smaller, finer, and more
highly organized nervous systems,
until in man, now in evident process
| of decay, the ultimatum Of the pres
ent epoch has been reached. To him,
liz the theory of development be true
and made universal, instead Of being
confined to the earth alone, must
succeed at once 3 larger man and
one with far greater intelligence. In
this doctrine is the tine Especial
creation'-that is, the production Of
that which terrestrial powers are in
adequate to bring into being. It
seems to me, looking calmly az the
question, thatby comets or ereolltes
the missing links in Mr.. DerW1n's
admirable theory are replaced-not