| Show In I 1 rl I r FEAR OP f t 1 t rho tear fear that a comet colliding with j 1 I Dur planet might do Injury to the tho carth 0 or It Its Inhabitants seems to be the tho last 4 1 r remnant or of D c tear car that has pervaded ii the tho minds or of men tram from very veo car cari earb I i times es r That Thal man many still have apprehensions I or of such a catastrophe Is not though all cause camo for tor Cear Cearl ear earlies l 1 lies tong long since become untenable It I l 1 has been shown hown that thal comets are como coni f I posed of particles so 50 small or of gases j t I In ti 0 condition so thin and rarefied that I I g collision With thom them could not shako shake or orf orl f 11 l In any way va disturb the physical i ot of the earth hence the tho former I i dread or of such on an occurrence has no noI reasonable 1 bels For though though these I I I t I objects make D a great show In the c 1 heavens the portions with which wilch the 11 earth might collide It If it IL passed through i I them would be extremely light and andI It seems that nothing whatever In the thet t I wa way ot of physical shock could be exper expert t H r by any kind of collision I In addition to these conclusions of Ii I I astro astronomers om we have the tho testimony ot of ott t experience In 10 veles comet was seen to pass through the tho satellites ot of L Jupiter wIthout deranging them In the least while the tho comet was Itself thrown entirely out ot of Its Hs path There I Is also reason to believe that thal on the ot of Juno Tuno the earth carth remained I hours In Ute the tall ot of a comet i t experienced the slight slightest i est esl Inconvenience t i The most remarkable case caso ot of a 11 R 4 I I lar panic from the tear car of at a 0 collision i with a comet oc occurred In Paris hi the I year 1773 when La Lande offered a pa paper paI I per to the Academy ot of Sciences tend t t L Ing to show that no a comet was approaching hinS the earth and might pos Se Ito itc destruction A As a 11 comet cometH I I H was soon duo due the people began to get alarmed and soon the most dreadful I fears or of speedy destruction Were every everywhere everyL L where dIsseminated Some devout pea peo plo pIe urged the archbishop to make a ar r t rt hours pra prayer cr In order to avert the tho Impending but bul members I Iii I or of the Academy dissuaded him from fromI such Il a proceeding ro re reI I lates how at last M La Lando Lande find InS ing It Impossible to answer all ques questions I put to him about his fatal memoir 1 i and wishing to prevent the real evils olIs I that might arise from the frightened Imaginations ot of the tho Weak caused It ItI I I to be printed arid and made mado It as clear ns as was possible When It appeared It was round found that ho stated that ot of Ute the sixty i 1 known comets there thero were eight which I could by coming cominS too near the earth t I say within miles occasion such a 11 j pressure that the sea would leave its I I bed and cover put part ot of the globe but butr butI r I I that thal In any case this could not happen f till after acter twenty years cars This was too toot t long to make It worth while to make I t provisIon for tor It arul anji the effervescence f subsided l I i In 1832 people became similarly ox ex ext t cited In respect to comet Dam I had calculated that thal It would pass paS the earths orbit on the of at I 1 October and the papers confounding 1 this crossing of at the tho orbit with an In Inv v i evitable collision began to Intimate h that that the end ot of the world was at al hand handy y V Widespread consternation reigned until c Arago pointed out that the earth p would be a months journey or sixty II 1 I million miles away from the spot at ati att t i which the comet would cross the earths path as predicted 1 Even as lately at aL 1872 a similar end endt t of at the World was announced for the tho thoI I ot of August of at that year car based upon a misconstruction of the words ot or ota ort t I a pr pl at Geneva about the path 9 ot of a cornet comet The Th tl thought that the earth might finally nal 30 b be subjected to a s cond deluge collision has found some support I I from the tact fact that the cool seasons autumn and winter In the southen 1 hemisphere last longer lEG days than p F they thoy do in the northern halt ot of the tho thet I t globe days day had esti estimated estia a mated that the gradual accumulation t ot or Ice first at one polo pole and then at atI another displaces the earths earth center of at oft I t gravity about aboul every 1000 years ears As F the deluge ot of the northern hemisphere was years ago he thought that of oC 1 r tho south pOle will occur In years 1 from now Will VIII the tho center of at gravity I Ithen 1 then change and cause an Immense I 1 deluge The answer ot of astronomers Is III j L that It if the center ot of gravity shall re ret t r I turn to a former point It will tie do so t 0 gradually just juel as It was displaced t I an thus there will be no catastrophe I jf r The belief bellet that the earth will be bei I i 1 destroyed destro cd by fire firo was held by ancient I nations CUd II that It will be baptized In Int t j J i or renewed by fire Is a conclusion from 1 F j the w words or of Scripture And this oc ocI occurrenCe I currenCe ot of We tIle future futuro has been speculatively I f t d with comet col I That a comet might I i ij j poison polson tile the earths atmosphere by corn com 1 Its gas with the tho all air ot or this f planet planel has also been suggested ted like i I wise that In the course of at millions of j 4 I years cars the earth might fall Into the sun I or that thal the sun itself will In the un no noi Ii i calculably distant future become cold coldi l I i all these speculations have beon In InI dul ed In recent times as aH a sort sort ot of dl di 11 I with certain astronomers astronomer t I bo conclusions ot of the I I J 1 French astronomer no worded b by PlaIce of England are simply that itS as we know nothing ot of the origin so wo know nothing of the tho end of the world that while seno stars ma may be fading others may be rising Into their place and that ns as man need not be Identified with one earth arth alone ho he ma may rest content In the tho Idea that the tho life liCe universal Is eternal Other Interesting facts and theories about comets will be found elsewhere on this page pace from data h by Proto prOf Gibson of the tho State University |
