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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18645ec --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66824 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66824) diff --git a/old/66824-0.txt b/old/66824-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e095f67..0000000 --- a/old/66824-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4036 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Comet Lore, by Edwin Emerson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Comet Lore - -Author: Edwin Emerson - -Release Date: November 26, 2021 [eBook #66824] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMET LORE *** - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - - Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ - in the original text. - Equal signs “=” before and after a word or phrase indicate =bold= - in the original text. - Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. - Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs. - Antiquated words have been preserved. - Typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected. - - - - -[Illustration: HALLEY’S COMET OF 1910, AS SEEN IN NEW YORK, LOOKING -WESTWARD, DURING THE LATTER PART OF MAY.] - - - - - COMET LORE - - Halley’s Comet in History and - Astronomy - - By - EDWIN EMERSON - _Author of “A History of the Nineteenth Century,” Etc._ - - PRINTED BY - THE SCHILLING PRESS - 137-139 EAST 25th STREET - NEW YORK - - Copyrighted, 1910, by EDWIN EMERSON - Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London - All rights reserved under Berne Convention - - Printed in the United States of America by - the Schilling Press in New York - from the electrotyped plates - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - Halley’s Comet 7 - The Terror of the Comet 10 - Famous Comets of Olden Times 30 - The Star of Bethlehem 39 - Great Events and Disasters Linked with Comets 42 - Halley’s Comet the Bloodiest of All 60 - The Story of Edmund Halley 90 - What Are Comets? 101 - Our Peril from Collision with the Comet 113 - The End of the World 122 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - Cover Designs by William Stevens - Halley’s Comet of 1910 Frontispiece - The Terror of the Comet in Antiquity 13 - The Terror of the Comet in Mediæval Times 20 - The Terror of the Comet at the Present Day 25 - The Latest Photograph of the Comet of 1910 28 - Napoleon’s Comet of 1811 53 - The Great Comet of 1843 56 - Comet of Tel-el-Kebir, 1882 59 - Halley’s Comet of 1835 62 - Halley’s Comet of 1682 69 - Halley’s Comet of 1066 in the Bayeux Tapestry 78 - William the Conqueror, an English Dream 81 - Portrait of Edmund Halley 92 - The Orbit of Halley’s Comet 103 - Relative Sizes of the Earth, the Moon and Halley’s Comet 103 - Donati’s Comet of 1858 106 - The Civil War Comet of 1863 109 - Coggia’s Comet of 1874 112 - Halley’s Conception of a Collision with the Comet 119 - - - - -TO THE COMET - - “Thereby Hangs a Tail.”—_Shakespeare._ - - Lone wanderer of the trackless sky! - Companionless! Say, dost thou fly - Along thy solitary path, - A flaming messenger of wrath— - Warning with thy portentous train - Of earthquake, plague and battle-plain? - Some say that thou dost never fail - To bring some evil in thy tail. - W. LATTEY. - - - - -THE COMING OF THE COMET - - -The Sun will surely rise and set to-morrow. - -Just so surely must a Comet flare forth in our Heavens this Spring. - -Star gazers, astronomers and learned men have been waiting for this -Comet all over the earth—in America, in Europe, in far China. - -They have known for certain that this Comet would come; and they knew -just when and where in the Heavens the Comet would first show itself to -the naked eye—down to the very night. - -All this has been known so surely because this same Comet has been seen -by the people of this earth before. - -It came and went seventy-four years ago. Seventy-six years before that, -it came and went. And seventy-six years before that, the Comet had come -and gone. - -As long as human beings have lived on this earth—for thousands and -thousands of years—human eyes have beheld this same Comet every -seventy-six years or so. - -The longest time between the Comet’s coming has been seventy-nine -years. The shortest interval of all—74½ years—was this time. - -For thousands of years in the past, wise men have written down records -of this Comet. - -Long, long ago, when white men were still savages who dwelt in caves, -patient star gazers in China and Chaldea studied the motions of this -Comet. - -Farther back than that, in the hoary days before the art of writing -was known, ancient bards sang of this Star and its hairy tail. Some of -their words are still remembered. - -Artists have drawn pictures of this Comet. Their pictures are still -shown. - -Women have stitched images of this Comet into their handiwork. Some of -this handiwork can still be seen. - -Coiners have stamped designs of this comet on their coins and medals. -Those coins are still shown in museums. - -Priests, Popes and great Divines have preached about this Comet. Their -sermons are still preserved in the records of the Church. - -Learned men have written in their books what happened when the Comet -came. Those books are read to-day. - -The coming of this Comet in olden times has been fixed in lasting -records, which he who runs may read. - -Nothing in all History is more certain than the story of this Comet. - - - - -WHY HALLEY’S COMET? - - -Two hundred and twenty-eight years ago, when this Comet was seen -shining over the City of London, the great astronomer, Edmund Halley, -made a special study of it. - -Halley was the first to say that this Comet had come before and would -surely come again. He wrote down the time when the Comet would come -again, long after he should be dead. - -“If it should return,” he wrote, “according to our predictions, about -the year 1758, impartial posterity will not refuse to acknowledge that -this was first discovered by an Englishman.” - -The Comet returned, as he had foretold, seventeen years after Halley’s -death, when it was first seen in 1758, on Christmas night, by a man in -Saxony, named Palitsch, who was looking for the Comet. - -From that day this Comet has been called after Halley. - -Since then many famous astronomers, such as Clairaut, Pontécoulant and -Laplace in France, have calculated the dates for the Comet’s return. - -Last time, in 1835, Halley’s Comet returned within a few nights of -their prediction. - -This time, so the astronomers figured seventy-five years ago, the Comet -should be plainly seen after dark late this May. - -What they predicted has come true. - - - - -THE TERROR OF THE COMET - - “Canst thou fearless gaze - Even night by night on that prodigious Blaze, - That hairy Comet, that long streaming Star, - Which threatens Earth with Famine, Plague and War?” - —_Sylvester._ - - -So long as the memory of man goes back, the appearance of a Comet has -always been taken as a just cause for dread. - -In the train of Comets, it has ever been held, come wars, bloodshed, -fires, floods, plagues, famine and the fall of mighty rulers. - -Our Holy Bible confirms this time-honoured belief. - -The Saviour Himself said, according to the Gospel of St. Luke, Chap. -XXI., Verse 10-11: - - “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom - against kingdom; and great earthquakes shall be in - divers places, and famines and pestilences; and - fearful sights and great signs shall there be from - Heaven.” - -In the Revelation of St. John the Divine (Chap. VIII., Verse 10) we -read: - - “There fell from Heaven a great star burning as a - torch,” and again (Chap. XII., Verse 3): - - “There was seen another sign in Heaven, and behold - a great red dragon ... and his tail draweth a third - part of the stars in Heaven. And behold the third woe - cometh quickly.” (Chap. XII., Verse 14.) - -The “flaming sword” in the hands of the angel of the Lord, when Adam -and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, many sacred writers hold, -can only be interpreted as a Comet. - - “For the Almighty set before the door - Of th’ holy park a seraphim that bore - A warning sword, whose body shined bright - A flaming Comet in the midst of night.” - —_Todd._ - -So, too, when Jerusalem was to be wasted by a plague, David beheld a -Comet in the shape of a flaming sword: - - “And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of - the Lord stand between the earth and the Heaven, - having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over - Jerusalem.” - —_I. Chron. XXI. 16._ - -The fall of Satan, some sacred writers hold, was marked by the -appearance of a Comet. In Isaiah (XIV. 12) we find: - - “How art thou fallen from Heaven, O flaming one, son - of the morning!” - -John Milton, in his “Paradise Lost,” has fixed this image in immortal -verse: - - “Satan stood - Unterrified, and as a Comet burned - That fired the length of Ophiuchus huge - In th’ arctic sky, and from its horrid hair, - Shakes pestilence and war.” - -The Great Deluge, described in Holy Writ, came after the appearance -of a mighty Comet (Halley’s Comet), so Dr. William Whiston, Sir Isaac -Newton’s successor in the Lucasian chair of Mathematics at Cambridge, -set forth in a special treatise. The great French astronomer, Laplace, -also reached the same conclusion. - -This same Comet (Halley’s Comet) likewise foretold the final fall of -the Holy City, Jerusalem, in the year 70 after Christ. This Comet was -seen by St. Peter. Josephus in his History of the Jewish Wars recorded -the nightly appearance of this Comet over the City of Jerusalem just -before the war which ended with the destruction of the Holy City. - - “Amongst other warnings,” writes Josephus, who saw - this Comet with his own eyes, “a Comet of the kind - called sword-shaped, because their tails appear to - represent the blade of a sword, was seen above the - city for the space of a whole year.” - -Josephus at the time rebuked his Jewish countrymen for listening to -false prophets while so clear a sign from Heaven was before their very -eyes. - -This same Comet (Halley’s Comet) reappeared at a critical period of the -rule of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. He -first beheld his sign from Heaven in the midst of battle as it blazed -overhead in the sign of a Cross. With the help of his mother, the -sainted Helen, Constantine was moved thereby to turn Christian. - -Constantinople, the great capital of the Orient, which owes its name -to this same Emperor Constantine, was lost to Christendom in the year -1453, when the Turks overran the great city with fire and sword. This -event, it is recorded, was heralded by another appearance of a Comet. -Three years later, when the Turks were about to descend upon Belgrade, -another Comet (Halley’s Comet) spread consternation throughout Europe. - -At that time Pope Calixtus III., on the appearance of this Comet, -seeing that evils were impending for the human race, called for prayers -that the Almighty would turn these evils upon the Turks, the enemies of -the Christian faith. - -[Illustration: “A SWORD-SHAPED COMET BLAZED OVER THE DOOMED HOLY CITY.” - -—Josephus’ “_History of Judea_.”] - -At the same time the Holy Father gave orders for all Church bells to be -tolled at noon to remind faithful Christians to pray for those battling -against the Turk. - -Into the Ave Maria were put the words: “From the Devil, the Turk and -the Comet, Good Lord, deliver us!” - -Since that time in most Catholic countries the Angelus is still -regularly rung at noon. In Italy, even to-day, the cakes sold before -the church doors at noon go by the name of _Comete_. - -All the great Fathers of the Church have taught that Comets are to be -taken as signs from Heaven. - -Baeda, the Venerable, declared in the seventh century in England, that -“Comets portend revolutions of kingdoms, pestilence, war, winds, or -heat.” - -John of Damascus, preaching in the same century in the Orient, laid -down the same belief. - -St. Thomas Aquinas, the great Light of the Church in the thirteenth -century, accepted and handed down the same opinion. - -The sainted Albert the Great, the most noted thinker of the Church in -the Middle Ages, received and taught the same doctrine. - -The teachings of these Church Fathers as to Comets have been commended -in our own day by Pope Pius IX. - -The great teachers of other religions, likewise, have laid down -identical beliefs as to the meaning of Comets. - -The sacred books of India are full of awed references to the baleful -influence of Comets. - -The ancient year books of China, written centuries before white men -kept any records, tell of the appearance of Comets and of the disasters -they foretold. - -The Mohametans and their wise Arab star gazers, when they saw a Comet -in the Heavens, knew that it meant war. - -The woe of one Comet (Halley’s Comet of 1456), which had the shape of -a Turkish scimitar, so the Arab soothsayers foretold, would be turned -against their enemies. This was the same Comet which brought such fear -to the hearts of Pope Calixtus III. and all his Christian followers. - -Thus it can be seen that Comets have been held to foretell disaster on -one side, and victory on the other. - -The Comets which conquerors hailed as their guiding stars, have meant -war and bloodshed and disaster to those whom they came to conquer. - -The same Comets which shone upon the birth of mighty rulers, have -blazed in warning of their death. - -Julius Caesar, who was born under a Comet, saw his bloody end foretold -by another Comet. - -Therefore, Shakespeare in his play “Julius Caesar,” makes Calpurnia say -to Caesar: - - “When beggars die, there are no Comets seen; - The Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.” - -On the night of Caesar’s assassination, when the Comet was seen blazing -at its brightest, the Romans said that it had come to bear away the -great soul of the murdered Caesar. - -At the death of Nero, the Roman Emperor, who persecuted the Christians, -a Comet blazed forth again. The Roman historian Suetonius, who wrote -the Life of Emperor Nero, thus described this Comet: - - “A blazing star, which was commonly held to portend - destruction to Kings and Princes, reappeared above - the horizon several nights in succession.” - -Another great Comet (Halley’s again) reappeared when Attila, the King -of the Huns, the “Scourge of God,” was overthrown in the greatest -battle of Christendom on the Catalaunian fields. - -Claudius, a Roman writer of that period, then stated that “a Comet was -never seen in the Heavens without implying some dreadful event.” - -This has ever been the belief of all the great poets of olden time. - -Homer, the greatest poet of Ancient Greece, a thousand years before the -birth of Christ, sang of: - - “The red star, that from his flaming hair - Shakes down diseases, pestilence and war.” - -Let it be explained here that the word Comet in Greek means -“long-haired,” from _kome_,—hair. - -Virgil, the greatest Roman poet, sang of “the baleful glare of bloody -Comets,” and again, of “dreadful Comets blazing in the sky.” - -Tasso, the greatest of Italian poets after Dante, sang thus of Comets -in his “Jerusalem Delivered”: - - “Qual con le chiome sanguinose horrende - Splender Cometa suol per l’aria adusta, - Che i regni muta, e i feri morbi adduce, - Ai purpurei tiranni infausta luce.” - —_Gerusalemme Liberata, Canto VII., Stanza 52._ - -Rendered thus by Wiffen into English: - - “As with its bloody locks let loose in air - Horribly bright, the Comet shows whose shine - Plagues the parched World, whose looks the Nations scare, - Before whose face States change, and Powers decline, - To purple Tyrants all, an inauspicious sign.” - -The great English poets, on their part, have lifted up their voices to -sing of the dire effects of Comets. - -Shakespeare, the greatest of them all, abounds in allusions to these -dread wandering stars. - -Thus he makes Horatio in the first scene of “Hamlet” speak with awe of: - - “Stars with trains of fire and dews of blood; - - * * * * * - - And even the like precurse of fierce events, - As harbingers preceding still the fates - And prologue to the omen coming on.” - -More briefly Shakespeare in his “Henry VI.” refers to: - - “A Comet of revenge - A prophet to the fall of all our foes”; - -and again, in “The Taming of the Shrew” to: - - “Some Comet or unusual prodigy.” - -Spenser in his “Faerie Queene” sings of a woman’s hair loosely -dispersed in the wind: - - “All as a blazing starre doth farre outcast - His heavy beames, and flaming lockes dispredd, - At sight whereof the people stand aghast; - But the sage Wizzard telles, as he has redd, - That it importunes death and doleful drearyhedd.” - -John Milton, besides likening Satan to a Comet, as before quoted, also -showed that he shared in the belief that the flaming swords mentioned -in Holy Writ were Comets: - - “High in front advanced - The brandish’d sword of God before them blazed - Fierce as a Comet.” - -The poet Young, in his “Night Thoughts,” aptly writes of the Comet: - - “Hast thou ne’er seen the Comet’s flaming light? - Th’ illustrious stranger passing, terror sheds - On gazing Nations, from his fiery train.” - -The poets of other nations have written of Comets in like vein. There -is an old German rhyme, sung by German school children even to-day, -which has been put into English by Dr. Andrew D. White in his “History -of the Doctrine of Comets”: - - “Eight things there be a Comet brings, - When it on high doth horrid range; - Wind, Famine, Plague, and Death to Kings, - War, Earthquake, Floods and Direful Change.” - -This little rhyme was originally put forth for German school children -by two Protestant preachers of Basle, Switzerland, at the time of the -great Comet of 1618, which heralded the outbreak of the great “Thirty -Years’ War.” - -These Protestant ministers got their belief in Comets and their evil -influence upon mankind not from the Church of Rome, but from the -Bible teachings of such great Protestant reformers as Martin Luther, -Melanchthon, Zwingli, Calvin, John Knox of Scotland, Bishop Jeremy -Taylor and John Howe, the great Nonconformist divine. - -Martin Luther preached in one of his Advent sermons: - - “The heathen write that the Comet may arise from - natural causes; but God creates not one that does not - foretoken a sure calamity.” - -Luther’s friend, Melanchthon, in a letter, declared Comets to be -“heralds of Heaven’s wrath.” - -Zwingli, in 1531, declared that the great Comet of that year (Halley’s -Comet) was sent by God to betoken calamity. - -John Knox, preaching in his Scottish kirk at Edinboro, declared that he -saw in Comets tokens of the wrath of Heaven. - -The great divines of the Church of England,—from Cranmer, Bishop -Latimer, Archbishops Spottiswoode and Bramhall, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, -down to our own times, clearly preached the doctrine that Comets must -be taken as tokens from Heaven. - -Thus the Comet of 1572 was pointed out from the pulpits of England -and Scotland as a token of Heaven’s wrath and warning at the St. -Bartholomew Massacre on the night of August 24, 1572, when thirty -thousand Huguenots were murdered in the streets of Paris and elsewhere -in France. - -Across the sea, in the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the great -New England divine and President of Harvard College, Increase Mather, -on the apparition of the great Comet now known as Halley’s, in 1682, -preached on “Heaven’s Wrath Alarm to the World—wherein is shown that -fearful sights and signs in the Heavens are the presages of great -calamities at hand.” - -Increase Mather preached on the text taken from the Book of Revelation: -“And the third Angel sounded, and there fell a great Star burning as a -Torch, ... and behold the Third Woe cometh quickly.” - -In this sermon the great preacher told of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, -who, when warned of the omen of a Comet, made fun of it, and then died -miserably. - -So Mather preached: “For the Lord hath fired his beacon in the Heavens -among the stars of God there. The fearful sign is not yet out of -sight.... Do we not see the sword blazing over us?... Doth God threaten -our very Heavens? O pray unto Him, that he would not take away stars -and send Comets to succeed them!” - -[Illustration: THE TERROR OF THE COMET OF 1531. FROM AN OLD NUREMBERG -WOOD-CUT.] - -The profound Russian thinker Tolstoy, in his great book “War and -Peace,” has written of the flaming Comet of 1811. This was the famous -“Comet of Napoleon,” which blazed over Western Europe when Napoleon was -gathering his grand army for its disastrous march into Russia and to -Moscow. - -At Moscow, the ancient capital of Russia, this Comet was observed by -anxious thousands. One night there was this talk between a novice nun -and the Abbess of her Convent. On their way to vesper service one -evening in Moscow the nun suddenly beheld the Comet for the first time -and asked: “What is that star?” - -The Abbess answered: “It is not a star. It is a Comet.” - -“But what is a Comet?” asked the young nun. “I have never heard that -word.” - -The Abbess then answered: “Comets are signs in Heaven, which God sends -before misfortunes.” - -Shortly after this the bloody battle of Borodino was fought, and -Napoleon, with his army, appeared before the gates of Moscow. The -hundred-towered city was abandoned by the Russians and was given over -to the flames. - -Years afterward this same nun thus told her story, as printed in the -“Revue des Deux Mondes”: - - “Every night the Comet blazed in the Heavens, and we - all asked ourselves: What misfortune does it bring? - Then the enemy came, and our sacred city was put - to the torch. Our convent, together with all other - cloisters, monasteries and churches, was burned to - the ground.” - -Many other writers of the time who saw the great Comets that blazoned -Napoleon’s destructive wars have recorded how they were universally -taken as omens of the great conqueror’s bloody trail. - -Napoleon himself gloried in this dread omen and hailed the Comet as his -“guiding star.” - -All this has been fully set forth by the famous French astronomer -Messier, a latter-day observer of Halley’s Comet, who wrote a special -book on “The Wonderful Comet which appeared at the Birth of Napoleon -the Great.” - -As for the many Comets that have blazed down upon other great -conquerors and other bloody wars, before the comparatively recent -Comets of the American Civil War and the Napoleonic Wars, they are all -set down in a special History of Comets. - -In this great work, entitled “A History of All Comets,” the Latin -scholar Lubienitius has pointed out all the calamities and dire events -which attended the appearance of each and every Comet recorded in -history. - - - - -THE EFFECTS OF COMETS ON MAN - - -Some thinkers have pointed out that there has often been a direct -connection between the feelings produced in the human soul by the -appearance of a Comet and the human deeds of violence or the human -epidemics and excessive mortality following the widespread terror -produced by Comets. - -Only this year (1910) the appearance of Inness’ Comet over Mexico -caused a panic-stricken holy pilgrimage to the Shrine of Talpa. In -China, too, it caused terror, resulting in Christian massacres. - -Hence, also, several Jewish massacres inspired by Comets in the past -and hence also so many terrifying plagues connected with Comets. - -Thus Ambroise Paré, the “Father of French Surgery,” who flourished -in the sixteenth century, has recorded the effect produced upon his -contemporaries by the Comet of 1528. - -“This Comet was so horrible,” wrote Dr. Paré, “so frightful, and it -produced such great terror among the common people, that many died of -fear and many others fell sick.” - -Dr. Paré himself appears to have come under the influence of this fear, -judging from his awestruck description of the appearance of this Comet: - - “It appeared to be of excessive length; and was of - the colour of blood. At the summit of it was seen the - figure of a bent arm, holding in its hand a great - sword as if about to strike. - - “At the end of the point there were three stars. - On both sides of the rays of this Comet were seen - a great number of axes, knives, and blood-coloured - swords, among which were a great number of hideous - human faces with beards and bristling hair.” - -Hannibal committed suicide on account of a Comet. So did Mithridates. -So did one Toma, in Hungary, only this year. - -King Louis “the Debonair” of France, died from fear of a Comet -(Halley’s Comet) in 837 A. D. - -Emperor Charles V., of Germany and Spain, the monarch who boasted that -“the sun never set on his dominions,” was so moved by the appearance of -a Comet in 1556, that he gave up his crown and became a monk. - -Certain metaphysicians have held that there is a substance in a Comet, -or in its tail, which has a weird effect on man’s brain, as moonshine -is believed to have on some men, making them lunatics. As a matter -of fact, as Arago pointed out, Comets have caused tremendous spring -tides just like the moon. The same irresistible pull of gravity or -electricity or light-pressure must perforce affect other substances -besides water, such as human brains. - -According to this metaphysical theory, the close approach of a Comet to -the earth affects and disturbs men’s brains, so that men are inwardly -stirred with warlike impulses. Hence the great wars almost invariably -following the appearance of Comets. - -Hence, too, the appeal to Comets made by so many conquerors, from -William the Conqueror down to Napoleon. In the homely phrase of one -writer, “the inner eye of man, under the weird effect of a Comet, sees -red and makes him thirst for blood.” - -Those rare beings who have lying latent within them the gift of Second -Sight or divination, according to this same metaphysical theory, upon -the near approach of Comets find themselves stirred to prophesy. Hence, -so many marvellous prophesies inspired by Comets since the ancient days -of Merlin, the seer. - -[Illustration: “THE COMET OF 1910 SO ALARMED THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO THAT -MANY THOUSANDS WENT ON A HOLY PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE OF TALPA IN -XALISCO.”—_Mexican Herald._] - - - - -THIS YEAR’S PROPHECIES - - -The return of Halley’s Comet in this Year of Our Lord 1910 has already -called forth several memorable prophesies. - -On January 20th the French astrologer and prophetess Madame de Thebes, -who predicted the disastrous French floods of this year, as well as the -coming of Inness’ unexpected Comet, uttered the following prophesies: - - “This year, 1910, will be one to look back to with - trembling. - - “The earth is under a terrific strain from Comets and - planetary revolutions. Human destiny is red. That - means blood. Political events are black. Terrible - changes are imminent. - - “This winter, France will be swept by terrible - floods. Paris will be under water. The influence of - form changes in other planets and the coming of a - Comet will affect us for the worse. - - “The strain of the stars will be most severely felt - in America. The people of America will have to pay - dearly for all their riches and sudden prosperity. - With the coming of another Comet disaster will - descend upon America. - - “A financial crash is impending, to be followed by a - long string of suicides. Black ruling us, men will - commit all manner of crimes and knaveries for money. - - “The times are swaying toward degeneration. We are - swinging within the evil influence of a strange - orbit. Our souls are jarred from their proper - bearings. I dare not say all that is revealed to me. - It would be too terrible.” - -Soon after this prophesy was uttered came the first of such suicides. -Adam Toma, a wealthy landowner of Szozona, Hungary, cut his throat -because of the Comet. He left a note saying that the Comet was the -cause of his death. - -Cardinal Gibbons later expressed his profound belief that the Paris -floods of this year were sent by God as a punishment to the Parisians -for their frivolities and sins, of which the Comet was a fiery warning. - -Commenting on Madame de Thebes’ predictions and her connection of the -Comet of 1910 with this year’s spring-floods in France, Italy and -Germany, the French astronomer Henri Deslandres, late Director of the -Astronomical Observatory of Meudon and member of the French Academy of -Sciences, said: - - “However distant Comets may be, it is not at all - impossible that their enormous tails, measuring - 75,000,000 to 125,000,000 miles in length, may come - in contact with our atmosphere. The theory that - a Comet may disturb the atmosphere of the earth, - causing rains of great duration, and consequently - inundations and the sudden overflow of rivers, is - not at all absurd. It can be sustained by scientific - reasoning.” - -It should be remembered here that Laplace, one of the greatest of all -astronomers, credited the deluge to a Comet. - -Before Madame de Thebes’ ominous prophesy concerning Halley’s Comet and -its effects upon America were cabled over to this country, another, -no less dire prediction of financial disaster in the United States, -coincident with the appearance of Halley’s Comet, was made by W. E. -Corey, the President of the American Steel Trust. - -[Illustration: THE COMET OF 1910, FROM A TELESCOPIC PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT -GREENWICH.] - -Mr. Corey then warned his friends to “call in their money and get from -under” because a calamitous financial crash and general business ruin -would surely come during the Spring of 1910. - -The most ominous of all prophesies connected with the coming of -Halley’s Comet this year was made by the venerable General Ballington -Booth, the head of the Salvation Army. Speaking in London, immediately -after Halley’s Comet had been located, early this year, General Booth -said: - - “We are, this year, rapidly approaching the end of - all things, with similar results, but far surpassing - in horrors any disaster that has gone before. - - “All things will be wound up. Besides a deluge of - water sweeping parts of the world and its inhabitants - there will be fierce destruction by fire.” - - - - -FAMOUS COMETS OF OLDEN TIMES - - -Bacon, the great English thinker, has said: “Comets have some action -and effect on the universality of things.” - -All Comets recorded in history, so Lubienitius has shown in his -“Universal History of All Comets,” appeared in connection with some -great event or catastrophe in the History of Man. - -George F. Chambers, one of the most up-to-date writers on Astronomy -and Comets, on the second page of his “Story of the Comets” (1909), -declares: - - “It is the general testimony of History during many - hundreds of years, one might even say during fully - 2,000 years, that Comets were always considered to - be peculiarly ‘ominous of the wrath of Heaven and as - harbingers of wars and famines, of the dethronement - of Monarchs and the dissolution of Empires.’” - -Reaching back into remotest history, the sacred books of India show -that the births of Krishna and of Buddha were foretold by moving lights -in the Heavens. - -The ancient records of China tell of the appearance of a moving beacon -in Heaven at the birth of Yu, the first ruler of the Celestial Empire, -and again at the birth of the great Chinese prophet, Lao-Tse. - -The ancient Greeks have recorded similar appearances of Comets. -Aesculapius, the divine healer and first physician, was born under a -Comet. - -The oldest traditions of the Jews tell us that when Abraham was born a -moving star was seen in the East. - -Another moving star with long radiant gleams of light streaming behind -it shone forth at the birth of Moses. This Comet was seen by the Magi -of Egypt, who pointed it out to the King as an omen meant for him. -Hence Pharaoh’s order, as recorded in the Old Testament, for the -slaughter of all male Jewish infants then born in Egypt. - - - - -GREAT EVENTS CONNECTED WITH HISTORIC COMETS IN ANTIQUITY - - -The earliest Comet of which there is any historic record was a Comet -mentioned in the oldest cuneiform inscriptions of Babylonia several -thousand years before our Christian era, recently found on the north -bank of Nahr-al-Kalb, near Beyrut in Syria. This Comet is recorded to -have been visible to the naked eye for 29 nights. - -At the time Lubienitius wrote his big “History of all the Comets” the -exact date of this Comet had not been fixed. Lubienitius, though, had -a record of this same Comet, the date of which he fixes at the year -2312 before Christ, the date computed by him and other writers for the -beginning of the deluge. - -In modern times the great French astronomer Laplace credited a Comet -with causing huge floods at the time of the great Deluge. - -Two hundred and eighty-eight years after the great Deluge, according to -the records of the Chaldean star gazers, there appeared another Comet. -This is the date, computed by Lubienitius, for the building of the -Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues. - -Two thousand and sixty-four years before Christ, another Comet -appeared, as recorded by the Chaldeans. This is the date given for the -birth of Abraham. - -When Abraham was seventy years old, in the year 1949 B. C., a Comet was -seen shining over the Valley of Siddim for twenty-two nights. This is -the date given by Bible historians for the destruction of Sodom and -Gomorrah, the two cities of iniquity which lay in the Vale of Siddim. - -Jewish annalists record a Comet in Egypt in the year corresponding to -B. C. 1841. This Comet shone at the time of the bitter persecution of -the Jews by the Egyptians. - -Arabian star gazers have recorded a Comet shining over Arabia 1732 B. -C. In that year there was a terrible famine, of which mention is made -in the Old Testament. - -The ancient Chinese year books record the appearance of a Comet over -northern China and Manchuria in the year corresponding to 1537 B. -C. The appearance of the Comet, so the Chinese chronicles tell, was -followed by a great flood and disastrous famine. - -The next Comet of which we have any record, appeared 1515 B. C. This -was at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt. - -In the year B. C. 1194, we are told by Hyginus that “On the fall of -Troy, one of the Pleiades group of stars rushed along the Heavens -toward the Arctic pole, where the star remained visible with -dishevelled hair, to which the name of Comet is applied.” - -We are informed by Pliny, the Roman historian, that in B. C. 975, the -“Egyptians and Ethiopians suffered from a terrible famine, the dire -effects of a Comet. It appeared all on fire, and was twisted in the -form of a wreath, and had a hideous aspect. It seemed not to be a star, -but rather a knot of fire.” - -Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions tell us that about 575 B. C., when -Nebuchadnezzar overran Elam, “a star arose whose head was bright as -day, while from its luminous body a tail extended like the sting of a -scorpion.” - -According to Pliny, again, a Comet in the form of a horn was seen in -the year B. C. 480, just before the great invasion of Greece by Xerxes -ending in the bloody sea fight of Salamis. - -The next Comet mentioned by Lubienitius appeared in B. C. 466, when it -was seen for 75 nights all over Greece. In that year Greece was ravaged -by war between the Spartans and Athenians, and the city of Sparta was -all but destroyed by an earthquake. - -The next Comet appeared one generation later in 431 B. C., and was seen -through 60 nights all over the ancient world. This Comet was followed -by a terrible pestilence which swept over Aethiopia, Egypt, Athens, and -Rome. War broke out all over Greece. It was the beginning of the great -Peloponnesian War, which devastated Greece for a generation to follow. - -In the year 394 B. C., there was another Comet seen in Greece, followed -by the great Corinthian War with the bloody battles of Knidus and -Koronea. - -Aristotle records a Comet seen by him in his fifteenth year, 371 B. C. -The sight of it inspired the youth to a special study of astronomy. -The Comet was visible until the end of the first week of July. On July -eighth was fought the great battle between the Thebans and Spartans, -when Epaminondas, one of the greatest generals of antiquity, overthrew -the Spartans. - -The next Comet, that of 338 B. C., which was likewise observed by -Aristotle, who had then become the teacher of Alexander the Great, -marked Alexander’s first public entry into the history of the world. -The Comet blazed its brightest on the eve of the bloody battle of -Chaeronea, Alexander’s first victory and achievement in war. - -In the year 344 B. C., there was another Comet, followed by another -war in Greece and Sicily. Diodorus of Sicily wrote of this Comet: “On -the departure of the expedition of Timoleon from Corinth for Sicily -with all his war ships, the Gods foretold success by an extraordinary -prodigy: A burning torch appeared in the Heavens for an entire night -and went before the fleet into Sicily.” - - -_The Comets of Carthage._ - -Nearly a hundred years passed before the appearance of another Comet in -240 B. C. This is the first recorded appearance of Halley’s Comet. By -the light of this Comet, Hamilcar, the great Carthaginian general, made -his young son Hannibal swear eternal enmity to the Romans. Hamilcar was -then in the midst of preparations for the war against Rome, which broke -out soon afterward. - -Comets appear to have been stars of special omen to Hannibal and to his -native city, Carthage. Twenty years later, appeared another Comet which -shone over Carthage for 22 nights. Its appearance was followed by the -outbreak of the great war between Hannibal and the Romans, and by a -terrible earthquake in Greece. - -The next Comet shone in 204 B. C., when Hannibal suffered his first -bloody defeat by Sempronius, while Scipio, Hannibal’s arch enemy, was -crossing over to Africa, for the first attack upon Carthage. - -The appearance of the next Comet, twenty years later, 184 B. C., which -shone through 88 nights over Asia Minor “with a horrible lustre” was -followed by the death of Hannibal. Soothsayers at the court of King -Prusias of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, whither Hannibal had fled from -the Romans, told the King that the Comet betokened Hannibal’s early -death. This so wrought on Hannibal’s spirit that he ended his life with -poison. - -In the year 150 B. C., appeared another Comet “of horrible size.” It -was seen for many nights running all over the Mediterranean Sea. Its -appearance was followed by the outbreak of the third great Punic War -between Rome and Carthage. - -Within four years another Comet, blazing over northern Africa in 146 B. -C., was followed by the fall of Carthage, which was stormed and utterly -destroyed by the Romans. - - -_Mithridates’ Star._ - -Mithridates, King of Pontus, and conqueror of Asia Minor, another arch -foe of the Romans, having been born under a Comet, seems to have fallen -under the bane of Comets. - -During the Winter of 134-135 B. C., preceding Mithridates’ birth, a -Comet of unusual lustre flared over Asia Minor through 72 days. This -Comet was so bright that its long, flaming tail was plainly visible -even in day time. The ancient historian Justinus thus described it: - -“Its splendour eclipsed that of the midday sun and occupied the fourth -part of Heaven.” - -The next Comet, burning through 72 nights again, preceded Mithridates’ -accession to the throne of Pontus, 119 B. C. - -Mithridates’ fourth Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, was seen -over Asia Minor through the Winter months of 87-88 B. C., just before -the horrible massacre of 150,000 Italians ordered by Mithridates. - -Twenty-five years later, 63 B. C., Mithridates saw his Comet for the -last time when his own son rose up in arms against him. The omen of the -Comet so wrought on Mithridates that he first poisoned himself and then -had one of his own soldiers despatch him with his sword. - -No other Comet is recorded in ancient history during this century, -except the one which was seen shining over Italy preceding the birth -(July 11, 100 B. C.) of Julius Caesar, destined to become “The foremost -man of all this world,” as Shakespeare calls him. - -“Caesar’s Comet” as it came to be known (now identified as Halley’s -Comet) appeared again over Italy during the great Civil War between -Marius and Sylla, when Caesar was first entering into public affairs -and earned his spurs as a warrior. - -“Caesar’s Comet” shone again over Rome in the year 60 B. C., when -Julius Caesar, together with Pompey and Crassus, took charge of the -government of Rome and presently seized supreme power as Consul of Rome. - -Ten years later “Caesar’s Comet” was seen once more in Italy in the -Winter months of 49-50 B. C., when Caesar, returning from his conquest -of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon and began the great Civil War against his -rival for power, Pompey. - -The last appearance of “Caesar’s Comet,” was in 44 B. C., on the -death of Caesar. Its coming was foreseen in a dream by Caesar’s wife -Calpurnia, who warned him of the omen, as immortalized in Shakespeare’s -lines, put into the mouth of Caesar’s wife: - - “When beggars die, there are no Comets seen, - The Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes”; - -followed by Caesar’s famous answer, as culled from Plutarch by -Shakespeare: - - “What can be avoided, - Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? - Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions - Are to the world in general as to Caesar.” - -On the following morning Caesar was murdered at the foot of Pompey’s -statue in the Curia. - -Immediately after Caesar’s death, records the Roman historian Suetonius -in his “Life of Caesar”: “A Comet blazed for seven nights together, -rising always about eleven o’clock, visible to all in Rome. It was -taken by all to be the soul of Caesar, now received into Heaven; for -which reason, accordingly, Caesar is represented in his statue with a -star on his brow.” - -Only one more Comet is recorded in ancient history before the birth of -Christ. This was the Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, which -shone over the dense forests of Germany, eleven years before the birth -of Christ, when Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, was warring against -the ancient Germans and robbing them of their last vestige of liberty. -At the same time fell the death of Agrippa, who ruled over the Roman -Empire in the absence of Augustus. - - -_THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM_ - -The coming of the Messia, according to the sacred legends of the Jews, -was to be foretold by a flaming star. - -Many sacred writers have held, and many still hold, as did the -distinguished American astronomer R. A. Proctor, that the “Star of -Bethlehem,” whose shining trail guided the Wise Men from The East, was -a Comet. Lubienitius in his “History of Comets” expressly mentions the -Star of Bethlehem as the most important Comet of history. - -As a matter of fact our modern astronomical computations prove that a -Comet appeared in that year so as to be visible to the naked eye over -Arabia, Syria, and the Holy Land. - -When this Comet appeared Herod was King of Judea. On the appearance of -the Comet, Herod consulted the oracle of the Sibyl in Rome. She told -him that the Comet shone in token of a boy destined to be far greater -than he. - -Herod grew so afraid at this that he caused to be murdered his own -two infant sons, Aristobolus and Alexander, and after that his eldest -son, the boy Antipater. Herod further ordered the massacre of all -male infants born in Judea under this Comet, as told in the Gospel of -Matthew (Chap. II., Verse 1). As the Comet kept on blazing in the sky, -Herod, becoming desperate, tried to kill himself. Five days after this -he died of a loathsome disease. - -Christian painters and writers from olden times until now, accordingly -have pictured the Star of Bethlehem as a Comet. - -Take for instance this description of “The Light in the Sky” as given -by Lew Wallace in his “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ”: - - “About midnight some one on the roof cried out: - ‘What light is that in the sky? Awake, brethren, - awake and see!’ - - The people, half asleep, sat up and looked; then - they became wide awake, though wonder struck.... - Soon the entire tenantry of the house and court and - enclosure were out gazing at the sky. - - And this is what they saw: A ray of light, beginning - at a height immeasurably beyond the nearest stars, - and dropping obliquely to the earth; at its top, a - diminishing point; at its base, many furlongs in - width; its sides blending softly with the darkness - of night; its core a roseate electrical splendour. - The apparition seemed to rest on the nearest mountain - southeast of the town, making a pale corona along the - line of the summit. The khan was touched luminously - so that those upon the roof saw each others’ faces - all filled with wonder. - - Steadily the ray lingered.... - - ‘Saw you ever the like?’ asked one. - - ‘Can it be that a star has burst and fallen?’ asked - another, his tongue faltering. - - ‘When a star falls its light goes out.’ - - * * * * * - - After that there was silence on the housetop, broken - but once again while the mystery continued. - - ‘Brethren!’ exclaimed a Jew of venerable mien, ‘what - we see is the ladder our father Jacob saw in his - dream. Blessed be the Lord God of Our Fathers!’” - -Meanwhile the Wise Men from the East, as described in the same story, -were travelling over the desert, on the alert for the apparition of the -star, whose coming had been revealed to them. - - “Suddenly, in the air before them, not farther up - than a low hill-top,” writes Lew Wallace, “flared a - lambent flame; as they looked at it, the apparition - contracted into a focus of dazzling lustre. Their - hearts beat fast; their souls thrilled; and they - shouted as with one voice: ‘The Star! the Star! God - is with us!’” - - - - -GREAT EVENTS LINKED WITH COMETS SINCE CHRIST - - -Since the time of Christ, thanks to the spread of Christianity and -learning, with the growing zeal for keeping records and studying the -stars, a far greater number of Comets and events connected therewith -have been recorded. - -A number of learned writers have made a special study of the history of -Comets and their effect upon man. Long before Lubienitius’ ponderous -work on the subject there were other histories written in Latin and -Arabic, with references to which his book abounds. - -Since then others have followed in the same direction, notably Pingré, -Hind, Lalande, Messier, Chambers and latterly Messrs. Crommelin and -Cowell, of the Greenwich Observatory. - -The number of known Comets has grown immeasurably since Galileo’s -invention of the telescope, 300 years ago, and our later perfections -of this instrument, together with latter-day devices for photographing -Comets invisible to the naked eye. - -It would carry us too far to trace the possible connection between -modern events and Comets that were seen only by astronomers. Since -our record of Comets is already too full, we shall limit our story of -the Comets and their influence upon man to a bare recital of the most -important events connected with the more memorable and conspicuous -Comets from the time of Christ until now. - - - - -DATES OF COMETS FOLLOWED BY IMPORTANT EVENTS - - - =A. D.= - - 14—A Comet preceded the death of Augustus, the first - Emperor of Rome. Earthquake in Italy. - - 55—Suicide of Pontius Pilate, the judge who condemned - Christ. - - 68—Halley’s Comet. Suicide of Nero, persecutor of - Christians. Siege of Jerusalem. - - 73—A Comet shone 180 days over Cyprus. Earthquake in - Cypress in which 10,000 persons perished. - - 79—Death of Emperor Vespasian, who began the siege of - Jerusalem. The Roman historians Dion Cassius and - Suetonius relate that Vespasian, when taken sick, - heard his astrologers discussing in a low tone - of voice the Comet which was then visible, which - they said predicted his death. The Emperor roused - angrily and said: “This hairy star is not meant for - me. It must be meant for my enemy, the King of the - Parthians, for he is hairy, while I am bald.” - - On the following night Vespasian died in great pain, - and the Comet was seen no more. - - Shortly after Vespasian’s death followed the fierce - eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Nov. 1, which destroyed the - two flourishing cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. - - 130—A Comet shone over Holy Land for 39 nights, - followed by destructive earthquake in Holy Land. - - 145—One week’s Comet over Island of Rhodus. Earthquake - in Rhodus, followed by famine and pestilence. - - 217—From a Comet which shone for eighteen nights - soothsayers predicted the death of the Roman - Emperor, Caracalla. The Emperor was murdered - immediately afterwards by his rival Macrinus. - - 312—A Comet in the sign of a cross seen by Constantine - the Great during battle of Saxa Rubra under the - walls of Rome. Constantine was victorious and - afterward turned to Christian faith. - - 337—A Comet seen just before death of Constantine the - Great. - - 373—Halley’s Comet. Beginning of tremendous migration - of peoples which overran all Central Asia and - Europe. - - 399—This Comet was described by Nicephorus as “of - prodigious magnitude and horrible aspect, with a - point like a sword and fiery hair reaching nearly - to the ground, from which a great peril to the - people was predicted.” Its appearance was followed - by the conquest and capture of Rome by Gainas. - - 410—A sword-shaped Comet shone over Italy for four - months until the third week in August. On Aug. 24 - Rome was taken and plundered by Alaric, King of - the Visigoths. This marks the end of the old Roman - Empire. - - 442—First appearance in Europe of Attila, “The Scourge - of God,” and his Hunnic hordes. - - 449-50—Two Comets (now believed to be coming and going - of Halley’s Comet) were observed over England and - France. First invasion of England by the - Anglo-Saxons under Hengist and Horsa. Attila - overthrown in the great battle on the Catalaunian - Fields, at which a hundred and eighty thousand - warriors fell, among them Theoderic, the King of - the Goths. The Roman historian Callimachus recorded - that this battle was preceded by a brilliant Comet - and an earthquake. - - 453—Death of Attila and end of his Hunnic empire. - - 530—Halley’s Comet. Merlin, the British seer, - prophesied from this Comet. His prophesies came true. - - 531—Comet observed in Constantinople by the astronomers - of Emperor Justinian. Earthquake in Constantinople - followed by famine and uprising of the people in - which two thousand were killed. Pestilence. - - 538—Terrible famine throughout civilized world, so that - many people became cannibals. - - 547—A lance-shaped Comet over Italy. Ostro-Goths under - Totila overrun Italy. Totila storms Rome. - - -_Mohamet’s Star._ - - 570—Scimitar-shaped Comet over Arabia. Birth of Mohamet. - - 610—Another scimitar-shaped Comet over Arabia. Mohamet - begins preaching the Koran. - - 622—Flight of Mohamet to Medina. - - 624—Fourth scimitar-shaped Comet over Arabia and Holy - Land. Mohamet’s first battle for the new faith. His - massacre of 700 Jews. - - 632—Last appearance of Mohamet’s Comet during first - week of June. Death of Mohamet on June 8 at Medina. - - 800—A Comet seen during Coronation of Charlemagne as - Emperor of Rome. - - 814—Torch-shaped Comet seen in Germany during the first - three weeks of January. Death of Charlemagne on - Jan. 28, at Aix la Chappelle. The monk Eginard - relates in his chronicles that on the appearance - of the Comet all those at Charlemagne’s court - feared for the Emperor’s life. Eginard preached to - them from the text of Isaiah not to believe in the - signs of the heathens. But Charlemagne reproved - him, saying that he felt that he had reason to - thank God for having sent him a timely warning of - his impending death. Thereupon the Emperor made - his testament and divided his empire among his - successors. On the day following the disappearance - of the Comet, he died. - - 837—Halley’s Comet observed in France by King Louis the - Debonair, who died from fear of it. - - 876—Disastrous flood in Italy, followed by plague. - - 900—Another Comet over Italy. Saracens invade Italy. - - 944—Comet with an immense tail over Italy, followed by - disastrous earthquake. - - 1000—In January of this year a Comet was observed all - over Europe. Gigibertus describes it “shaped like - a horrible serpent and so bright that its light - was seen even indoors.” It was generally taken to - foretell the end of the world,—the millennium - prophesied in the Apocalypse. When it was followed - soon by earthquakes, floods and famine there was - universal panic which was not allayed until the end - of the “fateful year.” - - 1002—A Comet over England and Scandinavia. Massacre of - all Danes in England by King Ethelred. - - 1066—Halley’s Comet. It appeared in May at Easter time - and shone for forty nights, waxing and waning with - the moon. William the Conqueror haled it as an omen - of destruction to Harold of England just before the - battle of Hastings. - - 1077—Comet over Italy and Germany. Emperor Henry IV. of - Germany was excommunicated by the Pope, followed by - war in Italy and Germany. - - -_Crusaders’ Comets._ - - 1099—Arabic astronomers record a Comet in the shape of - a scimitar over Arabia and the Holy Land for six - weeks in Spring and early Summer. First crusade - and storming of Jerusalem by the crusaders on July - 15 after a siege of five weeks. Bloody massacre of - Mohammedans. - - 1109—Emperor Henry V. of Germany enters Rome and makes - Pope prisoner. - - 1148-9—Second crusade. Utter destruction of whole army - of French and German crusaders. - - 1200—Comet recorded by Hal Ben Rodoan, an Arab - astronomer, over North Africa. Bloody revolt of - Arab warriors in Morocco. - - 1212—Lance-shaped Comet shining over western Europe for - eighteen nights. The Children’s Crusade. Thousands - of German and French boy crusaders perished or were - sold into slavery. Bloody invasion of Tartar hordes - into Russia and Poland. - - 1223—Preaching of fifth crusade. Outbreak of “Guelph and - Ghibelline” war between Emperor Frederick II. of - Germany and Pope Gregory the IX. - - 1264—Very bright Comet observed shining all over Europe - for three months. Pope Urban IV. died on the night - of the Comet’s disappearance. A Latin verse gained - great currency in which it was said that the - Comet portended “disasters, sickness, hunger, and - war.” The chronicles of that age ascribe to this - Comet besides the death of the Pope a famine and - pestilence in Italy, the ravages of the Russians - into Poland and of the Slavs into Prussia. - - -_Comets of Bloodshed._ - - 1282—An immense Comet over Italy. Disastrous earthquake - in southern Italy. On March 30, a fortnight after - the first appearance of the Comet followed the - massacre of all Frenchmen in Sicily on the evening - of Easter Monday, known in history as the “Sicilian - Vespers.” - - 1298—Because of the appearance of a Comet over middle - Germany, there were riots in Nuremberg and other - neighbouring cities followed by a general massacre - of the Jews in those cities. - - 1300—A brilliant Comet preceded the Jubilee of Pope - Boniface the VIII. The Pope interpreted the Comet - as a happy omen, but because of the popular dread - of the Comet there were riots and blood shed in - Rome and elsewhere in Italy. The chroniclers of the - times pointed out the significant fact that shortly - after his jubilee Pope Boniface was made a prisoner - by King Philip of France, causing him to die of rage. - - -_Plague Comets._ - - 1305—A Comet “of horrible aspect” burning all through - Passion Week preceded the outbreak of the terrible - black plague which swept from the Orient all over - Europe and Asia. - - 1333—Chinese and Arab astronomers record a bright - Comet over China, Turkestan and Persia. Birth - of Tamerlane, the “Scourge of the Nations” at - Samarkand, in Turkestan. - - 1347—A Comet precedes the “Black Death,” a terrible - pestilence followed by famine all over the world. - One-fourth of all the people of Europe died. - Fifteen million deaths in China,—twenty-five - million in Europe. - - 1363—A Comet of immense size shone for three months over - northern Europe. Pestilence and famine in England, - Poland and Russia. - - 1378—Halley’s Comet. Pestilence in Germany. Holy Church - is rent by the great schism, with rival popes at - Rome and Avignon. - - -_Tamerlane’s Star._ - - 1382—Arab astronomers and Chinese report a very bright - Comet which shone a fortnight. Tamerlane and his - hordes overrun Central Asia. Pestilence breaks out - there and spreads all over the world. - - 1402—Arab astronomers report another Comet seen all over - the East. Tamerlane carries war into Europe and - takes Constantinople by storm. Sultan Bayezid is - taken prisoner by Tamerlane and is carried to Asia - in a cage. - - 1405—Chinese astronomers record a spear-shaped Comet - over China. Tamerlane dies while invading China. - - 1456—Halley’s Comet. Bloody war between the Christians - and the Turks. Battle of Belgrade. - - 1492—Arab astronomers record a Comet over northern - Africa and Spain. Final conquest of Granada from - the Moors by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. - Discovery of the New World. - - 1500—Sword-shaped Comet over northern Europe, followed - by Tartar invasion into Russia and Poland. - - 1528—A Comet noted by Ambroise Paré, who recorded that - many people fell sick and died of fright. War - between Emperor Charles V. of Germany and Francis - I. of France, with fighting in France, Germany and - Italy. - - 1531—Halley’s Comet. Plague in Italy. Great schism in - the Church. Defection of German Protestants from - Rome. Henry VIII. of England declares English - Church independent of Rome. Sultan Soleyman ravaged - Hungary. Disastrous floods in Holland, where - 400,000 people were drowned. - - 1556—Emperor Charles V. of Germany and Spain, on account - of his fear of the Comet that appeared in that - year, abdicated his throne and became a monk. - Wide-spread wars all over Europe. The Turks ravaged - Hungary. Persecutions of English Protestants under - “Bloody Mary.” Many Protestants burned at the - stake, beheaded or broken on the rack. - - 1572—St. Bartholomew’s Comet. Massacre of St. - Bartholomew, when 30,000 Huguenots were slaughtered - in France. - - 1577—General persecution of Huguenots in France, - followed by Civil War in France. - - 1607—A Comet seen over Constantinople for several weeks. - Wide-spread war on the part of the Turks against - the Persians on one side, the Poles on another, and - against Venice on the third. - - 1618—A blood-coloured Comet observed just before the - execution of Sir Walter Raleigh in England. A - bloody rising of the Protestants in Bohemia, - followed by the outbreak of the terrible Thirty - Years’ War in Germany and the Netherlands. This - was the Comet which gave rise to the German school - rhyme: - - “Eight things a Comet always brings, - Wind, Famine, Plague and Death to Kings, - War, Earthquake, Floods and Dire Things.” - - -_Louis XIV.’s Star._ - - 1661—Inspired by the appearance of a Comet, a horde - of fanatics under Venner, a cooper, preached the - coming of the “Fifth Monarchy” in England, and - proclaimed Jesus Christ as their only King. The - fanatics were routed and put to death. Death of - Mazarin, the “Master of France.” Rise of Louis - XIV., the most powerful ruler of France. French war - against the Pope. - - 1680—This Comet was studied by Halley, in Paris, and - by Newton, in England. It was called “Heaven’s - Chariot.” Plague in Europe. The French overrun - Alsace and carried war into Germany. War between - Venice and the Turks. - - 1682—Halley’s Comet. War in Italy. War in Hungary - against the Turks. - - 1689—A remarkable Comet observed all over Europe, - followed by war all over Europe. Wars between - France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy. The - Rhine lands were harried by the French with fire - and sword, rendering 4,000,000 people homeless. - Burning of the castle of Heidelberg by the French. - Religious war in Ireland and Scotland. Siege of - Londonderry and Dundee. Battle of Newton Butler - in Ireland. - - 1729—War between France, England and Spain. - - -_Frederick the Great’s Star._ - - 1744—A six-tailed Comet observed in Germany just before - the death of Emperor Charles VII. His death - followed by war between Frederick the Great and - Maria Teresa of Austria. War spreads to England, - Holland, France, Spain and Italy. A British fleet - beaten by French and Spaniards off Toulon. - - 1755—A Comet precedes earthquake of Lisbon, by which - 40,000 people lost their lives. - - 1759—Halley’s Comet. Seven Years’ War in Germany. - Frederick the Great overthrown in four bloody - battles. French lose Canada by their disastrous - defeat of the plains of Abraham, and lose India by - the loss of their fleet through three successive - defeats on the sea. - - -_Napoleon’s Star._ - - 1769—“Napoleon’s Comet.” A Comet of unusual red lustre - was observed over Italy and France. French overrun - Corsica. Bloody massacre of Corsicans. Birth of - Napoleon on August 15 in Corsica, just after the - Comet was seen no more. - - 1811-12—This huge Comet was one of the most famous - Comets of modern times. It was first seen in France - on March 26, 1811, and was last observed over - southern Russia on August 17, 1812—an appearance - of seventeen months, the longest on record. For - a while it had two tails, then only one. The - length of this tail was estimated as 100,000,000 - miles. It was called “Napoleon’s Comet.” Under its - lustre Napoleon gathered his “grand armée,” the - greatest army assembled in Europe since Xerxes, and - invaded Russia. Wars were fought at the same time - in Portugal and Spain, where the British stormed - Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos; and in America, where - Harrison’s victory over the Indians under Tecumseh - at Tippecanoe, and the seafight between the - “President” and “Little Belt” ushered in the War of - 1812. In Egypt the Comet was taken as an omen of the - bloody massacre of the Mamelukes perpetrated at Cairo. - -[Illustration: THE GREAT COMET OF 1811.] - - 1821—“Napoleon’s Comet.” Seen one night only over France - and over St. Helena the night before the death of - Napoleon at St. Helena. - - 1823—A Comet much mentioned by Spanish writers. - While it shone over Spain, South America and - the Mediterranean, the French overran Spain and - reinstated the Spanish king. Revival of the - Spanish Inquisition and bloody persecutions of the - revolutionists. War of Independence in Central and - South America. Bloody war of Greek Independence. - - 1835-6—Halley’s Comet. New York City all but destroyed - by fire. Zulu massacre of Boers at Weenen. Mexican - massacre of Americans at the Alamo. Wars throughout - South America. - - 1843—Another famous Comet seen all over the world during - the Spring of that year. Especially brilliant in - the Southern Hemisphere and in India. War in India - on the part of the British against Afghanistan, - Beluchistan, Scinde and against the Sikhs. - - 1848—Encke’s famous periodic Comet. Bloody revolutionary - risings and civil wars in France, Hungary, Bohemia, - Austria, Germany, Italy and Poland. - - 1858-9—Donati’s Comet. This Comet, which appeared to be - charging straight down from the zenith, and had a - curved tail, was observed from June 1858 to April - 1859. It was seen at its brightest in the South, in - Italy, Mexico and in the Far East. While it shone - over the Far East there were bloody wars between - the British and the risen people of India; between - the British and the Chinese, who objected to - having opium thrust upon them; while Japan was in - the throes of revolution and civil war. In Mexico - the standard of revolt against the clericals was - raised by Juarez, thus plunging Mexico into civil - war and war with France. Immediately after the - disappearance of the Comet war broke out in Italy - between the French and Italians on one side and the - Austrians on the other, ending in the bloody Battle - of Solferino. - - -_Civil War Comets._ - - 1861—“First Civil War Comet.” The brightest Comet of - the nineteenth century. Sir John Herschel, the - great English astronomer, said of this Comet: “It - far exceeded in brightness any Comet I have before - observed, those of 1811 and the recent splendid one - of 1858 not excepted.” The Comet was first seen - by a layman, and appeared at its brightest during - the Summer months in North America. Its coming was - heralded as a token of the great Civil War which - broke out then in America. - - 1862—“Second Civil War Comet.” Another Comet of very - peculiar appearance, with jets of flame flaring - from its head, showed itself during the Summer - months in North America. The Civil War was then at - its height. The coming of the Comet was taken to - herald the bloody battles of Shiloh, Williamsburg, - Seven Days, Seven Pines, Cedar Mountain and - Antietam, all fought that year after the Comet’s - appearance. - -[Illustration: THE GREAT COMET OF 1843 AS SEEN ON MARCH 17 FROM -BLACKHEATH, KENT.] - - 1874—Coggia’s Comet. This Comet was seen at its - brightest over Southern France and Spain during the - Summer months of that year. Spain was then in the - throes of the bloody Carlist War. - - -_Garfield’s Comet._ - - 1881—Garfield’s Comet. This Comet showed itself for a - few nights only in March during the week following - President Garfield’s inauguration. It was observed - also in Russia. On March 13, Emperor Alexander II. - of Russia, was assassinated with a bomb. Three - months later President Garfield was assassinated in - Washington. - - -_War Comets._ - - 1882—Comet of Tel-el-Kebir. A Comet with two tails was - seen at its brightest over Egypt during the first - two weeks of September. Egypt was then in the midst - of Arabi Pasha’s uprising against the British. On - September 18, when the Comet was last seen, Arabi - Pasha was overthrown by General Wolseley in the - bloody battle of Tel-el-Kebir. - - 1904-5—Manchurian War Comet. From the early part of - February, 1904, until Midsummer, 1905, Chinese - observers recorded the appearance of a Comet over - Northern China. Throughout that period Manchuria - was ravaged by the bloody war between the Japanese - and Russians. - - -_Earthquake Comets._ - - 1906—San Francisco Comet. A Comet discovered by Ross on - March 17, remaining visible for one month. Observed - from the Lick Observatory in California. On April - 17 came the California earthquake and burning of - San Francisco. - - 1908—Morehouse’s Comet. Visible for more than a month, - during the autumn. In Italy it was interpreted - afterward as an omen foreboding the Messina - earthquake late in the year. - - -_This Year’s Comets._ - - 1910—Inness’ Comet, otherwise known as “1910 A”. An - unexpected Comet of short duration during January. - On the appearance of this Comet Madame de Thebes, - a French astrologer, predicted floods and general - disaster for France. The disappearance of the Comet - in France was followed by unprecedented rains and - floods which covered one-fourth of France with - water and inundated Paris, completely submerging - all the bridges over the Seine. Floods also in - Italy and Germany. This Comet was likewise observed - in China late in January, where it caused universal - consternation. - - 1910—Pidoux’s Comet. Another unexpected Comet was first - observed by Pidoux, in Geneva, during a few nights - late in February. It is recorded astronomically as - “1910 B”. Its fleeting observations by astronomers - were followed by Socialist franchise riots in - Germany and by the labour riots of Philadelphia, - with widespread bloodshed between the rioters and - the constabulary. - - 1910—Halley’s Comet of this year was first “picked - up” by Dr. Wolf, in Germany. Already various - astrologers have foretold disaster from its coming. - It remains to be seen whether their predictions - will come true. - -[Illustration: THE GREAT COMET OF 1882, ON OCTOBER 9, AT 4 A. M.] - - - - -HALLEY’S BALEFUL COMET - - -Among all the stars known in astronomy, the periodically returning -Comet now known as Halley’s Comet has the most baleful record. - -In this Comet’s wake, after every one of its recorded appearances, -there have always followed terrible disasters. - -Not only war and battles, or other deeds of bloodshed, such as -massacres and murders, but each of the dread disasters that are held to -go with Comets have followed along one after the other in this Comet’s -train. - -Of the eight baneful after-effects of Comets mentioned in the old -German ditty that has been sung in the Fatherland ever since the great -Comet which ushered in the dreadful Thirty Years’ War, - - “Wind, Famine, Plague and Death to Kings - War, Earthquakes, Floods and Dire Things.” - -Halley’s Comet is known to have preceded each and every form of these -evils in turn. - -Directly after each return of Halley’s Comet there has always followed -somewhere within the influence of its rays one or other of those “dire -things,”—a flood, an earthquake, a hurricane, famine, plague, war, -bloodshed, or the sudden death of a ruler. - -Thanks to the careful work of such painstaking astronomers and -historians as Lubienitius, Pingré, Dionys de Séjour, J. Russell Hind, -Laugier, and Messrs. Cowell and Crommelin, the records of great events -connected with Halley’s Comet have been traced back nearly 2,000 years, -to the days before Christ. - -Among the signal events following in the train of this Comet there have -been so many bloody massacres and appalling disasters that Halley’s -Comet now has the ominous distinction of being the bloodiest of all -stars of ill omen. - -Herewith follows the story of this Comet’s periodic appearances in -history and of the events connected therewith, as traced back from its -last return in 1835 to its first recorded entrance into the history of -mankind. - - -1835-1836 - -Halley’s Comet last appeared in the Summer of 1835, and was seen until -Spring of the following year. - -It was first discerned by Father Dumouchel with a powerful telescope -from the observatory of the Collegio Romano in Rome on the night of -August 6, 1835. Father Dumouchel, who had been watching for it many -months, picked it up close to the spot in the heavens that Rosenberger, -a German astronomer, had predicted for its appearance on that date. - -The last astronomer to see the Comet was Sir John Herschel, who -observed it from the Cape of Good Hope until the middle of May, 1836. - -Other noted astronomers who made observations of it were Arago, Struve, -Bessel, Kaiser, Sir Thomas Maclear, Admiral Smyth, Baron Damoiseau and -Count Pontécoulant. - -This last astronomer, many years before, had computed the exact time -of its coming and came within four days of it. For this brilliant feat -Count Pontécoulant received a gold medal from the French Academy of -Sciences. - -[Illustration: HALLEY’S COMET OF 1835. FROM A DRAWING BY ROSENBERGER.] - -The German astronomer, Rosenberger, who had likewise computed the -Comet’s return, coming within five days of its passage nearest to the -Sun, received a similar gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society -of Great Britain. - -Professor Struve, who studied the Comet through the great telescope -at Dorpat in Russia, described it as “glowing like a red-hot coal of -oblong form.” - -Bessel, who observed it from the Koenigsberg observatory in Northern -Germany, described the Comet’s appearance as that of “a blazing rocket, -the flame from which was driven aside as by a strong gale, or as the -stream of fire from the discharge of a cannon when the sparks and smoke -are carried backwards by the wind.” - -Struve at Koenigsberg and Kaiser at Leyden were the first to see the -Comet with their naked eyes in the third week of September. - -Immediately after the Comet became generally visible in the Old World -the bubonic plague, known of old as the “Black Death,” broke out in -Egypt. In the City of Alexandria alone 9,000 people died on one day. -By the Moslems this calamity was generally attributed to the evil -influence of the Comet. - -In America the Comet became visible to the naked eye only late in the -year. Then, on its approach to the Sun, it was lost to view and passed -over to the Southern Hemisphere where it was next observed by Sir John -Herschel in South Africa. - -Shortly after its brief blaze over North America the great “New York -Fire” laid waste the entire business section of the biggest city in the -New World. All the commercial centre of the city, including the richest -firms and largest commercial warehouses, were laid in ashes. The fire -raged through days and nights. In all, 530 houses burned down and -$18,000,000 of property was consumed. Owing to the intense cold, the -sufferings of the homeless were pitiable. - -Down in Florida, at the same time, Osceola, the chieftain of the -Seminole Indians, called upon the Comet as a signal for war against the -whites. The Indians called the Comet “Big Knife in the Sky.” - -The war began with a bloody massacre of American soldiers under General -Wiley Thompson at Fort King. All were slaughtered. Osceola scalped -General Thompson with his own hands. - -On the same day, Major Dade of the American Army, who was leading a -relief expedition into Florida from Tampa Bay, was ambushed by the -Indians near Wahoo Swamp and was massacred with his men. Of the whole -expedition only four men escaped death. - -Within forty-eight hours of this horrible massacre came another bloody -Indian fight on the banks of the Big Withlacoochee. - -With the passing of the Comet to the Southern Hemisphere, bloody wars -broke out one after another in Mexico, Cuba, Central America, Ecuador, -Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. All those countries were in a welter of -blood. - -At the same time the American settlers of Texas declared themselves -independent and made open war on Mexico. The war began with the bloody -battle of Gonzales, in which 500 American frontiersmen fought and -defeated over a thousand Mexican soldiers. This was followed by other -fierce fights at Goliad and Bexar. - -Next came the bloody massacre of the Alamo, when all of Jim Bowie’s and -Davy Crockett’s American followers were killed in an all night fight. -Out of 200 Americans every man fell at his post. This was the deed of -blood on which Joaquin Miller wrote his stirring Ballad of the Alamo. - - “Santa Ana came storming as a storm might come,— - There was rumble of cannon; there was rattle of blade; - There was cavalry, infantry, bugle and drum,— - Full seven thousand, in pomp and parade, - The chivalry, flower of Mexico, - And a gaunt two hundred in the Alamo.” - -One month before the final disappearance of the Comet, the Texas War -came to an end with the bloody battle of San Jacinto, when Sam Houston, -with 800 American frontiersmen, defeated 1,500 Mexicans, and made a -prisoner of President Santa Ana of Mexico. - -When the Comet had passed to the Southern Hemisphere, it was seen at -its brightest in South Africa. - -The pious Boers of Cape Colony understood it to be a sign from heaven -and forthwith set out on their great trek across the Orange and Vaal -rivers, where they founded the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic. - -Thus the Comet was the signal for the first blood drawn in the long -fight between the British and Boers. - -A little later, though, the Boers found another, more woeful -significance for the blazing of the Comet. - -Under the leadership of Piet Relief, a thousand Boer families had -trekked across the Drakensberg Mountains into Natal. A solemn treaty -of peace with the Zulu warriors was entered into with Dingaan, the -chief of the Zulus at Dingaan’s Kraal. Suddenly the Zulus pounced upon -the unsuspecting Piet Relief and his sixty-five Boer followers and -massacred them to a man. - -Then the Zulus, numbering some 10,000 warriors, swept out into the -veldt and made for the Boer wagon trains. Near Colenso, at a spot -called Weenen (weeping), in remembrance of the dreadful tragedy there -perpetrated, the Zulus overwhelmed the Boer laager and slaughtered all -its inmates—41 men, 56 women, 185 children and 250 Kaffir slaves. - -After this bloody massacre, equalling in horror the Massacre of the -Alamo on the other side of the world, the Comet of 1835-36 was seen no -more. - - -1758-1759 - -This was the first return of the Comet predicted by Halley. Hence it -must be reckoned as the first appearance of “Halley’s Comet” under his -name. - -It was first seen on Christmas night, 1758, by John Palitsch, a Saxon -farmer, near Dresden, who was looking for it with a self-constructed -telescope of eight-foot focus. The Comet did not become visible to the -naked eye until well into 1759. It passed around the sun on March 12, -1759. After that it was seen throughout Europe during April and May, -appearing at its brightest during the first week in May. Later it was -seen to advantage in the Southern Hemisphere. - -In Germany, where it was seen at its fiercest, the Comet was taken as -a token of the bloody Seven Years’ War, which was then being fought -between Frederick the Great and his enemies on all sides. - -The ominous Comet had scarcely vanished from view when all Germany was -overrun by marching armies from France, from Austria, from Russia. - -The French, under the Duke of Broglie, overthrew the Germans, under -the Duke of Brunswick, at Bergen, and seized the city of Frankfurt. -Then came the bloody battle of Minden, in which two large French armies -were beaten. Meanwhile the Russians were marching into Prussia, and -another bloody battle was fought at Kay in midsummer. - -Within a fortnight King Frederick the Great and his whole army were -overthrown by the Austrians and Russians in the disastrous battle of -Kunersdorf. - -Another Prussian army was overcome at Maxen, where 13,000 Prussians -were taken. - -Altogether, during this year’s campaigns, several hundred thousand -soldiers lost their lives. - -It was the worst year of the Seven Years’ War for Frederick the Great -and his soldiers, who attributed their bloody defeats to the ill omen -of the Comet. - -In other parts of the world, likewise, the coming of the Comet was -followed by widespread war and bloody fighting. - -For the French, the Comet signalled disaster after disaster. After -their armies had been beaten in Germany, their navy was defeated on -August 17 in a great sea fight in the Bay of Lagos, on the coast of -Portugal. Six weeks later there was another bloody sea fight between -the British and French, when Admiral Pocock inflicted a telling defeat -on the French fleet. - -Then came the final French naval disaster off Quiberon, in the Bay of -Biscay, when Admiral Hawke destroyed French naval power by sinking -or blowing up over a score of the French fighting ships. This bloody -defeat was a disaster of untold consequences to the French, since it -meant the loss of India. - -But this was not all that this Comet of ill omen had brought to the -French. - -On September 13th of that year the French lost their strongest hold on -America in the disastrous defeat inflicted upon them by General Wolfe -in the bloody battle on the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe himself fell -fighting. On the French side, General Montcalm, the Commander-in-Chief, -was mortally wounded. This meant the loss of Quebec and of all Canada -to the French, an event of far-reaching importance that has changed the -destiny of all America and of the modern world. - - -1682 - -The Comet which put Halley on the right track in his theories of -Comets, first came into view on the night of August 15, 1682. It was -first detected by Flamsteed’s assistant at the Greenwich Observatory, -while searching the northern heavens with a telescope. - -Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, and Halley, his successor, kept -a close watch upon the Comet every night, and followed its course over -the sky. Others who watched it were Sir Isaac Newton, Cassini, Picard -and La Hire in Paris, Baert at Toulon, Kirch and Zimmermann in Germany, -Montanari at Padua, and Hevelius in Dantsic. They observed that the -tail lengthened considerably as the Comet came nearer the sun. Later -a jet of luminous matter was seen shooting out toward the sun, which -afterward fell back into the tail. Hevelius has left us a drawing of -this phenomenon. - -On November 11th, Halley found that the Comet had come within a -semi-diameter of the path of our earth. This startling discovery -caused Halley to reflect what might happen if the earth and the Comet -had arrived at the same time at the spot in space where their two -orbits intersect. Assuming as he did that the mass of the Comet was -considerably larger than our earth, he declared: “If so large a body -with so rapid a motion were to strike the earth—a thing by no means -impossible—the shock might reduce this beautiful world to its original -chaos.” - -[Illustration: HALLEY’S COMET, JANUARY 9, 1683, AS DRAWN BY HEVELIUS.] - -[Illustration: THE COMET OF 1682, AS REPRESENTED IN THE NUREMBURG -CHRONICLE.] - -[Illustration: MEDAL STRUCK IN GERMANY TO ALLAY THE TERROR CAUSED BY -THE COMET OF 1680-81. - -TRANSLATION OF INSCRIPTION: - - “THE STAR THREATENS EVIL THINGS—ONLY TRUST! - GOD WILL MAKE IT TURN OUT WELL.”] - -Others beside Halley took alarm at the Comet. They called it “The -Chariot of Fire.” - -Dr. Whiston—he who succeeded Newton in the Lucasian chair of -mathematics at Cambridge—in a moment of prophetic vision fervently -declared that this Comet was God’s agent that would bring about the -General Conflagration by involving the world in flames. - -In America, the Rev. Increase Mather, President of Harvard College, on -the appearance of the Comet in New England, preached his great sermon -on “Heaven’s Alarm to the World ... wherein is shown that fearful -sights and signs in the Heavens are the presages of great calamities at -hand.” - -Increase Mather’s warning was handed down as an inspired prophesy, -in view of the fact that the English settlers in North America soon -afterwards got into bloody warfare with the Indians. The war raged at -its fiercest in the Carolinas, where the English settlers made war upon -the redskins simply for the purpose of taking them captive and selling -them into slavery in the West Indies. - -To the Indians the Comet appeared as a sign of ill omen, as shown by -their frequent references to it during the parleys with the white men. - -The Comet was shining at its fiercest when the six greatest chiefs of -the Susquehanna nation were enticed into a pretended council of peace -with the white men, only to be foully murdered with all their followers. - -While this was going on in America, the Comet gave the signal in India -for the first hostilities there upon the white settlers from Portugal, -as well as for the outbreak of the bloody Mahratta War, which ravaged -India for a generation to come. - -Nearer East, the Turks, under the leadership of Mohammed Bey, ravaged -Egypt, while, on the other side, a Turkish army under Kara Mustapha -carried war into Hungary, to the very gates of Vienna, until Emperor -Leopold felt constrained to call for help from Sobieski, the warrior -king of the Poles. - -In Europe the French overran Alsace, and suddenly seized the German -city of Strasburg. - -At the same time the bubonic plague broke out in North Germany. In the -little university town of Halle alone, within a few days, 4,397 people -died out of a total population of ten thousand. - -It was then that medals were struck off in Germany with a design of -the comet on their face, and an inscription imploring God to avert the -evils threatened by the Comet: - - “The star threatens evil things; - Only trust! God will make it right.” - - -1607 - -The Comet this year was seen all over Europe. The best observations of -it were made by Kepler and Longomontanus (Langberger). It was seen at -its brightest in England. - -Shortly after its appearance over England, there came freshets and -floods which completely submerged the richest counties of England. In -Somersetshire and Gloucestershire the water rose above the tops of the -houses. This was followed by a visitation of the plague. - -In Ireland the Comet was taken as an omen of the fate of Londonderry, -where the Irish rebels, suddenly seizing the city, massacred Sir George -Powlett and all his English garrison. - -In Germany the Comet was taken as a token of the war then brewing -between the Emperor and the German Protestant Princes—the so-called -Protestant League—which ushered in the dreadful Thirty Years’ War in -Germany. - -Off Gibraltar, a Dutch fleet completely destroyed a fleet of Spanish -war galleons, thereby crippling Spanish sea power for a generation to -come. - -Meanwhile, in America, the early settlers in Virginia, led by John -Smith, found themselves beset by the redskins, who were incited to -war by the appearance of the Comet. They called it “Red Knife in the -Sky.” During the war, John Smith was taken prisoner, and escaped with -his life only through the intercession of Pocahontas, the daughter of -Powhattan. - - -1531 - -The Comet was first sighted by the German astronomer Bienewitz -(“Apianus”) in midsummer of this year. Zwingli preached about it as an -omen of disaster. - -German astrologers regarded it as a herald of the wars between Spain -and France, which broke out in that year, and of the bloody war carried -into Hungary by the Turks under Soleyman, who ravaged the Danube -country to the very walls of Vienna. These wars were followed by a -visitation of the black plague. - -In the Netherlands the breaking of the ocean dykes caused terrific -floods, in which over 400,000 people were drowned. - -Toward the close of the year the Comet passed over to the Southern -Hemisphere. - -To the aborigines of South America it proved a star of dreadful omen. -During this year the most cruel of Spanish conquerors did their -bloodiest work in the New World—Cortez in Mexico, Alvarado at the -Equator, and Pizarro in Peru. Before the Comet disappeared from view, -several hundred thousand wretched Incas and Aztecs had been slaughtered -by the Spaniards, while many more hundred thousands were worked to -death as slaves. - - -1456 - -The Comet this year was observed throughout Europe and also in China. -It came into view over Europe on the 29th of May, and was seen gliding -over the sky towards the moon. - -Writers of that period say that it shone with exceeding brightness and -spread out a fan-shaped train of fire. The Arab astronomers describe -its shape as that of a Turkish scimitar, which, blazing against the -dark sky, was regarded as a sign from heaven of the war then raging -against the Christian infidels. - -A clear story of the Comet’s appearance has been left by the Bavarian -Jesuit, Brueckner (Pontanus). He based his story on the record of -Georgos Phranza, Grandmaster of the Wardrobes to the Emperor of -Constantinople. There the Comet is described as “rising in the West; -moving towards the East, and approaching the Moon.” - -By the Chinese this Comet was described as having a tail sixty degrees -long, and a head “which at one time was round, and the size of a bull’s -eye, the tail being like a peacock’s.” - - Halley wrote of this Comet in 1686: “In the summer - of the year 1456 a Comet was seen, which passed in a - retrograde direction between the earth and the sun. - From its period and path, I infer that it was the - same Comet as that of the years 1531, 1607 and 1682. - I may therefore with confidence predict its return in - the year 1758.” - -The appearance of the Comet in 1456 was so well remembered even 225 -years later, because this was the scimitar-shaped Comet hailed by the -conquering Turks as their guiding star, against the evil influence of -which Pope Calixtus III. exhorted all Christians to pray to God. - -This story has been denied by certain latter-day sceptics, but the -medieval historian Platina, who was living in Rome at the time, and who -knew whereof he spoke, wrote in his “Lives of the Popes” in 1470: - - “A hairy and fiery star having then made its - appearance for several days, the mathematicians - declared that there would follow grievous pestilence, - dearth and some great calamity. Calixtus, to avert - the wrath of God, ordered supplications that if evils - were impending for the human race He would turn all - upon the Turks, the enemies of the Christian name. He - likewise ordered, to move God by continual entreaty, - that notice should be given by the bells to call the - faithful at midday to aid by their prayers those - engaged in battle with the Turk.” - -In truth, all Christendom appeared indeed to have fallen under the -“wrath of God,” for the Turks; having wrested Constantinople away from -the Christians, now came ravaging up the Danube countries and laid -siege to the Christian city of Belgrade. Bloody battles were fought -between the Magyars and Turks on the Danube, until Hunyadi, the great -Magyar leader, at last overthrew the Turks under Mahomet II., under -the walls of Belgrade, in a great battle, in which no less than 24,000 -Turks were slain. This was on July 21st, on the eve of which day the -Comet had been seen to blaze at its fiercest. - - -1378 - -The Comet appeared late in the year, and was seen at its brightest over -Northern Europe, in Scotland, Scandinavia, Russia and Poland. - -All these countries, during the same period and immediately afterwards, -were cursed by the terrible pestilence called the “Black Death,” now -known to have been the worst visitation of the bubonic plague known in -history. Wherever the dread sickness appeared, the people “died like -rats.” So many succumbed to the disease, and so many others fled aghast -from the pestilence, that whole cities and towns were left empty, and -no labourers could be found to till the fields. - - -1301 - -The Comet this year was first observed by German and Flemish -astrologers during the late Summer and Autumn. It was interpreted as an -ill omen of the wars which then ravaged Europe. Immediately after the -appearance of the Comet, Emperor Albrecht of Germany ravaged the Rhine -lands with fire and sword. Afterwards the German astrologers explained -the Comet as a warning omen of the death of the Emperor’s son Rudolf, -who died within a twelvemonth of his coronation as King of Bohemia. - -In Flanders the Comet was taken as a heavenly token of the fierce war -which followed the bloodstained massacre of 3,000 French soldiers by -the enraged people of Flanders. - -Soon after this came Robert of Artois’ bloody defeat at Coutrai, the -famous “Battle of the Spurs,” so called from the thousands of gilt -spurs that were taken afterwards from the feet of the slain French -cavaliers. - - -1222 - -The Comet during this year is recorded by the Chinese astronomers -in the months of September and October. During these months, and -immediately afterwards, Jenghis Khan, the bloody Mongol conqueror, with -his fierce Mongol hordes, was ravaging all China, Persia, India and the -Caucasus country as far as the River Don. - -The Comet was taken as a special omen of the terrible fate of the City -of Herat and its surrounding country, where the bloodthirsty conqueror -caused to be slaughtered over a million of people. Jenghis Khan, who -believed in stars and omens, having been born with bloodstained hands, -hailed the Comet as his special Star. Under its rays he extended his -immense Empire to its outermost boundaries from the China seas to the -banks of the Dniepr in Russia. After the Comet’s disappearance, Jenghis -Khan regarded the planets that had crossed its orbit as stars of ill -omen, betokening his death, so he set his face backward from his march -of conquest, and soon afterwards died in Mongolia. - - -1145 - -The Comet appeared over Europe early in Spring. It was seen at Rome in -March and April. - -Inspired by the appearance of the Comet, Pope Eugenius III. called for -a crusade against the Moslems. St. Bernard in France took up the cry, -and preached a holy war all over France. On Easter Sunday, King Louis -VII. of France, his Queen and all his nobles, received the Cross from -St. Bernard at Vizelay. - -In Rome, however, the Comet was taken as a token of the Pope’s -downfall. Arnold of Brescia preached against the Pope and aroused the -Roman populace against him. The Holy Father had to flee. - -On the disappearance of the Comet, the Pope returned and excommunicated -the Patricians of Rome. Arnold of Brescia was taken and strangled in -his cell. Later historians, like Lubienitius, accordingly interpreted -the Comet as a sign of warning rather than as an ill omen. - - -1066 - -This is the most famous appearance of the Comet now known as Halley’s -Comet. Under its seven rays, that year, William the Conqueror felt -inspired to fall upon England, while Harold, the Saxon, on the other -hand, saw in the Comet a star of dread foreboding and of doom. - -The medieval chronicles of this year all make special mention of the -Comet. A picture of the Comet, as it appeared to the doomed Harold, was -embroidered by Matilde of France, on the famous coloured tapestry of -the Norman Conquest, which is still preserved at Bayeux in Normandy. - -Zonares, the Greek historian, in his account of the death of Emperor -Constantinus Ducas (who died in May, 1067), writes of the Comet as -“large as the full moon, and at first without a tail, on the appearance -of which the star dwindled in size.” - -The Chinese astronomers have recorded that this Comet had seven tails, -and was seen for sixty-seven days, after which “the star, the blaze, -and the star’s tails all drew away.” - -[Illustration: HALLEY’S COMET, 1066. (_From the Bayeux Tapestry._)] - - -The Christian chroniclers record that this Comet, “in size and -brightness equalled the full moon, while its tail, slowly lengthening -as it came near the Sun, spread out into seven rays and arched over the -heavens in the shape of a dragon’s tail.” - -Sigebert of Brabant, the Belgian chronicler of that time, wrote of it: -“Over the island of Britain was seen a star of a wonderful bigness, to -the train of which hung a fiery sword not unlike a dragon’s tail; and -out of the dragon’s mouth issued two vast rays, whereof one reached as -far as France, and the other, divided into seven lesser rays, stretched -away towards Ireland.” - -William of Malmesbury wrote how the apparition affected the mind of -a fellow monk of his monastery in England. His words were: “Soon -after the death of Henry, King of France, by poison, a wonderful star -appeared trailing its long tail over the sky. Wherefore, a certain monk -of our monastery, by name Elmir, bowed down with terror at the sight of -the strange star, wisely exclaimed, ‘Thou art come back at last, thou -that will cause so many mothers to weep; many years have I seen thee -shine, but thou seemest to me more terrible now that thou foretellest -the ruin of my country.’” - -Another old Norman chronicler, by way of defending the divine right -of William of Normandy to invade England, wrote: “How a Starre with -seven long Tayles appeared in the Skye. How the Learned sayd that newe -Starres only shewed themselves when a Kingdom wanted a King, and how -the sayd Starre was yclept a Comette.” - -William himself appealed to the Comet as his guiding star. It shone -at its brightest during the Summer months while William was preparing -his expedition at St. Valery. When the spirits of his followers failed -them, William pointed to the blazing Comet and bid monks and priests -who accompanied his expedition to preach stirring sermons on the -“wonderful Sign from Heaven.” - -The trip across the English Channel, late in September, was lighted up -by the Comet, and under its lustre the Norman invaders first pitched -their camp at Pevensey. - -Once more, when William’s Norman followers quailed at the fierce work -before them, William pointed to the Comet as a token of coming victory. - -A fortnight later, directly after the disappearance of the Comet, the -Battle of Hastings was fought, in which King Harold and his Saxon -thanes lost their lives and their country. - -Afterwards, when Queen Matilda and her court ladies embroidered the -pictorial story of her husband’s Conquest of England in the huge -tapestry of Bayeux, they did not forget the Comet. They represented -Harold cowering in alarm on his throne, whilst his people are huddled -together, pointing with their fingers at the fearful omen in the sky, -the birds even being upset at the sight. The Latin legend over the -picture “Isti Mirant Stella” (they marvel at the star), makes it all -plain. - -As I. C. Bruce, the editor of “The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated,” has -said: “This embroidery is remarkable for furnishing us with the -earliest human representation we have of a Comet.” - -The Comet of 1066 will ever be famous for ushering in a new era for -England. Even to-day Halley’s Comet is remembered as “The Comet of the -Conquest.” - -[Illustration: WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. (An English Dream.) - -Halley’s Comet appeared in 1066—When William the Conqueror took -England. Halley’s Comet is here to-day.—Kladderadatsch (Berlin).] - - -989 - -The appearance of the Comet this year was marked by bloody wars all -over Europe. The Lombards under Otho were harrying the ancient Roman -Empire, while the heathen Danes and Wends ravaged Germany. - - -912 - -The Comet appeared early in the year and was seen over Germany, as -noted in the chronicles of the monks of St. Gallus in Switzerland. -Immediately after the appearance of the Comet, Germany was ravaged by -war, both inside and outside, the Empire being invaded on all sides by -the Danes in the North, the Slavs in the Northeast, and the Magyars -from Hungary. - - -837 - -The Chinese Astronomers record two Comets for this year, one in -February, and the other in April. But the modern view is that this was -the same Comet, as seen going to the Sun, and afterward, when it was -coming away from the Sun. - -Immediately after the appearance of the Comet there followed a -widespread rebellion in China with much bloodshed and fierce reprisals. - -The only Christian record of the Comet we have is that of Eginard, an -astrologer employed at the Court of Louis the Debonair, in France. This -is Eginard’s account of the Comet: “In the midst of the holy festival -of Easter there shone forth in our sky a sign always ominous and of -sad foreboding. As soon as the Emperor—who was in the habit of gazing -up into the sky at night—first saw the Comet, he had me called before -him, together with another learned star gazer. As soon as I came -before him he asked me what I thought of the sign in heaven.” - -“‘Let me have but a little time,’ I asked of him, ‘that I may study -this sign and see the exact constellation of the other stars around -it, thus to gather from the stars the true meaning of this portent,’ -promising him that I would tell him on the morrow of the results of my -studies. - -“But the Emperor, guessing that I was trying to gain time—as was -indeed the truth, lest I be driven to tell him something unlucky and -fatal to him—he said to me: - -“‘Go up on the terrace of the palace and look. Then come back at once -and tell me what thou hast seen! For I did not see this star last -night; nor didst thou point it out to me; but I know that sign in -heaven is a Comet. Thou must tell me true what it forebodes to me!’ - -“Then, before I could say anything, he said: ‘There is another thing -thou art hiding from me. It is that changes in Kingdoms and the deaths -of rulers are foretold by this sign.’ - -“To soothe him I reminded the Emperor of the words of the Prophet -Isaiah, who said: ‘Fear not signs in the Heaven, like unto the Heathen.’ - -“But the Emperor smiled sadly and said: ‘We should believe only in God -on High, who has created us and also all Stars in Heaven. Since He has -sent this Star, and since this unlooked for Sign may be meant for us, -let us look upon it as a warning from Heaven.’” - -Thereupon Louis the Debonair betook himself to fasting, prayers, and -the building of churches and shrines, he and all his Court. Shortly -thereafter he died. - -The French chronicler, Raoul Glaber, afterward wrote in his chronicle: -“Comets never show themselves to man without foreboding surely some -coming event, marvellous or terrible.” - - -760 - -A Comet appeared in the Spring of this year, which without any doubt -whatever was Halley’s. It was recorded in detail both by European and -Chinese annalists, and its orbit has been calculated and identified by -Laugier. - -A Greek record of Constantinople tells how “a Comet like a great beam” -and very brilliant was observed in the twentieth year of Emperor -Constantine V., surnamed Copronymus, first in the East and then in the -West, for about thirty days. Its appearance was followed next Winter -by a biting frost throughout the Orient, which endured 150 days, from -October until February, blighting all crops in Egypt and elsewhere in -the Eastern Empire. - - -684 - -Chinese annals record a Comet observed in the West in September and -October. This accords with the computed time for the course of Halley’s -Comet that year. Immediately after the Comet’s appearance, China and -the Far East were ravaged by the black plague. Millions died of it. -Baeda the Venerable, in his “Chronicle of the English People,” records -that the plague also reached England. - - -607 - -All Europe and the former Roman Empire were in such dire confusion -during this period that no records of this year, either astronomic -or historical, have come down to us. Messrs. Cowell and Crommelin, -however, have computed astronomically that the Comet must have appeared -during this year. All we know is that Italy and the Latin World were -overrun by ravaging Slavonian hordes from Hungary, who made all the -country run with blood. - - -530 - -Of the Comet this year, likewise, there is no astronomic record. All we -know is that the appearance of a Comet is noted in European chronicles. -It was followed by a virulent outbreak of the black plague. - -In the legendary history of Merlin, the ancient British seer, it is -stated that on the appearance of a Comet this year he prophesied that -Uter, brother of Ambrosius, on the death of the latter, should rule the -kingdom; that a ray from the Comet which pointed toward Gaul presaged -a son who should be born to him and who should be great in power; and -that the ray “that goes toward Ireland represents a daughter, of whom -thou shalt be the father, and her sons and grandsons shall reign over -all the Britons.” These prophecies all came true. - - -451 - -The Comet which appeared over Europe this year has been proven by -Laugier to have been Halley’s Comet. - -It was seen in France just before the monster battle on the Catalaunian -Fields (Châlons-sur-Marne), when Aetius, the last of the Romans, -together with King Theoderic and his Goths, stemmed the tide of Hunnish -invasion led by Attila, the “Scourge of God.” - -Theoderic, together with 148,000 warriors on both sides, were slain in -this tremendous fight, which alone saved Europe from Tartar savagery. - - -373 - -Chinese annals of this year record a Comet seen in the northern -constellation of Ophiuchus in October. This year marks the beginning -of the tremendous migration of peoples, which started in Mongolia and -Tartary, and crossing the Volga gradually overflowed all the known -world, like a huge human deluge. - - -295 - -The appearance of a Comet this year (identified by Hind with Halley’s) -was followed by a bloody rebellion of the ancient Britons against the -Romans, and by another rebellion against Rome by the Egyptians. These -patriotic uprisings of the people were suppressed with fire and sword -and both countries ran with blood. - - -218 - -The Chinese catalogue of Ma-tuan-lin records a Comet with a path -exactly analogous with the orbit of Halley’s Comet computed for that -year by Hind. In the Chinese record the Comet is described as “pointed -and bright.” Its coming was connected with the death of Emperor Ween-te -directly afterward, and the Civil Wars between various claimants to the -throne of the Celestial Empire, which then rent China asunder. - -Dion Cassius, the Roman historian, describes the Comet of this year as -“a very fearful star with a tail stretching from the West towards the -East.” - -The Roman augurs explained the Comet as a portent of the bloody death -of Emperor Macrinus of Rome, who was murdered by his own soldiers on -the night after the disappearance of the Comet. - - -141 - -In this year the Chinese astronomers recorded a Comet in March and -April (the time computed for Halley’s Comet), which they described as -“a star six or seven cubits long and of a bluish-white colour.” The -coming of the Comet was followed by a virulent outbreak of the plague -in China and the Far East, which spread all over the known world. So -virulent was this pestilence that in the City of Naples alone 400,000 -people died of the disease. - - -65-66 - -Halley’s Comet, according to astronomic calculations, must have made -its reappearance during the winter months of 65-66 A. D. The Chinese -have recorded “two Comets,” one in 65, which was seen for fifty-six -days, and “the other” in February, 66, which remained visible fifty -days. - -This was the Comet which St. Peter and Josephus saw over the City of -Jerusalem, before the fall of the Holy City. Josephus wrote of it: -“Amongst other warnings, a Comet, of the kind called Xiphias, because -their tails appear to represent the blade of a sword, was seen above -the doomed city for the space of nearly a whole year.” - -Jerusalem was ravaged by pestilence and famine and soon afterward was -stormed by the Roman soldiery led by Titus. The Temple was burned down -and the streets of the Holy City ran with blood. It was the end of -Jerusalem and of the Jews as a free city and people. - - -B. C. 11 - -This is the farthest back that the appearances of Halley’s Comet -have been traced in history. For earlier appearances there are no -sufficiently trustworthy computations or records. - -Dion Cassius in his “History of Rome” has recorded “a Comet which hung -suspended over the City of Rome just before the death of Agrippa,” who -ruled over the Roman Empire during the absence of Augustus in Greece -and Asia. Agrippa was so universally beloved, and his death was held to -be such a loss to Rome that he was buried with imperial honours in the -tomb intended for Augustus. - -The death of Agrippa occurred in the year 12, shortly after the -disappearance of the Comet which Hind has identified with Halley’s. - - * * * * * - -This completes the record of all the known appearances of Halley’s -Comet. The record fully justifies Chambers’ dictum, that the “Comet -known as Halley’s is by far the most interesting of all the Comets -recorded in history.” - -This historic record also appears to justify in no small measure the -popular beliefs of the last two thousand years concerning Comets, as -expressed by Leonard Digges in his book on Prognostics, published 350 -years ago: - - “Cometes signifie corruption of the ayre. They are - signs of earthquakes, of warres, of changying of - Kyngdomes, great dearth of food, yea a common death - of man and beast from pestilence.” - - - - -THE STORY OF EDMUND HALLEY - - -The great French astronomer Lalande considered Halley the greatest -astronomer of his time. This opinion is still held. Halley’s “time” -means the age of Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton, Flamsteed, Hevelius, and -Leibnitz, all of whom achieved first rank in Astronomy. - -Halley’s greatest achievement in Astronomy was the discovery that our -solar system was but an atom in immeasurable space whence wandering -stars could be caught within the influence of our Sun, our Earth and -the other Planets swinging around our Sun. - -Halley was the first to discover and to prove that the Comets that come -within the vision of man have fixed periods of return. He made this -discovery during the appearance of the great Comet of 1682, which has -since been known by his name. - -In his studies of the motions of Comets, of which Halley computed the -orbits of twenty-four, he observed that a Comet of similar phenomena, -recorded by Appian in 1531 and by Kepler in 1607, had swung through the -same orbit as the Comet under his observation in 1682. Halley surmised -from this that these Comets might be one and the same, whose intervals -of return appeared to cover a period of seventy-five or seventy-six -years. Halley’s surmise seemed to be confirmed by the recorded -appearance of similar bright Comets in the years 1456, 1378, and 1301, -the intervals again being seventy-five or seventy-six years. - -Halley was deeply imbued with Newton’s new discovery of gravitation, -for the publication of which Halley paid the expenses, so he brought -the principles of Newton’s theory of gravitation to bear on his own new -theory of the motions of Comets. He rightly conjectured that Comets -were drawn to our Sun across the disturbing orbits of our planetary -system, and that the comparatively small differences of one or two -years in the recorded intervals of this one Comet (Halley’s Comet) were -due to the attraction of the larger planets. - -During the previous year, 1681, Halley computed that the Comet had -passed near the planet Jupiter, the attraction of which must have had a -considerable influence on the Comet’s motion. Making due allowance for -this disturbing influence of Jupiter, he computed that the Comet would -return to the vicinity of our Sun about the end of 1758 or beginning of -1759. - -Halley did not live to see his prediction fulfilled (he died in 1742), -but he wrote shortly before he died: “If this Comet should return -according to our predictions about the year 1758, impartial posterity -will not refuse to acknowledge that this was first discovered by an -Englishman.” - -All through the year 1758 the most noted astronomers of Europe were -on the lookout for the return of the predicted Comet. One of these -astronomers, Messier, looked for it through his telescope at the Paris -Observatory every night from sunset to sunrise throughout that whole -year. On Christmas night, 1758, the Comet was first seen by a German -peasant near Dresden, who had heard about the Comet and was looking -for it. He was a man of unusually good eyesight, yet his discovery was -doubted until Messier, nearly a month afterward, at Paris, “picked up” -the Comet with his telescope. - -From that time forth this Comet, which returned in 1835, and is -reappearing in this year (1910), has been known as Halley’s Comet. - -[Illustration: EDMUND HALLEY.] - -Besides this achievement, Halley accomplished many other noteworthy -feats in astronomy, such as his discovery of the proper motions of the -fixed stars; his detection of the “long inequality” of Jupiter and -Saturn, and of the acceleration of the moon’s mean motion; his theory -of variation, including the hypothesis of various magnetic poles, with -his suggestion of the magnetic origin of the aurora borealis; and his -indication of a method still used for determining the solar parallax by -means of the transits of Venus. - -On the strength of these achievements, Halley for many years was -elected to serve as secretary to the Royal Society. Commissioned as a -Captain in the Royal Navy, he also commanded a vessel on a long cruise -of exploration, and late in life he was made Astronomer Royal. - -Although in his sixty-fourth year, he then undertook to observe the -moon through an entire revolution of her nodes (eighteen years), and -actually carried out his purpose. To appreciate the full significance -of so painstaking an achievement it should be borne in mind that -astronomical observations must be made in a temperature equal to that -of the open air. Observatories cannot be heated because the heat would -impair the accuracy of the instruments. - -Great astronomers, like poets, are born, not made. Edmund Halley was -one of these. At the age of seventeen he had already observed the -change in the variations of the compass. At nineteen he was recognized -as an astronomer of reputation, having supplied a new and improved -method of determining the elements of the planetary orbits. His -detection of considerable errors in the tables then in use led him to -the conclusion that a more accurate determination of the places of the -fixed Stars was indispensable to the progress of astronomy. With this -end in view he set out on a voyage to the other side of the globe, St. -Helena, where he undertook the task of making complete new observations -of the entire Southern Hemisphere. Though the Heavens proved clouded -he succeeded within two years in registering three hundred and sixty -stars, a colossal achievement which won for him the title of the -“Southern Tycho.” This was when Halley was barely of age. - -(The famous astronomer Tycho Brahe, long before this had won his fame -by mapping the stars of the Northern Heavens.) - -No one could well have begun with prospects more remote from so high a -career, for Edmund Halley was born in 1656, the son of a soap boiler -in a shabby London suburb. From the refuse of rancid fat and lye the -boy was rescued by friends, who procured for him a scholarship at Saint -Paul’s school. By his brilliant attainments in mathematics he won -another scholarship to Oxford University. - -While at Oxford the youth published a treatise on the planetary orbits -and argued the Sun’s axial rotation. - -On his graduation from Oxford, the young would-be astronomer conceived -the project of turning his attention to the southern Stars, of which -no good observations had been made. Shortly before this time a Dutch -astronomer, named Houtman, had observed these Stars in the island of -Sumatra; and Blaeu, the best globe maker of the age, had used these -new observations in the correction of his celestial globes. Halley, on -examining these corrections, came to the conclusion that he himself -could do better. He also concluded that the Island of St. Helena might -be a better point for southern observations. His father, unable to pay -the expenses of so long a trip, broached the project to some friends. -The young astronomer was recommended to King Charles II. by Williamson -and Jones Moore, and the King in turn recommended the youth to the -Indian Company, which then had control over the island of St. Helena. - -After this all was plain sailing. The India Company placed a ship -at his disposition and promised him all the assistance he required. -Young Halley provided himself with telescopes, and micrometers, and -other instruments of the latest approved pattern. In November, 1666, -at the age of twenty, he sailed for St. Helena. Among his luggage was -a sextant of five and a half feet and a telescope twenty-four feet in -length constructed under the supervision of Flamsteed, the Astronomer -Royal. - -Halley was disappointed in the climate of St. Helena. Frequent rains -and a constantly hazy sky scarcely permitted any observations in the -months of August and September. Notwithstanding these difficulties, he -succeeded in observing and cataloguing some 360 Stars. - -In addition to his work on the Stars, Halley made some investigations -on the Moon’s parallax, combining his observations at St. Helena -with those made in northern skies. He also evolved a new theory of -the Moon’s motion, which proved of great aid in the determination of -longitudes. - -On November 7, 1677, Halley observed a transit of Mercury which -suggested to him the important idea of employing similar phenomena for -the calculation of the Sun’s distance. - -Halley returned to England in November, 1678, and was hailed by his -fellow astronomers as the “Southern Tycho.” He was elected a fellow of -the Royal Society, and by the King’s command the degree of Master of -Arts was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford. - -Six months later Halley set out for Dantsic for a personal conference -with Hevelius, the Polish astronomer. Halley wanted to satisfy himself -as to the accuracy of observations claimed by Hevelius without the -aid of a telescope. Halley convinced himself that the errors of the -observations made by Hevelius were less than had been supposed, and did -not exceed a minute of an arc. The two became life-long friends. Halley -proceeded to other cities of Europe where there were observatories. In -Paris he observed with Cassini the great Comet of 1680. This was the -beginning of Halley’s special study of Comets. - -Returning to England, the young astronomer married the daughter of -Mr. Tooke, auditor of the Exchequer, with whom he lived harmoniously -until her death, fifty-five years later. The young couple settled at -Islington, where Halley erected an observatory of his own and engaged -in constant lunar observations with a view toward finding a method for -computing longitudes at sea. - -Halley’s mind at the same time was busy with the momentous problem of -gravity, upon which Isaac Newton was working then. Independently of -Newton, Halley reached the conclusion that the central force of the -Solar System must decrease inversely as the square of the distance. -Having applied vainly to his fellow astronomers, Hooke and Wren, Halley -in August, 1684, made a special journey to Cambridge to consult Isaac -Newton, who confirmed his conjectures. - -Halley and Newton became life-long friends. Halley had Newton elected -to the Royal Society, and when Newton became too poor to pay his -quarterly dues, Halley, through his influence with the leading members -of the Society, had them remitted. It was Halley who encouraged Newton -to put his momentous discovery and elucidation of the forces of gravity -into permanent form in his “Principia,” the first volume of which, “De -Motu,” was presented to the Royal Society at Halley’s suggestion. - -In the proceedings of the Royal Society for December, 1684, there is an -entry that “Mr. Halley had lately seen Mr. Newton at Cambridge, who had -told him of a curious treatise ‘De Motu,’ which at Mr. Halley’s desire -he promised to send to the Society to be entered upon their register. -Mr. Halley was desired to put Mr. Newton in mind of his promise for the -securing this invention to himself, till such time as he could be at -leisure to publish it.” - -Early in the following year Newton sent his treatise to the Society, to -whom it was read aloud by Halley. This treatise “De Motu” was the germ -of the “Principia” and was intended to be a short account of what the -greater work was to embrace. - -During the next two years Newton was hard at work on his “Principia,” -while Halley was equally hard at work on his computations of the Comet -of 1682, and on his theory of the orbits and the periodical returns of -Comets which grew out of his observations. - -On April 21, 1686, Halley read to the Royal Society his own “Discourse -Concerning Gravity and its Properties,” in which he stated that his -“worthy countryman, Mr. Issac Newton, has an incomparable treatise on -Motion almost ready for the press,” and that the law of the inverse -square “is the principle on which Mr. Newton has made out all the -phenomena of the celestial motions so easily and naturally that its -truth is past dispute.” - -Shortly afterward Newton sent in the manuscript of his great work. The -Society voted “that a letter of thanks be written to Mr. Newton and -that the printing of his book be referred to the consideration of the -council and that in the meantime the book be put into the hands of Mr. -Halley.” - -The truth was that the Royal Society, at that time, did not have money -enough to print the book. The Society went through the empty form of -“ordering” that the book be printed “forthwith,” but no printer was -forthcoming until Halley himself undertook the publication of the great -work at his own expense. - -The delicacy of Halley’s feeling is revealed by his correspondence with -Newton, in which he informed Newton that the book had “been ordered -to be printed at the Society’s charge.” The preliminary delay about -printing he explained to Newton “arose from the President’s attendance -on the King, and the absence of the vice-presidents, whom the good -weather had drawn out of town.” - -Later Newton came to realize how much he owed to Halley in this matter. -In his letters to Halley henceforth he always referred to his book -as if it had been Halley’s book. When the great work was finished at -last Newton wrote to Halley under the date of July 5, 1687: “I have at -length brought your book to an end, and hope it will please you.” - -The finished work contained a note to this effect: “The inverse law -of gravity holds in all the celestial motions, as was discovered also -independently by my countrymen Wren, Hooke, and Halley.” - -The book was dedicated to the Royal Society, and to it was prefixed a -set of Latin hexameters addressed by Halley to the author, ending with -the well known line: - - “Nec fac est propius mortali attingere divos.” - - (“It is not given to a mortal to get in closer touch - with the gods.”) - -Halley was fifty years old when he made his famous prediction of -the return of the Comet of 1682. This was in his “Synopsis of Comet -Astronomy,” which ended with these words: “Hence I may venture to -foretell that this Comet will return again in the year 1758.” - -Besides being an astronomer of the first class, Halley was also a good -navigator. In 1698 he was commissioned a captain in the Royal Navy -and was put in command of the King’s ship, “The Paramour Pink.” With -this vessel he set out on a long cruise to the Pacific for the purpose -of making observations on the laws which govern magnetic variations. -This task he accomplished in a voyage which lasted two years and -extended to the fifty-second degree of southern latitude, when the ice -compelled him to turn back. On the return voyage his crew mutinied and -his lieutenant sided with the mutineers. Halley quelled the mutiny by -sheer force of personality, and returning to England got rid of his -lieutenant. The results of his voyage were published in his “General -Chart of the Variation of the Compass” in 1701. Immediately afterwards -Halley set out on another King’s ship and executed by royal command -a careful survey of the tides and coasts of the British Channel, an -elaborate chart of which he published in 1702. - -Next Halley was sent by the King to Dalmatia, for the purpose of -selecting and fortifying the port of Trieste. - -On Halley’s return to England, he was made Savilian professor of -geometry at Oxford, and received an honorary doctor’s degree. He -filled two terms of eight years each as secretary to the Royal -Society, and early in 1720 he succeeded Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal. - -He died on January 14, 1742, at the age of eighty-five in the full -possession of his faculties, the foremost astronomer of the day and a -man universally beloved and respected. His gravestone stands at the -Greenwich Observatory. - -Halley’s works fill several shelves in the library of the Royal -Society. His fame is kept green by the periodical return of the -wandering star known by his name. - - - - -WHAT ARE COMETS? - - -The modern answer to the question “What are Comets made of?” is this: - -Probably the heads are a mixture of solid and gaseous matter. The tails -are gaseous—the result of the volatilisation of the solid matter of -the heads. - -The spectroscope shows that gases appear to be a constituent of all -Comets. The spectra of Comets are very similar to those of a Bunsen -flame. Recent spectroscopic photographs have revealed the presence of -hydrocarbons, nitro-carbons, of cyanogen and of the vapours of sodium, -iron and other metals. - -The connection between Comets and Meteors implies the presence in -Comets of solid matter. A modern theory, voiced by Schiaparelli, is -that meteor showers are broken up Comets. - -The tails of Comets appear to be composed of luminous gases ejected -from the head of the Comet through a solar force held to be “Light -Pressure,” which causes these tails to shoot off and disperse into -space at the rate of 865,000 miles an hour. - -The length of some Comets’ tails has been estimated at 125,000,000 -miles, while the Comets’ heads themselves are generally much larger in -size than our Earth. Halley’s Comet is more than ten-fold the size of -our Earth. - -E. W. Maunder, of the Royal Observatory of Greenwich, a modern -astronomer, has thus summarized the latest theories of the substance of -Comets: - -“Though the bulk of comets is huge, they contain extraordinarily -little substance. Their heads must contain some solid matter, but it -is probably in the form of a loose aggregation of stones enveloped in -vaporous material. There is some reason to suppose that Comets are apt -to shed some of these stones as they travel along their paths, for the -orbits of the meteors that cause some of our greatest ‘star showers’ -are coincident with the paths of Comets that have been observed. But it -is not only by shedding its loose stones that a Comet diminishes its -bulk; it loses also through its tail. As the Comet gets close to the -Sun its head becomes heated, and throws off concentric envelopes, much -of which consists of matter in an extremely fine station of division.” - -The orbits of Comets visible to human eyes are all governed by the Sun. -In the words of C. L. Poor: “The attraction of the Sun is to the Comet -like the flame to the moth. The Comet flutters for a moment about the -Sun, and then swings back into outward space. But not unscathed; like -the moth, the Comet has been singed. The fierce light of the Sun has -beaten upon it, and spread out its particles and scattered them along -its path.” - -As a comet swings toward and away from the Sun, it travels at a -tremendous rate of speed—over a million miles an hour. The distance -covered from one end of the orbit to the other is 3,370,000,000 miles. - -The great majority of Comets appear to travel in parabolas, open curves -leading from infinite space to and around the Sun, and thence back into -infinite space to some other fixed star invisible to us. As a matter -of fact, though, the parabolic curves of Comets’ orbits through the -gravitational attraction of the planets, whose orbits are crossed by -it, may be changed into hyperbolic curves and ellipses by planetary -perturbations. Hence the differences in time between the returns of -certain Comets, like Halley’s, for instance. - -[Illustration: RELATIVE SIZES OF THE EARTH, THE MOON’S ORBIT AND -HALLEY’S COMET.] - -[Illustration: ORBIT OF HALLEY’S COMET. THE TAIL ALWAYS POINTS AWAY -FROM THE SUN.] - -In a general way, it may be said that every Comet comprises a nucleus, -an envelope (called the “coma”) surrounding the nucleus and measuring -from 20,000 to 1,000,000 miles in diameter, and a long tail which -streams behind the nucleus from sixty to a hundred million miles or -more. - -Astronomers have decided that the nucleus is probably a heap of -meteorites varying in size from a grain to masses weighing several -tons each; a heap, moreover, so easily sundered that its elements are -distributed gradually along the orbit. It follows that every Comet must -eventually perish unless it restores its nucleus by collecting stray -meteors. That disintegration does occur has been observed time and time -again. - -For example, Biela’s Comet, which was discovered in 1826, burst into -two fragments, which drifted apart a distance of one million miles. -Thus it became a twin Comet. Eventually it disappeared as a Comet, and -in its stead we see a shoal of meteors whenever we cross its track -every six and a half years. - -It is possible that the Comets of 1668, 1843, 1880, 1882 and 1887, all -travelling in approximately the same path, are fragments of a single -large body which was broken up by the gravitational action of other -bodies in the system, or through violent encounter with the Sun’s -surroundings. - -The luminous tail which streams behind the nucleus, which Shakespeare -described so beautifully as “crystal tresses,” is startling, to say the -least. Despite a length which may exceed a hundred million miles, it -is so diaphanously light and subtle that it is difficult to compare it -with any earthly fabric. The air that we breathe is a dense blanket in -comparison. Several hundred cubic miles of the matter composing that -wonderful luminous plume would not outweigh a jarful of air. By reason -of its fairy lightness, it is possible for a tail occupying a volume -thousands of times greater than the sun to sweep through our solar -system without causing any perturbations in planetary movements. - -No celestial phenomenon has caused more perplexity than the ghostly -sheaf of light we call a Comet’s tail. In a day, in a few hours even, -the form of that wonderful gossamer may change. Hence it is that -periodic Comets are identified when they return, not by the length and -arch of their tails, but by their orbits. These alone are permanent. - -When a Comet is first seen in the telescope, it appears as a diminutive -filmy patch, often unadorned by any tail. As it travels on toward the -Sun, at a speed compared with which a modern rifle bullet would seem to -crawl, violent eruptions occur in the nucleus. - -The ejected matter is bent back to form the cloak called the “coma.” -With a nearer approach to the sun, the tail begins to sprout, -increasing in size and brightness as it proceeds. Evidently there is -some connection between the Sun and the tail, something akin to cause -and effect. - -When the Comet rushes on toward the Sun, invariably the tail drifts -behind the nucleus like the smoke from a locomotive. But when the Comet -swings around the Sun and travels away from it, a startling change -takes place. The tail no longer trails behind, but projects in front as -if some mighty solar wind were blowing it in advance of the head. - -This phenomenon has long been an astronomical riddle. Here was a kind -of matter that refused to obey the laws of gravitation and yield to the -enormous pull of the Sun. - -[Illustration: OCTOBER 5. OCTOBER 9. DONATI’S COMET OF 1858.] - -It was thought for a time that the tail was flung away from the Sun by -stupendous repelling electrical forces. That electricity plays its part -in the formation of the fairy plume is conceivable, and even probable; -but recently the physicist has discovered a new source of repellent -energy which very plausibly explains the mystery of a Comet’s tail. - -This new source of energy is nothing less than the pressure or push of -the Sun’s light. Solar gravitation is a force more powerful than we can -realize. If it were possible for us to live on the Sun, we would find -ourselves pulled down so violently that our body would weigh two tons. -Our clothing alone would weigh more than one hundred pounds. Running -would be a very difficult athletic feat. Light-pressure must indeed be -powerful if it can conquer so relentless a force. - -Because we have never seen objects torn from our hands by the pressure -of light, it may be inferred that this newly discovered force affects -only bodies that are invisibly small. With the aid of instruments that -feel what our hands can never feel and see what our eyes can never see, -the modern physicist has critically analyzed the radiation that beats -upon the earth from the distant Sun. - -Light really does sway infinitely small particles, as was first -experimentally proved by the Russian Lebedev. Two American astronomers, -Nichols and Hull, improved upon his method. They cast the solar -effulgence into mighty mathematical scales and found that the earth -sustains a light-load of no less than 75,000 tons. - -Most city-bred people are familiar with the so-called “Sun -Motors”—little mills with black and white wings, enclosed in airtight -vessels, which spin around in “perpetual motion” under the effect of -“Sun Pressure.” - -It remained for the broad mind of a Swedish physicist, Svante -Arrhenius, to apply the principle of light-pressure cosmically. He -explained, very simply, that because a Comet’s tail is composed of a -very fine dust it can easily be driven away from the Sun by radiation -pressure. - -To understand how it is possible for so immaterial a thing as a sunbeam -to produce so huge an effect, we have only to take a very simple -example. - -Assume that you have before you a block of wood weighing one pound. The -block exposes a certain amount of surface to the Sun’s light. Saw the -block in half, and you increase the amount of that surface. Divide each -half again into half, and the exposed surface is further augmented. If -this process of subdivision is carried on far enough, the block will be -reduced to sawdust. - -The entire mass of sawdust still weighs one pound; but its surface has -been vastly enlarged. Indeed, the particles of sawdust, individually -considered, may be said to consist of much surface and very little -weight. If it were possible to take each granule of visible sawdust -and subdivide it into invisible particles, a point would be reached -where the pressure of light would exactly counterbalance the pull of -gravitation, so that the particles would remain suspended in space, -perfectly balanced in the scale of opposing cosmic forces. - -Finally, if the subdivision be continued beyond this critical point, -the particles will be wrenched away from the grip of gravitation and -hurled out into space by the pressure of light. - -So much has been discovered about the particles that compose a Comet’s -tail that the more progressive scientists of our day have accepted this -ingenious theory. Thus it has been decided by them that the delicate -tresses of a Comet are to a large extent composed of fine particles of -dust and soot. - -[Illustration: June 26.] - -[Illustration: June 28.] - -[Illustration: June 30.] - -[Illustration: July 1.] - -[Illustration: July 6.] - -[Illustration: July 8. CHANGES IN THE COMET OF 1863.] - -Before we can completely accept the view that light-pressure forms -this train of soot we must ascertain whether the pressure of light is -capable of accounting for the flash-like rapidity with which a Comet’s -tail changes. - -A Comet may throw out a tail sixty million miles long in two days. Is -it actually possible for light-pressure to accomplish that astonishing -feat? Arrhenius has computed that 865,000 miles an hour is the speed -of a light-flung particle of one-half the critical diameter. Because -they are only one-eighteenth as large as this particle of critical -diameter, the dust grains in a Comet’s tail would be propelled over the -same 865,000 miles in less than four minutes. It follows that the solar -radiation is amply strong enough to toss out a tail of sixty million -miles in two days. - -Photography in the hands of Prof. E. E. Barnard, of the Yerkes -Observatory, has revealed some extraordinary changes in Comets’ tails, -changes which are not apparent to the eye and which cannot be explained -by light-pressure or by solar electrical forces. He has collected a -formidable mass of photographic evidence which seems to show that -there are other influences at work besides the Sun’s radiation, and -that these influences manifest themselves in distorting and breaking a -Comet’s tail. In some Comets of recent years, streams of matter have -been shot out in large angles to the main direction of the tail without -being at all bent by the pressure of light. In Morehouse’s Comet of -1908, tails were repeatedly formed and discarded to drift bodily out -into space and melt away. Sometimes the photographic plate has shown -the tail twisted like a corkscrew and sometimes it has revealed masses -of matter at some distance from the head, where apparently no supply -had reached it. At one time the entire tail of Morehouse’s Comet was -thrown violently forward, a peculiarity so utterly opposed to the laws -of gravitation that Professor Barnard suspects some unknown force at -work in planetary space besides a force which undoubtedly resides -in the Comet itself. If Halley’s Comet serves no other purpose than -to throw light upon this mystery, its return will more than repay -astronomers for all their observatory vigils. - -From the fact that the matter is ejected from the head to form the -tail, it would follow that, unless it has the means of rejuvenating -itself, a comet must eventually be disintegrated. Instances of this -fragmentation and, eventual disappearance of a Comet are not wanting in -astronomical annals. It has been stated previously that when Biela’s -Comet appeared in 1846 it became distorted and elongated, that it -eventually split up into two separate bodies, that in 1852 it again -appeared in its double form, and that it has since disappeared. - -In a way, Comets may be said to bleed to death. At each return of -Halley’s Comet, future astronomers will find it less brilliant than it -was seventy-six or seventy-seven years before. Some time there will -be no Halley’s Comet left, and the most famous Comet of its kind will -be reduced to a shoal of meteors varying in weight from a few ounces -to several tons and faithfully pursuing the orbit which their parent -traced and retraced century after century. - -[Illustration: COGGIA’S COMET, 1874: ON JULY 13.] - - - - -THE PERIL OF THE COMET - - -It was Edmund Halley who first revealed a source of danger from Comets, -of which even medieval superstition had never dreamed. - -While he was patiently plotting out the orbit of the Comet of 1680, -which had inspired no little dismay among his contemporaries, Halley -found that the Earth’s orbit had been approached by the Comet within -four thousand miles—half the diameter of the Earth. - -If the Earth had been struck by that fiery wanderer? - -None had ever thought of the possibility. - -Halley began to do some mathematical figuring, and decided that, if a -Comet’s mass were comparable with that of the Earth, our year would -have been changed in length because the Earth’s orbit would have been -altered. He also speculated what would happen to the Earth, and reached -this conclusion: - - “If so large a body with so rapid a motion were to - strike the Earth—a thing by no means impossible—the - shock might reduce this beautiful world to its - original chaos.” - -Halley even thought it probable that the Earth had actually been struck -by a Comet at some remote period, struck obliquely, moreover, so that -the axis of rotation had been changed. Thus he was led to infer that -possibly the North Pole had once been at a point near Hudson’s Bay, and -that the rigour of North America’s climate might thus be accounted for. - -The seed which was thus sown by Halley has borne fruit. In Halley’s -own time, learned men were brooding over the ultimate destruction of -the Earth by collision with a Comet. - -Dr. Whiston, who succeeded Newton at Cambridge in the Lucasian chair of -mathematics, was sure that a Comet caused the Deluge, and went so far -as to prophesy that a Comet, as it passed us on its outward course from -the Sun, would ultimately bring about a “General Conflagration,” and -thus envelope the Earth in flames. - -One century after Halley, the French astronomer Laplace, whose -mathematical attainments were surpassed only by those of Newton, -applied his brilliant mind to the possibility of a collision with a -Comet, and arrived at this conclusion: - - “The seas would abandon their ancient beds and rush - towards the new equator, drowning in one universal - deluge the greater part of the human race.... We see, - then, in effect, why the ocean has receded from the - high lands upon which we find incontestable marks of - its sojourn; we see how the animals and plants of the - south have been able to exist in the climate of the - north, where their remains and imprints have been - discovered.” - -The famous French mathematician Lalande showed that if a Comet as heavy -as the Earth were to come within six times the distance of the Moon, -it would exert such a powerful attraction upon the waters of the globe -as to pull up a tidal wave 13,000 feet above the ordinary sea-level -and inundate the continents Every European mountain would be submerged -except Mt. Blanc, and only the inhabitants of the Rockies, the Andes -and the Himalayas would escape death. - -Since Lalande’s day there has been more than one Comet “scare.” One of -these startled Europe in 1832. On October 29th of that year, Biela’s -Comet crossed the Earth’s orbit. The announcement was received with -stupefaction. It was only when Arago soothingly pointed out that the -Earth would not reach the exact point where the Comet had intersected -the Earth’s orbit until November 30, at which time the Comet would be -50,000,000 miles away, that the popular excitement subsided. A similar -alarm seized the world in 1857. Some prophet declared that on June 13 -the world would collide with a certain periodic Comet having a period -of revolution of three centuries. It is related that the churches -and confessionals were crowded for days. Still another prediction, -made in 1872 by Plantamour, the distinguished director of the Geneva -Observatory, set Europe in a ferment. His calculations were based on -errors, which were pointed out by other astronomers, and the public -mind was quieted. - -Although more than two centuries have passed since Halley was in his -prime, the possibility of a collision with some vagabond star still -haunts the mind of the astronomer. - -That a collision is apt to occur is an admitted astronomic fact. The -latest estimate, made in 1909 by Prof. William H. Pickering of Harvard -University, would seem to prove that the core of one Comet in about -100,000,000 Comets will hit the earth squarely. An encounter with some -part of a Comet’s head will happen once in 4,000,000 years. Since -Comets’ orbit are more thickly distributed near the ecliptic than else -where in the celestial sphere, the collisions will occur according to -Pickering, perhaps more frequently than this. - -Because Pickering’s figures differ from those other astronomers—Arago -and Babinet, for instance—it must not be inferred that his -predecessors are wrong and that he is right in his calculations. The -problem is too complex for that. Pickering, Arago and Babinet differ -partly because they have assumed different average sizes for their -Comets, and partly because their definitions of visible Comets are not -in accord. - -That the possibility is very real, we shall all have an opportunity of -judging on May 18, 1910. On that date the Earth will be plunged in the -tail of Halley’s Comet, and the head will be less than 15,000,000 miles -away—a mere hand’s breadth in the vastness of the universe. - -What will happen? - -Nobody knows for certain. - -By means of the wonderful instrument called the spectroscope, an -instrument which analyzes a distant star as readily as if it were a -stone picked up in the road, it has been discovered that a Comet’s tail -is composed of gases called “hydrocarbons” (combinations of hydrogen -and carbon), and that it bears a close chemical resemblance to the blue -flame of a kitchen gas-stove. - -Illuminating gas, as we all know, is poisonous. If a Comet’s tail were -dense enough, it is conceivable, therefore, that every human being on -this planet might be asphyxiated by breathing the Comet’s poisonous -vapour as the Earth plowed through it. There is also this possibility, -suggested by Flammarion, that the gases of a very dense tail might so -combine with the nitrogen which constitutes nearly 80 per cent. of -the air we breathe, that the atmosphere would be converted into the -“laughing gas” employed by dentists. The world would die in a delirium -of joy. At first a delightful serenity would settle upon mankind. Then -would follow a contagious gaiety, febrile exaltation, a paroxysm of -delight, and then madness. Flammarion even conceives the world merrily -dancing a joyous, hysterical sarabande in which it perishes laughing. - -The tail of a Comet is fraught with still other possible dangers. Our -atmosphere contains a certain amount of hydrogen, a marvellously light -gas to which balloons owe their buoyancy. Besides its lightness, this -gas is characterized by an extreme inflammability. The law of the -diffusion of gases teaches us that part of this hydrogen in the air -is mechanically mixed with other gases, and that part of it probably -floats in the upper air, far beyond the reach of any balloon. A Comet -may be regarded as a huge lighted torch whirling through space, which -may be brought dangerously near that upper layer of highly inflammable -hydrogen. If the gas shall ever be touched off by this flying torch, -our planet will be ignited. The whole atmosphere will become a seething -ocean of flame, in which forests and cities will burn like straw, in -which oceans will boil away in vast clouds of steam, and in which all -animal life will be snuffed out of existence before it shall realize -that the world is on fire. In a word, the globe will become a planetary -funeral pyre. Since water results from burning hydrogen in oxygen, -this same fierce and terrible flame must be speedily extinguished by a -mighty deluge which will engulf the Earth. - -A spectroscope analysis of Halley’s Comet has furthermore revealed -the presence of cyanogen gas in the tail. Cyanogen is a compound of -nitrogen and carbon, one of the most poisonous compounds with which the -chemist is familiar. Prussic acid, potassium cyanide and many other -cyanides, all of them almost instantaneously fatal if taken into the -human system, are compounds of cyanogen. If that gas is present in -large enough quantities, one flick of a Comet’s tail will end all human -and animal existence. - -So much is certain. A collision of the Earth with a Comet will -undoubtedly prove disastrous—how disastrous will depend largely on the -size of the Comet’s head and on its speed. That a violent heat will -be developed, we have every reason to believe, from our knowledge of -meteors. The mere movement of a meteor through the thin upper layers of -our atmosphere produces a dazzling trail and reduces the meteor itself -to a molten metallic mass. Arrest a body in swift motion, and you must -dissipate its energy in some way. As a rule, the energy is converted -into heat. A bullet discharged from a rifle is often melted when -suddenly stopped by steel armour. A Comet travels at a pace compared -with which a projectile, fired from the most powerful twelve-inch gun, -seems only to crawl. What, then, must be the frightful effect when it -strikes the Earth? - -A Comet rushes through space not at the bullet’s rate of thousands of -feet an hour, but of a million miles an hour. The bigger it is, and the -faster it moves, the greater will be the heat developed by its stoppage. - -“At the first contact with the upper regions of the atmosphere,” writes -Prof. Simon Newcomb, “the whole heavens would be illuminated with a -resplendence beyond that of a thousand Suns, the sky radiating a light -which would blind every eye that beheld it, and a heat which would melt -the hardest rocks.” The same conclusion was reached by Prof. Faye. - -When the time comes for a collision with a Comet of formidable size, -the human race will be in the horrible predicament of knowing the exact -hour and minute of its doom. The newspapers will print a dispatch from -some great observatory, reading perhaps like this: - -“A telescopic Comet was discovered by Caxton in right ascension 7 hours -13 minutes 1 second, and declension 17 degrees 28 minutes 31 seconds. -Moderate motion in a northwest direction.” - -[Illustration: “If so large a body with so rapid a motion were to -strike the Earth—a thing by no means impossible—the shock would -reduce this beautiful world to its original chaos.”—EDMUND HALLEY.] - -At first the discovery produces not even a ripple of excitement. -Telescopic Comets are discovered too frequently. Three days later the -discoverer has worked out an ephemeris, which gives the date when the -body will pass around the Sun, and which indicates the Comet’s path. He -finds that on a certain date and at a certain hour the Earth and the -Comet must crash together. Again and again he repeats his calculations, -hoping that he may have erred. The utmost permissible allowance for -accelerations and retardations caused by the outer planets of the solar -system fails to change the result. - -The Earth and the Comet must meet. With some hesitation the astronomer -sends a telegram to a central observatory, which acts as a distributor -of astronomical news. At first his prediction is discredited and even -laughed at. Another computation is made at the observatory. Again -mathematics infallibly indicates the exact time and place of the -encounter, and the last lingering hope is dispelled. Telegrams are sent -to astronomical societies, to the leading scientific periodicals and to -the newspapers. - -At first the prediction of the Earth’s doom is received with popular -incredulity, engendered by years of newspaper misrepresentation. The -world’s end has been too frequently and too frightfully foretold -on flamboyant double-page Sunday editions. When the truth is at -last accepted, after days of insistent repetition of the original -announcement, a wave of terror runs through the world. - -There is no escape. International committees of astronomers meet -daily to mark the approach of the Comet. Bulletins are published -announcing the steadily dwindling distance between the world and the -huge projectile in the sky. The great tail, arching the Heavens as the -Comet approaches, seems like a mighty, fiery sword held in an unseen -Titanic hand and relentlessly sweeping down. The temples, churches and -synagogues are thronged with supplicating multitudes on bended knees, -in a catalepsy of terror. The stock exchanges, banks, shops and public -institutions are deserted. Business is at a standstill. The roar of the -street is hushed. No wagons rattle over the pavement; no hucksters call -out their wares. - -As the Comet draws nearer and nearer, night changes into an awful, -nocturnal day. Even at noon the Comet outshines the Sun. There is no -twilight. The Sun sets; but the Comet glows in the sky, another more -brilliant luminary, marvellously yet fearfully arrayed in a fiery plume -that overspreads the sky. The Moon is completely lost, and the Stars -are drowned out in this dazzling glare. Warned by the astronomers, -mankind takes refuge in subterranean retreats to await its fate. - -Long before the actual collision—long before the Earth is reduced -to a maelstrom of lava, gas, steam and planetary debris—mankind is -annihilated with merciful swiftness by heat and suffocation. A candle -flame blown out by a gust of wind is not more quickly extinguished. - -When the Comet encounters the upper layers of the atmosphere, there is -a blinding flash, due to friction between the air and the Comet. A few -seconds later the crash comes. From within, molten rock and flame, pent -up for geologic ages, burst forth, geyser-like. The Earth is converted -into a gigantic volcano, in the eruption of which oceans are spilled -and continents are torn asunder, to vanish like wax in a furnace. - -When it is all over, the Earth swims through space, a blackened -planetary cinder,—desolate and dead. - - - - -THE END OF THE WORLD - - -Camille Flammarion, the French astronomer, in his story, “The End -of the World,” gives this graphic description of the results of a -collision between a Comet and our Earth: - -In Paris, London, Rome, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, New -York and Chicago—in all the great capitals of the world, in all the -cities, in all the villages—the frightened people wandered out of -doors, as one sees ants run about when their ant-hills are disturbed. -All the affairs of every-day life were forgotten. - -All human projects were at a standstill. People seemed to have -lost interest in all their affairs. They were in a state of -demoralization—a dejection more abject even than that which is -produced by sea-sickness. - -All places of worship had been crowded on that memorable day when it -was seen that a collision with a Comet had become inevitable. - -In Paris the crowds in the churches were so great that people could -no longer get near Notre Dame, the Madeleine and the other churches. -Within the churches, vast congregations of worshippers were on their -knees praying to God on High. The churches rang with the sounds of -supplication, but no other sound was heard. The great church organs and -the bells in the steeples were hushed. - -In the streets, on the avenues, in the public squares, there was the -same dread silence. Nothing was bought or sold. No newspapers were -hawked about. - -The only vehicles seen on the streets were funeral hearses carrying to -the cemeteries the bodies of the first victims of the Comet. Of these -there were already many. They were people who had died from fright and -from heart disease. - -With what anxiety everyone waited for the night! - -Never, perhaps, was there a more beautiful sunset. Never a clearer sky. -The sun seemed to dip into a sea of red and gold. - -The huge red ball of the sun sank majestically to the horizon. But the -stars did not appear. Night did not come. - -To the solar day succeeded a new day, the daylight of the Comet. Its -intense light resembled that of an Aurora Borealis, but more vivid, -coming from a great incandescent spot, which had not been visible -during the day because it was below the horizon, but which would -certainly have rivalled the splendour of the Sun. - -This luminous spot rose in the East almost at the same time as the full -Moon. The two luminous bodies rose together, side by side. As they -rose, the light of the Moon seemed to pale, but the head of the Comet -increased in splendour with the disappearance of the Sun below the -western horizon. - -Now, after nightfall, the Comet dominated the world—a scarlet-red ball -with jets of yellow and green flame which seemed to flutter like fiery -wings. - -To the terrified people it seemed like a giant of fire taking -possession of all Heaven and Earth. - -Already the outermost jets of flame had reached the Moon. From one -instant to the next the flaming rays would descend upon the Earth. - -All eyes were distended with horror when it was seen that the horizon -was lighting up with tiny violet flames as from a vast fire. - -An instant afterward, the Comet diminished in brilliancy. This was -apparently because the Comet, upon touching the atmosphere of our -Earth, had come within the penumbra of our planet and had lost part of -its reflected light coming from the Sun. But in reality this apparent -extinction was the effect of contrast. When the less dazzled eyes of -the awestruck, human spectators had grown used to this new light, it -appeared almost as intense as at first, but paler, more sinister and -sepulchral. - -Never before had the Earth been lit up with so sickly a light. - -The drouth of the air became intolerable. Heat, as from a huge burning -oven, came from above. A horrible stench of burning sulphur—due, no -doubt, to electrified ozone—poisoned the atmosphere. - -All the people then saw that their time had come. Many-thousand-throated -cries rent the air. “The World is burning. We are on fire!” they cried. - -All the horizon, in fact, was now lit up with flame, forming a crown -of blue light. It was, indeed, as had been foreseen by scientists, the -oxide of carbon igniting in the air and producing anhydrid of carbon. -Clearly, too, hydrogen from the Comet combined with it. - -On a sudden, as the people were gazing terrified, motionless, mute, -holding their breath, and scared out of their wits, the vault of Heaven -seemed to be rent asunder from the zenith to the horizon. Through the -gaping breach there seemed to appear the huge red mouth of a dragon, -belching forth sheaves of sputtering green flames. - -The glare of the atmosphere was so fierce that those who had not -already hidden themselves in the cellars of their houses, now all -rushed helter-skelter to the nearest underground openings, be they -subway steps, cellar doors or sewer manholes. Thousands were crushed or -maimed during this mad stampede, while many others, frantic from fright -and stricken with the heat, fell dead from apoplexy. - -All reasoning powers seemed to have ceased. Among those cowering in -dark cellars and subterranean passages below, there was nothing but -silence, begot by dull resignation and stupor. - -Of all this panic-stricken multitude, only the astronomers had remained -at their posts in the Observatories, making unceasing observations of -this great astronomic phenomenon. They were the only eye-witnesses of -the impending collision. - -Their calculations had been that the terrestrial globe would penetrate -into the core of the Comet, as a cannon ball might into a cloud. From -the first contact of the extreme atmospheric zones of the Earth and of -the Comet, they had figured, the transit would last four hours and a -half. - -It was easy to compute, since the Comet, being about fifty times as -large as the Earth, was to be pierced, not in its centre, but at -one-quarter of the distance from the centre, with a velocity of 173,000 -kilometers an hour. - -It was about forty minutes after the first atmospheric impact with the -Comet, that the heat and horrible stench of burning sulphur became so -suffocating that a few more moments of this torment would put an end -to all life. Even the most intrepid of astronomers withdrew into the -interior of their glass-domed observatories, which they could close -hermetically as they descended into the deep subterranean vaults. - -The longest to stay above was a young assistant astronomer, a girl -student from California, whose nerves had been steeled during the -ordeal of the San Francisco earthquake. She remained long enough to -witness the apparition of a huge, white-hot meteorite, precipitating -itself southward with the velocity of lightning. - -But it was beyond human endurance to remain longer above. It was no -longer possible to breathe. To the intense heat and atmospheric drouth, -destroying all vital functions, was added the poisoning of our air by -the oxide of carbon. - -The ears rang as from the tolling of funeral bells, and all hearts were -in a flutter of feverish palpitation. And always, everywhere, there was -that suffocating stench of sulphur. - -Now a shower of fire fell from the glowing sky. It was raining -shooting-stars and white-hot meteorites, most of which burst like -bombs. The fragments of these, like flying shrapnel, crashed through -the roofs and set fire to the buildings. - -To the conflagration of the sky were added the flames of fire -everywhere on earth. - -Claps of ear-splitting thunder followed each other incessantly, -produced partly by the explosions of the meteors, and partly by a -tremendous electric thunderstorm. Rifts of lightning zig-zagged hither -and thither. - -A continuous rumbling, like that of distant drums, filled the ears of -the cowering people below, awaiting their fate. This low rumble was -interspersed with the deafening detonations of exploding meteors and -the high shriek of hurtling aerial fragments. - -Then followed unearthly noises, like the seething of some immense -boiling cauldron, the wild wailing of winds, and the quaking of the -soil where the earth’s crust was giving way. - -This unearthly tempest became so frightful, so fraught with agony and -mad terror, that the multitudes grovelling below were overcome with -paralysis, and lay prone. Laid low like dumb brutes, they met their -doom. - -The end of all had come. - - - - -_COLOPHON_ - - - _POST HOC, NON PROPTER HOC: - Sic veteres de multis rebus opinabantur, - Eodemque dicto eas jugiter absolvisse - Recte sibi visi sunt, - Vt puta quaecumque et qualiacumque - Cometarum saeculares reditus sequuntur. - CVR TV ITAQVE, forsitan quaeras, - Haec auditu minime jucunda nobis narrasti, - Terrae motus, fluminum inundationes, annonae defectus, - Pestes mortiferas, incendia, bella, - regumque magnorum excidia? - Si tibi cordi est, - LECTOR BENEVOLENTISSIME, - rationem nostram didicisse, - eia, veram accipe: - MVNDVS VVLT DECIPI._ - - -_FINIS._ - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMET LORE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Comet Lore</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edwin Emerson</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 26, 2021 [eBook #66824]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMET LORE ***</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div id="FRONTIS" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="637" /> - <p class="center">HALLEY’S COMET OF 1910, AS SEEN IN NEW YORK,<br /> - LOOKING WESTWARD, DURING THE LATTER PART OF MAY.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<h1>COMET LORE<br /><span class="h_subtitle"><br />Halley’s Comet -in History<br /> and Astronomy</span></h1> - -<p class="center space-above3">By</p> -<p class="f150">EDWIN EMERSON</p> -<p class="f90"><i>Author of “A History of the Nineteenth Century,” Etc.</i></p> - -<p class="center space-above3">PRINTED BY<br /> -THE SCHILLING PRESS<br />137-139 EAST 25th STREET<br /> -NEW YORK</p> - -<p class="center space-above2">Copyrighted, 1910, by <span class="smcap">Edwin Emerson</span><br /> -Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London<br />All rights reserved under Berne Convention</p> - -<p class="center space-above2">Printed in the United States of America by<br /> -the Schilling Press in New York<br />from the electrotyped plates</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellspacing="0" summary="TOC" cellpadding="0" > - <tbody><tr> - <td class="tdr" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Halley’s Comet</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_7"> 7</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Terror of the Comet</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Famous Comets of Olden Times</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Star of Bethlehem</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Great Events and Disasters Linked with Comets<span class="ws2"> </span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Halley’s Comet the Bloodiest of All</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Story of Edmund Halley</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">What Are Comets?</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Our Peril from Collision with the Comet</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The End of the World</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellspacing="0" summary="LOI" cellpadding="0" > - <tbody><tr> - <td class="tdr" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Cover Designs by William Stevens</td> - <td class="tdr"> </td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Halley’s Comet of 1910</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#FRONTIS">Frontispiece</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Terror of the Comet in Antiquity</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I013">13</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Terror of the Comet in Mediæval Times</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I020">20</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Terror of the Comet at the Present Day</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I025">25</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Latest Photograph of the Comet of 1910</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I028">28</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Napoleon’s Comet of 1811</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I053">53</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Great Comet of 1843</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I056">56</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Comet of Tel-el-Kebir, 1882</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I059">59</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Halley’s Comet of 1835</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I062">62</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Halley’s Comet of 1682</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I069">69</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Halley’s Comet of 1066 in the Bayeux Tapestry</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I078">78</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">William the Conqueror, an English Dream</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I081">81</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Portrait of Edmund Halley</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I092">92</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Orbit of Halley’s Comet</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I103A">103</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Relative Sizes of the Earth, the Moon and Halley’s Comet</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I103B">103</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Donati’s Comet of 1858</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I106">106</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">The Civil War Comet of 1863</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I109">109</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Coggia’s Comet of 1874</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I112">112</a></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdl">Halley’s Conception of a Collision with the Comet</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#I119">119</a></td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="f150"><b>TO THE COMET</b></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thereby Hangs a Tail.”—<i>Shakespeare.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Lone wanderer of the trackless sky!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Companionless! Say, dost thou fly</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Along thy solitary path,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A flaming messenger of wrath—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Warning with thy portentous train</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of earthquake, plague and battle-plain?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some say that thou dost never fail</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To bring some evil in thy tail.</div> - <div class="verse indent28"><span class="smcap">W. Lattey.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">THE COMING OF THE COMET</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Sun will surely rise and set to-morrow.</p> - -<p>Just so surely must a Comet flare forth in our Heavens this Spring.</p> - -<p>Star gazers, astronomers and learned men have been waiting for this -Comet all over the earth—in America, in Europe, in far China.</p> - -<p>They have known for certain that this Comet would come; and they knew -just when and where in the Heavens the Comet would first show itself to -the naked eye—down to the very night.</p> - -<p>All this has been known so surely because this same Comet has been seen -by the people of this earth before.</p> - -<p>It came and went seventy-four years ago. Seventy-six years before that, -it came and went. And seventy-six years before that, the Comet had come -and gone.</p> - -<p>As long as human beings have lived on this earth—for thousands and -thousands of years—human eyes have beheld this same Comet every -seventy-six years or so.</p> - -<p>The longest time between the Comet’s coming has been seventy-nine -years. The shortest interval of all—74½ years—was this time.</p> - -<p>For thousands of years in the past, wise men have written down records -of this Comet.</p> - -<p>Long, long ago, when white men were still savages who dwelt in caves, -patient star gazers in China and Chaldea studied the motions of this Comet. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> - -<p>Farther back than that, in the hoary days before the art of writing -was known, ancient bards sang of this Star and its hairy tail. Some of -their words are still remembered.</p> - -<p>Artists have drawn pictures of this Comet. Their pictures are still -shown.</p> - -<p>Women have stitched images of this Comet into their handiwork. Some of -this handiwork can still be seen.</p> - -<p>Coiners have stamped designs of this comet on their coins and medals. -Those coins are still shown in museums.</p> - -<p>Priests, Popes and great Divines have preached about this Comet. Their -sermons are still preserved in the records of the Church.</p> - -<p>Learned men have written in their books what happened when the Comet -came. Those books are read to-day.</p> - -<p>The coming of this Comet in olden times has been fixed in lasting -records, which he who runs may read.</p> - -<p>Nothing in all History is more certain than the story of this Comet.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">WHY HALLEY’S COMET?</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Two</span> hundred and -twenty-eight years ago, when this Comet was seen shining over the City -of London, the great astronomer, Edmund Halley, made a special study of it.</p> - -<p>Halley was the first to say that this Comet had come before and would -surely come again. He wrote down the time when the Comet would come -again, long after he should be dead.</p> - -<p>“If it should return,” he wrote, “according to our predictions, about -the year 1758, impartial posterity will not refuse to acknowledge that -this was first discovered by an Englishman.”</p> - -<p>The Comet returned, as he had foretold, seventeen years after Halley’s -death, when it was first seen in 1758, on Christmas night, by a man in -Saxony, named Palitsch, who was looking for the Comet.</p> - -<p>From that day this Comet has been called after Halley.</p> - -<p>Since then many famous astronomers, such as Clairaut, Pontécoulant and -Laplace in France, have calculated the dates for the Comet’s return.</p> - -<p>Last time, in 1835, Halley’s Comet returned within a few nights of -their prediction.</p> - -<p>This time, so the astronomers figured seventy-five years ago, the Comet -should be plainly seen after dark late this May.</p> - -<p>What they predicted has come true.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">THE TERROR OF THE COMET</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Canst thou fearless gaze</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Even night by night on that prodigious Blaze,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">That hairy Comet, that long streaming Star,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Which threatens Earth with Famine, Plague and War?”</div> - <div class="verse indent36">—<i>Sylvester.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">So long</span> as the memory -of man goes back, the appearance of a Comet has always been taken as a -just cause for dread.</p> - -<p>In the train of Comets, it has ever been held, come wars, bloodshed, -fires, floods, plagues, famine and the fall of mighty rulers.</p> - -<p>Our Holy Bible confirms this time-honoured belief.</p> - -<p>The Saviour Himself said, according to the Gospel of St. Luke, Chap. -XXI., Verse 10-11:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom -against kingdom; and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and -famines and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there -be from Heaven.”</p> - -<p>In the Revelation of St. John the Divine (Chap. VIII., Verse 10) we read:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>“There fell from Heaven a great star burning as a torch,” and again -(Chap. XII., Verse 3):</p> - -<p>“There was seen another sign in Heaven, and behold a great red dragon -... and his tail draweth a third part of the stars in Heaven. And -behold the third woe cometh quickly.” (Chap. XII., Verse 14.)</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> -The “flaming sword” in the hands of the angel of the Lord, when Adam -and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, many sacred writers hold, -can only be interpreted as a Comet.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent1">“For the Almighty set before the door</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of th’ holy park a seraphim that bore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A warning sword, whose body shined bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A flaming Comet in the midst of night.”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">—<i>Todd.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>So, too, when Jerusalem was to be wasted by a plague, David beheld a -Comet in the shape of a flaming sword:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>“And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand -between the earth and the Heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand -stretched out over Jerusalem.”</p> - -<p class="author space-below2">—<i>I. Chron. XXI. 16.</i></p> -</div> - -<p>The fall of Satan, some sacred writers hold, was marked by the -appearance of a Comet. In Isaiah (XIV. 12) we find:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“How art thou fallen from Heaven, O flaming one, son -of the morning!”</p> - -<p>John Milton, in his “Paradise Lost,” has fixed this image in immortal -verse:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Satan stood</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Unterrified, and as a Comet burned</div> - <div class="verse indent4">That fired the length of Ophiuchus huge</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In th’ arctic sky, and from its horrid hair,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Shakes pestilence and war.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Great Deluge, described in Holy Writ, came after the appearance -of a mighty Comet (Halley’s Comet), so Dr. William Whiston, Sir Isaac -Newton’s successor in the Lucasian chair of Mathematics at Cambridge, -set forth in a special treatise. The great French astronomer, Laplace, -also reached the same conclusion. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span></p> - -<p>This same Comet (Halley’s Comet) likewise foretold the final fall of -the Holy City, Jerusalem, in the year 70 after Christ. This Comet was -seen by St. Peter. Josephus in his History of the Jewish Wars recorded -the nightly appearance of this Comet over the City of Jerusalem just -before the war which ended with the destruction of the Holy City.</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“Amongst other warnings,” writes Josephus, who saw -this Comet with his own eyes, “a Comet of the kind called sword-shaped, -because their tails appear to represent the blade of a sword, was seen -above the city for the space of a whole year.”</p> - -<p>Josephus at the time rebuked his Jewish countrymen for listening to -false prophets while so clear a sign from Heaven was before their very -eyes.</p> - -<p>This same Comet (Halley’s Comet) reappeared at a critical period of the -rule of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. He -first beheld his sign from Heaven in the midst of battle as it blazed -overhead in the sign of a Cross. With the help of his mother, the -sainted Helen, Constantine was moved thereby to turn Christian.</p> - -<p>Constantinople, the great capital of the Orient, which owes its name -to this same Emperor Constantine, was lost to Christendom in the year -1453, when the Turks overran the great city with fire and sword. This -event, it is recorded, was heralded by another appearance of a Comet. -Three years later, when the Turks were about to descend upon Belgrade, -another Comet (Halley’s Comet) spread consternation throughout Europe.</p> - -<p>At that time Pope Calixtus III., on the appearance of this Comet, -seeing that evils were impending for the human race, called for prayers -that the Almighty would turn these evils upon the Turks, the enemies of -the Christian faith. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p> - -<div id="I013" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_013.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="610" /> - <p class="center">“A SWORD-SHAPED COMET BLAZED<br /> OVER THE DOOMED HOLY CITY.”<br /> - —Josephus’ “<i>History of Judea</i>.”</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> -At the same time the Holy Father gave orders for all Church bells to be -tolled at noon to remind faithful Christians to pray for those battling -against the Turk.</p> - -<p>Into the Ave Maria were put the words: “From the Devil, the Turk and -the Comet, Good Lord, deliver us!”</p> - -<p>Since that time in most Catholic countries the Angelus is still -regularly rung at noon. In Italy, even to-day, the cakes sold before -the church doors at noon go by the name of <i>Comete</i>.</p> - -<p>All the great Fathers of the Church have taught that Comets are to be -taken as signs from Heaven.</p> - -<p>Baeda, the Venerable, declared in the seventh century in England, that -“Comets portend revolutions of kingdoms, pestilence, war, winds, or heat.”</p> - -<p>John of Damascus, preaching in the same century in the Orient, laid -down the same belief.</p> - -<p>St. Thomas Aquinas, the great Light of the Church in the thirteenth -century, accepted and handed down the same opinion.</p> - -<p>The sainted Albert the Great, the most noted thinker of the Church in -the Middle Ages, received and taught the same doctrine.</p> - -<p>The teachings of these Church Fathers as to Comets have been commended -in our own day by Pope Pius IX.</p> - -<p>The great teachers of other religions, likewise, have laid down -identical beliefs as to the meaning of Comets.</p> - -<p>The sacred books of India are full of awed references to the baleful -influence of Comets.</p> - -<p>The ancient year books of China, written centuries before white men -kept any records, tell of the appearance of Comets and of the disasters -they foretold. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span></p> - -<p>The Mohametans and their wise Arab star gazers, when they saw a Comet -in the Heavens, knew that it meant war.</p> - -<p>The woe of one Comet (Halley’s Comet of 1456), which had the shape of -a Turkish scimitar, so the Arab soothsayers foretold, would be turned -against their enemies. This was the same Comet which brought such fear -to the hearts of Pope Calixtus III. and all his Christian followers.</p> - -<p>Thus it can be seen that Comets have been held to foretell disaster on -one side, and victory on the other.</p> - -<p>The Comets which conquerors hailed as their guiding stars, have meant -war and bloodshed and disaster to those whom they came to conquer.</p> - -<p>The same Comets which shone upon the birth of mighty rulers, have -blazed in warning of their death.</p> - -<p>Julius Caesar, who was born under a Comet, saw his bloody end foretold -by another Comet.</p> - -<p>Therefore, Shakespeare in his play “Julius Caesar,” makes Calpurnia -say to Caesar:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“When beggars die, there are no Comets seen;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>On the night of Caesar’s assassination, when the Comet was seen blazing -at its brightest, the Romans said that it had come to bear away the -great soul of the murdered Caesar.</p> - -<p>At the death of Nero, the Roman Emperor, who persecuted the Christians, -a Comet blazed forth again. The Roman historian Suetonius, who wrote -the Life of Emperor Nero, thus described this Comet:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“A blazing star, which was commonly held to -portend destruction to Kings and Princes, reappeared above the horizon -several nights in succession.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> -Another great Comet (Halley’s again) reappeared when Attila, the King -of the Huns, the “Scourge of God,” was overthrown in the greatest -battle of Christendom on the Catalaunian fields.</p> - -<p>Claudius, a Roman writer of that period, then stated that “a Comet was -never seen in the Heavens without implying some dreadful event.”</p> - -<p>This has ever been the belief of all the great poets of olden time.</p> - -<p>Homer, the greatest poet of Ancient Greece, a thousand years before the -birth of Christ, sang of:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“The red star, that from his flaming hair</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Shakes down diseases, pestilence and war.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Let it be explained here that the word Comet in Greek means -“long-haired,” from <i>kome</i>,—hair.</p> - -<p>Virgil, the greatest Roman poet, sang of “the baleful glare of bloody -Comets,” and again, of “dreadful Comets blazing in the sky.”</p> - -<p>Tasso, the greatest of Italian poets after Dante, sang thus of Comets -in his “Jerusalem Delivered”:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Qual con le chiome sanguinose horrende</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Splender Cometa suol per l’aria adusta,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Che i regni muta, e i feri morbi adduce,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Ai purpurei tiranni infausta luce.”</div> - <div class="verse indent12">—<i>Gerusalemme Liberata,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent14"><i>Canto VII., Stanza 52.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Rendered thus by Wiffen into English:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“As with its bloody locks let loose in air</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Horribly bright, the Comet shows whose shine</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Plagues the parched World, whose looks the Nations scare,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Before whose face States change, and Powers decline,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To purple Tyrants all, an inauspicious sign.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p> -<p>The great English poets, on their part, have lifted up their voices -to sing of the dire effects of Comets.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare, the greatest of them all, abounds in allusions to these -dread wandering stars.</p> - -<p>Thus he makes Horatio in the first scene of “Hamlet” speak with awe of:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Stars with trains of fire and dews of blood;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And even the like precurse of fierce events,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As harbingers preceding still the fates</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And prologue to the omen coming on.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>More briefly Shakespeare in his “Henry VI.” refers to:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“A Comet of revenge</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A prophet to the fall of all our foes”;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>and again, in “The Taming of the Shrew” to:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Some Comet or unusual prodigy.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Spenser in his “Faerie Queene” sings of a woman’s hair loosely -dispersed in the wind:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“All as a blazing starre doth farre outcast</div> - <div class="verse indent4">His heavy beames, and flaming lockes dispredd,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">At sight whereof the people stand aghast;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">But the sage Wizzard telles, as he has redd,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">That it importunes death and doleful drearyhedd.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>John Milton, besides likening Satan to a Comet, as before quoted, also -showed that he shared in the belief that the flaming swords mentioned -in Holy Writ were Comets:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“High in front advanced</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The brandish’d sword of God before them blazed</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Fierce as a Comet.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> -The poet Young, in his “Night Thoughts,” aptly writes of the Comet:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Hast thou ne’er seen the Comet’s flaming light?</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Th’ illustrious stranger passing, terror sheds</div> - <div class="verse indent4">On gazing Nations, from his fiery train.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The poets of other nations have written of Comets in like vein. -There is an old German rhyme, sung by German school children even -to-day, which has been put into English by Dr. Andrew D. White in his -“History of the Doctrine of Comets”:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Eight things there be a Comet brings,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">When it on high doth horrid range;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Wind, Famine, Plague, and Death to Kings,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">War, Earthquake, Floods and Direful Change.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This little rhyme was originally put forth for German school children -by two Protestant preachers of Basle, Switzerland, at the time of the -great Comet of 1618, which heralded the outbreak of the great “Thirty -Years’ War.”</p> - -<p>These Protestant ministers got their belief in Comets and their evil -influence upon mankind not from the Church of Rome, but from the -Bible teachings of such great Protestant reformers as Martin Luther, -Melanchthon, Zwingli, Calvin, John Knox of Scotland, Bishop Jeremy -Taylor and John Howe, the great Nonconformist divine.</p> - -<p>Martin Luther preached in one of his Advent sermons:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“The heathen write that the Comet may arise from -natural causes; but God creates not one that does not foretoken a sure -calamity.”</p> - -<p>Luther’s friend, Melanchthon, in a letter, declared Comets to be -“heralds of Heaven’s wrath.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> - -<p>Zwingli, in 1531, declared that the great Comet of that year (Halley’s -Comet) was sent by God to betoken calamity.</p> - -<p>John Knox, preaching in his Scottish kirk at Edinboro, declared that he -saw in Comets tokens of the wrath of Heaven.</p> - -<p>The great divines of the Church of England,—from Cranmer, Bishop -Latimer, Archbishops Spottiswoode and Bramhall, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, -down to our own times, clearly preached the doctrine that Comets must -be taken as tokens from Heaven.</p> - -<p>Thus the Comet of 1572 was pointed out from the pulpits of England -and Scotland as a token of Heaven’s wrath and warning at the St. -Bartholomew Massacre on the night of August 24, 1572, when thirty -thousand Huguenots were murdered in the streets of Paris and elsewhere -in France.</p> - -<p>Across the sea, in the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the great -New England divine and President of Harvard College, Increase Mather, -on the apparition of the great Comet now known as Halley’s, in 1682, -preached on “Heaven’s Wrath Alarm to the World—wherein is shown that -fearful sights and signs in the Heavens are the presages of great -calamities at hand.”</p> - -<p>Increase Mather preached on the text taken from the Book of Revelation: -“And the third Angel sounded, and there fell a great Star burning as a -Torch, ... and behold the Third Woe cometh quickly.”</p> - -<p>In this sermon the great preacher told of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, -who, when warned of the omen of a Comet, made fun of it, and then died -miserably.</p> - -<p>So Mather preached: “For the Lord hath fired his beacon in the Heavens -among the stars of God there. The fearful sign is not yet out of -sight.... Do we not see the sword blazing over us?... Doth God threaten -our very Heavens? O pray unto Him, that he would not take away stars -and send Comets to succeed them!” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p> - -<div id="I020" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_020.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="627" /> - <p class="center">THE TERROR OF THE COMET OF 1531.<br /> - FROM AN OLD NUREMBERG WOOD-CUT.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> -The profound Russian thinker Tolstoy, in his great book “War and -Peace,” has written of the flaming Comet of 1811. This was the famous -“Comet of Napoleon,” which blazed over Western Europe when Napoleon was -gathering his grand army for its disastrous march into Russia and to -Moscow.</p> - -<p>At Moscow, the ancient capital of Russia, this Comet was observed by -anxious thousands. One night there was this talk between a novice nun -and the Abbess of her Convent. On their way to vesper service one -evening in Moscow the nun suddenly beheld the Comet for the first time -and asked: “What is that star?”</p> - -<p>The Abbess answered: “It is not a star. It is a Comet.”</p> - -<p>“But what is a Comet?” asked the young nun. “I have never -heard that word.”</p> - -<p>The Abbess then answered: “Comets are signs in Heaven, which God sends -before misfortunes.”</p> - -<p>Shortly after this the bloody battle of Borodino was fought, and -Napoleon, with his army, appeared before the gates of Moscow. The -hundred-towered city was abandoned by the Russians and was given over -to the flames.</p> - -<p>Years afterward this same nun thus told her story, as printed in the -“Revue des Deux Mondes”:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“Every night the Comet blazed in the Heavens, and -we all asked ourselves: What misfortune does it bring? Then the enemy -came, and our sacred city was put to the torch. Our convent, together -with all other cloisters, monasteries and churches, was burned to the -ground.”</p> - -<p>Many other writers of the time who saw the great Comets that blazoned -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> -Napoleon’s destructive wars have recorded how they were universally -taken as omens of the great conqueror’s bloody trail.</p> - -<p>Napoleon himself gloried in this dread omen and hailed the Comet as his -“guiding star.”</p> - -<p>All this has been fully set forth by the famous French astronomer -Messier, a latter-day observer of Halley’s Comet, who wrote a special -book on “The Wonderful Comet which appeared at the Birth of Napoleon -the Great.”</p> - -<p>As for the many Comets that have blazed down upon other great -conquerors and other bloody wars, before the comparatively recent -Comets of the American Civil War and the Napoleonic Wars, they are all -set down in a special History of Comets.</p> - -<p>In this great work, entitled “A History of All Comets,” the Latin -scholar Lubienitius has pointed out all the calamities and dire events -which attended the appearance of each and every Comet recorded in history.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">THE EFFECTS OF COMETS ON MAN</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Some</span> thinkers have -pointed out that there has often been a direct connection between -the feelings produced in the human soul by the appearance of a Comet -and the human deeds of violence or the human epidemics and excessive -mortality following the widespread terror produced by Comets.</p> - -<p>Only this year (1910) the appearance of Inness’ Comet over Mexico -caused a panic-stricken holy pilgrimage to the Shrine of Talpa. In -China, too, it caused terror, resulting in Christian massacres.</p> - -<p>Hence, also, several Jewish massacres inspired by Comets in the past -and hence also so many terrifying plagues connected with Comets.</p> - -<p>Thus Ambroise Paré, the “Father of French Surgery,” who flourished -in the sixteenth century, has recorded the effect produced upon his -contemporaries by the Comet of 1528.</p> - -<p>“This Comet was so horrible,” wrote Dr. Paré, “so frightful, and it -produced such great terror among the common people, that many died of -fear and many others fell sick.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Paré himself appears to have come under the influence of this fear, -judging from his awestruck description of the appearance of this Comet:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>“It appeared to be of excessive length; and was of the colour of -blood. At the summit of it was seen the figure of a bent arm, holding -in its hand a great sword as if about to strike.</p> - -<p>“At the end of the point there were three stars. On both sides of -the rays of this Comet were seen a great number of axes, knives, and -blood-coloured swords, among which were a great number of hideous human -faces with beards and bristling hair.”</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> -Hannibal committed suicide on account of a Comet. So did Mithridates. -So did one Toma, in Hungary, only this year.</p> - -<p>King Louis “the Debonair” of France, died from fear of a Comet -(Halley’s Comet) in 837 A. D.</p> - -<p>Emperor Charles V., of Germany and Spain, the monarch who boasted that -“the sun never set on his dominions,” was so moved by the appearance of -a Comet in 1556, that he gave up his crown and became a monk.</p> - -<p>Certain metaphysicians have held that there is a substance in a Comet, -or in its tail, which has a weird effect on man’s brain, as moonshine -is believed to have on some men, making them lunatics. As a matter -of fact, as Arago pointed out, Comets have caused tremendous spring -tides just like the moon. The same irresistible pull of gravity or -electricity or light-pressure must perforce affect other substances -besides water, such as human brains.</p> - -<p>According to this metaphysical theory, the close approach of a Comet -to the earth affects and disturbs men’s brains, so that men are inwardly -stirred with warlike impulses. Hence the great wars almost invariably -following the appearance of Comets.</p> - -<p>Hence, too, the appeal to Comets made by so many conquerors, from -William the Conqueror down to Napoleon. In the homely phrase of one -writer, “the inner eye of man, under the weird effect of a Comet, sees -red and makes him thirst for blood.”</p> - -<p class="space-below2">Those rare beings who have lying latent within -them the gift of Second Sight or divination, according to this same -metaphysical theory, upon the near approach of Comets find themselves -stirred to prophesy. Hence, so many marvellous prophesies inspired by -Comets since the ancient days of Merlin, the seer. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span></p> - -<div id="I025" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_025.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="598" /> - <p class="center">“THE COMET OF 1910 SO ALARMED THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO<br /> - THAT MANY THOUSANDS WENT ON A HOLY PILGRIMAGE TO<br /> - THE SHRINE OF TALPA IN XALISCO.”—<i>Mexican Herald.</i></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">THIS YEAR’S PROPHECIES</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> return of Halley’s Comet -in this Year of Our Lord 1910 has already called forth several memorable -prophesies.</p> - -<p>On January 20th the French astrologer and prophetess Madame de Thebes, -who predicted the disastrous French floods of this year, as well as the -coming of Inness’ unexpected Comet, uttered the following prophesies:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>“This year, 1910, will be one to look back to with trembling.</p> - -<p>“The earth is under a terrific strain from Comets and planetary -revolutions. Human destiny is red. That means blood. Political events -are black. Terrible changes are imminent.</p> - -<p>“This winter, France will be swept by terrible floods. Paris will -be under water. The influence of form changes in other planets and the -coming of a Comet will affect us for the worse.</p> - -<p>“The strain of the stars will be most severely felt in America. -The people of America will have to pay dearly for all their riches -and sudden prosperity. With the coming of another Comet disaster will -descend upon America.</p> - -<p>“A financial crash is impending, to be followed by a long string of -suicides. Black ruling us, men will commit all manner of crimes and -knaveries for money.</p> - -<p>“The times are swaying toward degeneration. We are swinging within -the evil influence of a strange orbit. Our souls are jarred from their -proper bearings. I dare not say all that is revealed to me. It would be -too terrible.”</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> -Soon after this prophesy was uttered came the first of such suicides. -Adam Toma, a wealthy landowner of Szozona, Hungary, cut his throat -because of the Comet. He left a note saying that the Comet was the -cause of his death.</p> - -<p>Cardinal Gibbons later expressed his profound belief that the Paris -floods of this year were sent by God as a punishment to the Parisians -for their frivolities and sins, of which the Comet was a fiery warning.</p> - -<p>Commenting on Madame de Thebes’ predictions and her connection of the -Comet of 1910 with this year’s spring-floods in France, Italy and -Germany, the French astronomer Henri Deslandres, late Director of the -Astronomical Observatory of Meudon and member of the French Academy of -Sciences, said:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“However distant Comets may be, it is not at -all impossible that their enormous tails, measuring 75,000,000 to -125,000,000 miles in length, may come in contact with our atmosphere. -The theory that a Comet may disturb the atmosphere of the earth, -causing rains of great duration, and consequently inundations and the -sudden overflow of rivers, is not at all absurd. It can be sustained by -scientific reasoning.”</p> - -<p>It should be remembered here that Laplace, one of the greatest of all -astronomers, credited the deluge to a Comet.</p> - -<p>Before Madame de Thebes’ ominous prophesy concerning Halley’s Comet and -its effects upon America were cabled over to this country, another, -no less dire prediction of financial disaster in the United States, -coincident with the appearance of Halley’s Comet, was made by W. E. -Corey, the President of the American Steel Trust. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p> - -<div id="I028" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_028.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="618" /> - <p class="center">THE COMET OF 1910,<br /> FROM A TELESCOPIC PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT GREENWICH.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> -Mr. Corey then warned his friends to “call in their money and get from -under” because a calamitous financial crash and general business ruin -would surely come during the Spring of 1910.</p> - -<p>The most ominous of all prophesies connected with the coming of -Halley’s Comet this year was made by the venerable General Ballington -Booth, the head of the Salvation Army. Speaking in London, immediately -after Halley’s Comet had been located, early this year, General Booth -said:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>“We are, this year, rapidly approaching the end of all things, with -similar results, but far surpassing in horrors any disaster that has -gone before.</p> - -<p>“All things will be wound up. Besides a deluge of water sweeping -parts of the world and its inhabitants there will be fierce destruction -by fire.”</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">FAMOUS COMETS OF OLDEN TIMES</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Bacon</span>, the great English thinker, -has said: “Comets have some action and effect on the universality of things.”</p> - -<p>All Comets recorded in history, so Lubienitius has shown in his -“Universal History of All Comets,” appeared in connection with some -great event or catastrophe in the History of Man.</p> - -<p>George F. Chambers, one of the most up-to-date writers on Astronomy -and Comets, on the second page of his “Story of the Comets” (1909), -declares:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“It is the general testimony of History during -many hundreds of years, one might even say during fully 2,000 years, -that Comets were always considered to be peculiarly ‘ominous of -the wrath of Heaven and as harbingers of wars and famines, of the -dethronement of Monarchs and the dissolution of Empires.’”</p> - -<p>Reaching back into remotest history, the sacred books of India show -that the births of Krishna and of Buddha were foretold by moving lights -in the Heavens.</p> - -<p>The ancient records of China tell of the appearance of a moving beacon -in Heaven at the birth of Yu, the first ruler of the Celestial Empire, -and again at the birth of the great Chinese prophet, Lao-Tse.</p> - -<p>The ancient Greeks have recorded similar appearances of Comets. -Aesculapius, the divine healer and first physician, was born under a Comet.</p> - -<p>The oldest traditions of the Jews tell us that when Abraham was born a -moving star was seen in the East. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> - -<p>Another moving star with long radiant gleams of light streaming behind -it shone forth at the birth of Moses. This Comet was seen by the Magi -of Egypt, who pointed it out to the King as an omen meant for him. -Hence Pharaoh’s order, as recorded in the Old Testament, for the -slaughter of all male Jewish infants then born in Egypt.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">GREAT EVENTS CONNECTED WITH<br /> HISTORIC COMETS IN ANTIQUITY</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> earliest Comet of -which there is any historic record was a Comet mentioned in the oldest -cuneiform inscriptions of Babylonia several thousand years before our -Christian era, recently found on the north bank of Nahr-al-Kalb, near -Beyrut in Syria. This Comet is recorded to have been visible to the -naked eye for 29 nights.</p> - -<p>At the time Lubienitius wrote his big “History of all the Comets” the -exact date of this Comet had not been fixed. Lubienitius, though, had -a record of this same Comet, the date of which he fixes at the year -2312 before Christ, the date computed by him and other writers for the -beginning of the deluge.</p> - -<p>In modern times the great French astronomer Laplace credited a Comet -with causing huge floods at the time of the great Deluge.</p> - -<p>Two hundred and eighty-eight years after the great Deluge, according to -the records of the Chaldean star gazers, there appeared another Comet. -This is the date, computed by Lubienitius, for the building of the -Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues.</p> - -<p>Two thousand and sixty-four years before Christ, another Comet -appeared, as recorded by the Chaldeans. This is the date given for the -birth of Abraham.</p> - -<p>When Abraham was seventy years old, in the year 1949 B. C., a Comet was -seen shining over the Valley of Siddim for twenty-two nights. This is -the date given by Bible historians for the destruction of Sodom and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> -Gomorrah, the two cities of iniquity which lay in the Vale of Siddim.</p> - -<p>Jewish annalists record a Comet in Egypt in the year corresponding to -B. C. 1841. This Comet shone at the time of the bitter persecution of -the Jews by the Egyptians.</p> - -<p>Arabian star gazers have recorded a Comet shining over Arabia 1732 B. -C. In that year there was a terrible famine, of which mention is made -in the Old Testament.</p> - -<p>The ancient Chinese year books record the appearance of a Comet over -northern China and Manchuria in the year corresponding to 1537 B. -C. The appearance of the Comet, so the Chinese chronicles tell, was -followed by a great flood and disastrous famine.</p> - -<p>The next Comet of which we have any record, appeared 1515 B. C. This -was at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt.</p> - -<p>In the year B. C. 1194, we are told by Hyginus that “On the fall of -Troy, one of the Pleiades group of stars rushed along the Heavens -toward the Arctic pole, where the star remained visible with -dishevelled hair, to which the name of Comet is applied.”</p> - -<p>We are informed by Pliny, the Roman historian, that in B. C. 975, the -“Egyptians and Ethiopians suffered from a terrible famine, the dire -effects of a Comet. It appeared all on fire, and was twisted in the -form of a wreath, and had a hideous aspect. It seemed not to be a star, -but rather a knot of fire.”</p> - -<p>Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions tell us that about 575 B. C., when -Nebuchadnezzar overran Elam, “a star arose whose head was bright as day, -while from its luminous body a tail extended like the sting of a scorpion.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> - -<p>According to Pliny, again, a Comet in the form of a horn was seen in -the year B. C. 480, just before the great invasion of Greece by Xerxes -ending in the bloody sea fight of Salamis.</p> - -<p>The next Comet mentioned by Lubienitius appeared in B. C. 466, when it -was seen for 75 nights all over Greece. In that year Greece was ravaged -by war between the Spartans and Athenians, and the city of Sparta was -all but destroyed by an earthquake.</p> - -<p>The next Comet appeared one generation later in 431 B. C., and was seen -through 60 nights all over the ancient world. This Comet was followed -by a terrible pestilence which swept over Aethiopia, Egypt, Athens, and -Rome. War broke out all over Greece. It was the beginning of the great -Peloponnesian War, which devastated Greece for a generation to follow.</p> - -<p>In the year 394 B. C., there was another Comet seen in Greece, followed -by the great Corinthian War with the bloody battles of Knidus and Koronea.</p> - -<p>Aristotle records a Comet seen by him in his fifteenth year, 371 B. C. -The sight of it inspired the youth to a special study of astronomy. -The Comet was visible until the end of the first week of July. On July -eighth was fought the great battle between the Thebans and Spartans, -when Epaminondas, one of the greatest generals of antiquity, overthrew -the Spartans.</p> - -<p>The next Comet, that of 338 B. C., which was likewise observed by -Aristotle, who had then become the teacher of Alexander the Great, -marked Alexander’s first public entry into the history of the world. -The Comet blazed its brightest on the eve of the bloody battle of -Chaeronea, Alexander’s first victory and achievement in war.</p> - -<p>In the year 344 B. C., there was another Comet, followed by another war -in Greece and Sicily. Diodorus of Sicily wrote of this Comet: “On the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> -departure of the expedition of Timoleon from Corinth for Sicily with -all his war ships, the Gods foretold success by an extraordinary -prodigy: A burning torch appeared in the Heavens for an entire night -and went before the fleet into Sicily.”</p> - -<h3><i>The Comets of Carthage.</i></h3> - -<p>Nearly a hundred years passed before the appearance of another Comet -in 240 B. C. This is the first recorded appearance of Halley’s Comet. -By the light of this Comet, Hamilcar, the great Carthaginian general, made -his young son Hannibal swear eternal enmity to the Romans. Hamilcar was -then in the midst of preparations for the war against Rome, which broke -out soon afterward.</p> - -<p>Comets appear to have been stars of special omen to Hannibal and to his -native city, Carthage. Twenty years later, appeared another Comet which -shone over Carthage for 22 nights. Its appearance was followed by the -outbreak of the great war between Hannibal and the Romans, and by a -terrible earthquake in Greece.</p> - -<p>The next Comet shone in 204 B. C., when Hannibal suffered his first -bloody defeat by Sempronius, while Scipio, Hannibal’s arch enemy, was -crossing over to Africa, for the first attack upon Carthage.</p> - -<p>The appearance of the next Comet, twenty years later, 184 B. C., which -shone through 88 nights over Asia Minor “with a horrible lustre” was -followed by the death of Hannibal. Soothsayers at the court of King -Prusias of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, whither Hannibal had fled from the -Romans, told the King that the Comet betokened Hannibal’s early death. -This so wrought on Hannibal’s spirit that he ended his life with poison. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> - -<p>In the year 150 B. C., appeared another Comet “of horrible size.” It -was seen for many nights running all over the Mediterranean Sea. Its -appearance was followed by the outbreak of the third great Punic War -between Rome and Carthage.</p> - -<p>Within four years another Comet, blazing over northern Africa in 146 B. -C., was followed by the fall of Carthage, which was stormed and utterly -destroyed by the Romans.</p> - -<h3><i>Mithridates’ Star.</i></h3> - -<p>Mithridates, King of Pontus, and conqueror of Asia Minor, another arch -foe of the Romans, having been born under a Comet, seems to have fallen -under the bane of Comets.</p> - -<p>During the Winter of 134-135 B. C., preceding Mithridates’ birth, a -Comet of unusual lustre flared over Asia Minor through 72 days. This -Comet was so bright that its long, flaming tail was plainly visible -even in day time. The ancient historian Justinus thus described it:</p> - -<p>“Its splendour eclipsed that of the midday sun and occupied the fourth -part of Heaven.”</p> - -<p>The next Comet, burning through 72 nights again, preceded Mithridates’ -accession to the throne of Pontus, 119 B. C.</p> - -<p>Mithridates’ fourth Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, was seen -over Asia Minor through the Winter months of 87-88 B. C., just before -the horrible massacre of 150,000 Italians ordered by Mithridates.</p> - -<p>Twenty-five years later, 63 B. C., Mithridates saw his Comet for the -last time when his own son rose up in arms against him. The omen of the -Comet so wrought on Mithridates that he first poisoned himself and then -had one of his own soldiers despatch him with his sword. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> - -<p>No other Comet is recorded in ancient history during this century, -except the one which was seen shining over Italy preceding the birth -(July 11, 100 B. C.) of Julius Caesar, destined to become “The foremost -man of all this world,” as Shakespeare calls him.</p> - -<p>“Caesar’s Comet” as it came to be known (now identified as Halley’s -Comet) appeared again over Italy during the great Civil War between -Marius and Sylla, when Caesar was first entering into public affairs -and earned his spurs as a warrior.</p> - -<p>“Caesar’s Comet” shone again over Rome in the year 60 B. C., when -Julius Caesar, together with Pompey and Crassus, took charge of the -government of Rome and presently seized supreme power as Consul of Rome.</p> - -<p>Ten years later “Caesar’s Comet” was seen once more in Italy in the -Winter months of 49-50 B. C., when Caesar, returning from his conquest -of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon and began the great Civil War against his -rival for power, Pompey.</p> - -<p>The last appearance of “Caesar’s Comet,” was in 44 B. C., on the -death of Caesar. Its coming was foreseen in a dream by Caesar’s wife -Calpurnia, who warned him of the omen, as immortalized in Shakespeare’s -lines, put into the mouth of Caesar’s wife:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“When beggars die, there are no Comets seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes”;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>followed by Caesar’s famous answer, as culled from Plutarch by Shakespeare:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“What can be avoided,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Are to the world in general as to Caesar.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> -On the following morning Caesar was murdered at the foot of Pompey’s -statue in the Curia.</p> - -<p>Immediately after Caesar’s death, records the Roman historian Suetonius -in his “Life of Caesar”: “A Comet blazed for seven nights together, -rising always about eleven o’clock, visible to all in Rome. It was -taken by all to be the soul of Caesar, now received into Heaven; for -which reason, accordingly, Caesar is represented in his statue with a -star on his brow.”</p> - -<p>Only one more Comet is recorded in ancient history before the birth of -Christ. This was the Comet, now identified as Halley’s Comet, which -shone over the dense forests of Germany, eleven years before the birth -of Christ, when Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, was warring against -the ancient Germans and robbing them of their last vestige of liberty. -At the same time fell the death of Agrippa, who ruled over the Roman -Empire in the absence of Augustus.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> -<h3><i>THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM</i></h3> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> coming of the Messia, -according to the sacred legends of the Jews, was to be foretold -by a flaming star.</p> - -<p>Many sacred writers have held, and many still hold, as did the -distinguished American astronomer R. A. Proctor, that the “Star of -Bethlehem,” whose shining trail guided the Wise Men from The East, was -a Comet. Lubienitius in his “History of Comets” expressly mentions the -Star of Bethlehem as the most important Comet of history.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact our modern astronomical computations prove that a -Comet appeared in that year so as to be visible to the naked eye over -Arabia, Syria, and the Holy Land.</p> - -<p>When this Comet appeared Herod was King of Judea. On the appearance of -the Comet, Herod consulted the oracle of the Sibyl in Rome. She told him -that the Comet shone in token of a boy destined to be far greater than he.</p> - -<p>Herod grew so afraid at this that he caused to be murdered his own -two infant sons, Aristobolus and Alexander, and after that his eldest -son, the boy Antipater. Herod further ordered the massacre of all -male infants born in Judea under this Comet, as told in the Gospel of -Matthew (Chap. II., Verse 1). As the Comet kept on blazing in the sky, -Herod, becoming desperate, tried to kill himself. Five days after this -he died of a loathsome disease. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p> - -<p>Christian painters and writers from olden times until now, accordingly -have pictured the Star of Bethlehem as a Comet.</p> - -<p>Take for instance this description of “The Light in the Sky” as given -by Lew Wallace in his “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ”:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>“About midnight some one on the roof cried out: ‘What light is that -in the sky? Awake, brethren, awake and see!’</p> - -<p>The people, half asleep, sat up and looked; then they became wide -awake, though wonder struck.... Soon the entire tenantry of the house -and court and enclosure were out gazing at the sky.</p> - -<p>And this is what they saw: A ray of light, beginning at a height -immeasurably beyond the nearest stars, and dropping obliquely to the -earth; at its top, a diminishing point; at its base, many furlongs in -width; its sides blending softly with the darkness of night; its core -a roseate electrical splendour. The apparition seemed to rest on the -nearest mountain southeast of the town, making a pale corona along the -line of the summit. The khan was touched luminously so that those upon -the roof saw each others’ faces all filled with wonder.</p> - -<p class="no-indent">Steadily the ray lingered....</p> - -<p>‘Saw you ever the like?’ asked one.</p> - -<p>‘Can it be that a star has burst and fallen?’ asked another, his -tongue faltering.</p> - -<p>‘When a star falls its light goes out.’</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="no-indent">After that there was silence on the housetop, -broken but once again while the mystery continued.</p> - -<p>‘Brethren!’ exclaimed a Jew of venerable mien, ‘what we see is the -ladder our father Jacob saw in his dream. Blessed be the Lord God of -Our Fathers!’”</p> -</div> - -<p class="space-above2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> -Meanwhile the Wise Men from the East, as described in the same story, -were travelling over the desert, on the alert for the apparition of the -star, whose coming had been revealed to them.</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“Suddenly, in the air before them, not farther up -than a low hill-top,” writes Lew Wallace, “flared a lambent flame; as -they looked at it, the apparition contracted into a focus of dazzling -lustre. Their hearts beat fast; their souls thrilled; and they shouted -as with one voice: ‘The Star! the Star! God is with us!’”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">GREAT EVENTS LINKED WITH<br /> COMETS SINCE CHRIST</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Since</span> the time of -Christ, thanks to the spread of Christianity and learning, with the -growing zeal for keeping records and studying the stars, a far greater -number of Comets and events connected therewith have been recorded.</p> - -<p>A number of learned writers have made a special study of the history of -Comets and their effect upon man. Long before Lubienitius’ ponderous -work on the subject there were other histories written in Latin and -Arabic, with references to which his book abounds.</p> - -<p>Since then others have followed in the same direction, notably Pingré, -Hind, Lalande, Messier, Chambers and latterly Messrs. Crommelin and -Cowell, of the Greenwich Observatory.</p> - -<p>The number of known Comets has grown immeasurably since Galileo’s -invention of the telescope, 300 years ago, and our later perfections -of this instrument, together with latter-day devices for photographing -Comets invisible to the naked eye.</p> - -<p>It would carry us too far to trace the possible connection between -modern events and Comets that were seen only by astronomers. Since -our record of Comets is already too full, we shall limit our story of -the Comets and their influence upon man to a bare recital of the most -important events connected with the more memorable and conspicuous -Comets from the time of Christ until now.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p> - -<p class="f120"><b>DATES OF COMETS FOLLOWED<br /> BY IMPORTANT EVENTS</b></p> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Comet Dates" cellpadding="0" > - <tbody><tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><b>A. D.</b></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">14—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet preceded the death of Augustus, - the first Emperor of Rome. Earthquake in Italy.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">55—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Suicide of Pontius Pilate, - the judge who condemned Christ.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">68—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. Suicide of Nero, - persecutor of Christians. Siege of Jerusalem.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">73—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet shone 180 days over Cyprus. - Earthquake in Cypress in which 10,000 persons perished.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top"></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent"></p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top"></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent"></p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">79—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Death of Emperor Vespasian, who began the siege of - Jerusalem. The Roman historians Dion Cassius and - Suetonius relate that Vespasian, when taken sick, - heard his astrologers discussing in a low tone - of voice the Comet which was then visible, which - they said predicted his death. The Emperor roused - angrily and said: “This hairy star is not meant for - me. It must be meant for my enemy, the King of the - Parthians, for he is hairy, while I am bald.”</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top"> </td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">On the following night Vespasian died in great pain, - and the Comet was seen no more.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Shortly after Vespasian’s death followed the fierce - eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Nov. 1, which destroyed the - two flourishing cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">130—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet shone over Holy Land for 39 nights, - followed by destructive earthquake in Holy Land.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">145—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">One week’s Comet over Island of Rhodus. - Earthquake in Rhodus, followed by famine and pestilence.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">217—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">From a Comet which shone for eighteen nights - soothsayers predicted the death of the Roman - Emperor, Caracalla. The Emperor was murdered - immediately afterwards by his rival Macrinus.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">312—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet in the sign of a cross seen by Constantine - the Great during battle of Saxa Rubra under the - walls of Rome. Constantine was victorious and - afterward turned to Christian faith.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">337—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet seen just before death of Constantine the Great.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">373—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. Beginning of tremendous migration - of peoples which overran all Central Asia and Europe.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">399—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">This Comet was described by Nicephorus as “of - prodigious magnitude and horrible aspect, with a - point like a sword and fiery hair reaching nearly - to the ground, from which a great peril to the - people was predicted.” Its appearance was followed - by the conquest and capture of Rome by Gainas.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">410—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A sword-shaped Comet shone over Italy for four - months until the third week in August. On Aug. 24 - Rome was taken and plundered by Alaric, King of - the Visigoths. This marks the end of the old Roman Empire.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">442—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">First appearance in Europe of Attila, - “The Scourge of God,” and his Hunnic hordes.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">449-50—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Two Comets (now believed to be coming and going - of Halley’s Comet) were observed over England and - France. First invasion of England by the - Anglo-Saxons under Hengist and Horsa. Attila - overthrown in the great battle on the Catalaunian - Fields, at which a hundred and eighty thousand - warriors fell, among them Theoderic, the King of - the Goths. The Roman historian Callimachus recorded - that this battle was preceded by a brilliant Comet - and an earthquake.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">453—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Death of Attila and end of his Hunnic empire.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">530—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. Merlin, the British seer, - prophesied from this Comet. His prophesies came true.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">531—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Comet observed in Constantinople by the astronomers - of Emperor Justinian. Earthquake in Constantinople - followed by famine and uprising of the people in - which two thousand were killed. Pestilence.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">538—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Terrible famine throughout civilized world, - so that many people became cannibals.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">547—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A lance-shaped Comet over Italy. Ostro-Goths under - Totila overrun Italy. Totila storms Rome.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Mohamet’s Star.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">570—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Scimitar-shaped Comet over Arabia. - Birth of Mohamet.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">610—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Another scimitar-shaped Comet over Arabia. - Mohamet begins preaching the Koran.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">622—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Flight of Mohamet to Medina.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">624—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Fourth scimitar-shaped Comet over Arabia and Holy - Land. Mohamet’s first battle for the new faith. His - massacre of 700 Jews.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">632—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Last appearance of Mohamet’s Comet during first - week of June. Death of Mohamet on June 8 at Medina.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">800—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet seen during Coronation of Charlemagne as - Emperor of Rome.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">814—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Torch-shaped Comet seen in Germany during the first - three weeks of January. Death of Charlemagne on - Jan. 28, at Aix la Chappelle. The monk Eginard - relates in his chronicles that on the appearance - of the Comet all those at Charlemagne’s court - feared for the Emperor’s life. Eginard preached to - them from the text of Isaiah not to believe in the - signs of the heathens. But Charlemagne reproved - him, saying that he felt that he had reason to - thank God for having sent him a timely warning of - his impending death. Thereupon the Emperor made - his testament and divided his empire among his - successors. On the day following the disappearance - of the Comet, he died.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">837—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet observed in France - by King Louis the Debonair, who died from fear of it.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">876—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Disastrous flood in Italy, followed by plague.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">900—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Another Comet over Italy. Saracens invade Italy.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">944—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Comet with an immense tail over Italy, followed by - disastrous earthquake.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1000—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">In January of this year a Comet was observed all - over Europe. Gigibertus describes it “shaped like - a horrible serpent and so bright that its light - was seen even indoors.” It was generally taken to - foretell the end of the world,—the millennium - prophesied in the Apocalypse. When it was followed - soon by earthquakes, floods and famine there was - universal panic which was not allayed until the end - of the “fateful year.”</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1002—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet over England and Scandinavia. - Massacre of all Danes in England by King Ethelred.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1066—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. It appeared in May at Easter time - and shone for forty nights, waxing and waning with - the moon. William the Conqueror haled it as an omen - of destruction to Harold of England just before the - battle of Hastings.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1077—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Comet over Italy and Germany. Emperor Henry IV. of - Germany was excommunicated by the Pope, followed by - war in Italy and Germany.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Crusaders’ Comets.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1099—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Arabic astronomers record a Comet in the shape of - a scimitar over Arabia and the Holy Land for six - weeks in Spring and early Summer. First crusade - and storming of Jerusalem by the crusaders on July - 15 after a siege of five weeks. Bloody massacre of Mohammedans.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1109—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Emperor Henry V. of Germany enters Rome and makes - Pope prisoner.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1148-9—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Second crusade. Utter destruction of whole army - of French and German crusaders.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1200—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Comet recorded by Hal Ben Rodoan, an Arab - astronomer, over North Africa. Bloody revolt of - Arab warriors in Morocco.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1212—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Lance-shaped Comet shining over western Europe for - eighteen nights. The Children’s Crusade. Thousands - of German and French boy crusaders perished or were - sold into slavery. Bloody invasion of Tartar hordes - into Russia and Poland.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1223—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Preaching of fifth crusade. Outbreak of “Guelph and - Ghibelline” war between Emperor Frederick II. of - Germany and Pope Gregory the IX.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1264—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Very bright Comet observed shining all over Europe - for three months. Pope Urban IV. died on the night - of the Comet’s disappearance. A Latin verse gained - great currency in which it was said that the - Comet portended “disasters, sickness, hunger, and - war.” The chronicles of that age ascribe to this - Comet besides the death of the Pope a famine and - pestilence in Italy, the ravages of the Russians - into Poland and of the Slavs into Prussia.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Comets of Bloodshed.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1282—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">An immense Comet over Italy. Disastrous earthquake - in southern Italy. On March 30, a fortnight after - the first appearance of the Comet followed the - massacre of all Frenchmen in Sicily on the evening - of Easter Monday, known in history as the “Sicilian Vespers.”</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1298—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Because of the appearance of a Comet over middle - Germany, there were riots in Nuremberg and other - neighbouring cities followed by a general massacre - of the Jews in those cities.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1300—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A brilliant Comet preceded the Jubilee of Pope - Boniface the VIII. The Pope interpreted the Comet - as a happy omen, but because of the popular dread - of the Comet there were riots and blood shed in - Rome and elsewhere in Italy. The chroniclers of the - times pointed out the significant fact that shortly - after his jubilee Pope Boniface was made a prisoner - by King Philip of France, causing him to die of rage.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Plague Comets.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1305—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet “of horrible aspect” burning all through - Passion Week preceded the outbreak of the terrible - black plague which swept from the Orient all over - Europe and Asia.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1333—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Chinese and Arab astronomers record a bright - Comet over China, Turkestan and Persia. Birth - of Tamerlane, the “Scourge of the Nations” at - Samarkand, in Turkestan.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1347—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet precedes the “Black Death,” a terrible - pestilence followed by famine all over the world. - One-fourth of all the people of Europe died. - Fifteen million deaths in China,—twenty-five - million in Europe.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1363—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet of immense size shone for three months over - northern Europe. Pestilence and famine in England, - Poland and Russia.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1378—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. Pestilence in Germany. - Holy Church is rent by the great schism, with rival popes at - Rome and Avignon.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Tamerlane’s Star.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1382—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Arab astronomers and Chinese report a very bright - Comet which shone a fortnight. Tamerlane and his - hordes overrun Central Asia. Pestilence breaks out - there and spreads all over the world.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1402—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Arab astronomers report another Comet seen all over - the East. Tamerlane carries war into Europe and - takes Constantinople by storm. Sultan Bayezid is - taken prisoner by Tamerlane and is carried to Asia - in a cage.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1405—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Chinese astronomers record a spear-shaped Comet - over China. Tamerlane dies while invading China.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1456—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. Bloody war between the Christians - and the Turks. Battle of Belgrade.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1492—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Arab astronomers record a Comet over northern - Africa and Spain. Final conquest of Granada from - the Moors by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. - Discovery of the New World.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1500—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Sword-shaped Comet over northern Europe, followed - by Tartar invasion into Russia and Poland.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1528—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet noted by Ambroise Paré, who recorded that - many people fell sick and died of fright. War - between Emperor Charles V. of Germany and Francis I. - of France, with fighting in France, Germany and Italy.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1531—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. Plague in Italy. Great schism in - the Church. Defection of German Protestants from - Rome. Henry VIII. of England declares English - Church independent of Rome. Sultan Soleyman ravaged - Hungary. Disastrous floods in Holland, where - 400,000 people were drowned.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1556—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Emperor Charles V. of Germany and Spain, on account - of his fear of the Comet that appeared in that - year, abdicated his throne and became a monk. - Wide-spread wars all over Europe. The Turks ravaged - Hungary. Persecutions of English Protestants under - “Bloody Mary.” Many Protestants burned at the - stake, beheaded or broken on the rack.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1572—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">St. Bartholomew’s Comet. Massacre of St. - Bartholomew, when 30,000 Huguenots were slaughtered in France.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1577—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">General persecution of Huguenots in France, - followed by Civil War in France.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1607—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet seen over Constantinople for several weeks. - Wide-spread war on the part of the Turks against - the Persians on one side, the Poles on another, and - against Venice on the third.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1618—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A blood-coloured Comet observed just before the - execution of Sir Walter Raleigh in England. A - bloody rising of the Protestants in Bohemia, - followed by the outbreak of the terrible Thirty - Years’ War in Germany and the Netherlands. This - was the Comet which gave rise to the German school rhyme:</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top"> </td> - <td class="tdl"><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Eight things a Comet always brings,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Wind, Famine, Plague and Death to Kings,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">War, Earthquake, Floods and Dire Things.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Louis XIV.’s Star.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1661—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Inspired by the appearance of a Comet, a horde - of fanatics under Venner, a cooper, preached the - coming of the “Fifth Monarchy” in England, and - proclaimed Jesus Christ as their only King. The - fanatics were routed and put to death. Death of - Mazarin, the “Master of France.” Rise of Louis XIV., - the most powerful ruler of France. French war - against the Pope.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1680—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">This Comet was studied by Halley, in Paris, and - by Newton, in England. It was called “Heaven’s - Chariot.” Plague in Europe. The French overrun - Alsace and carried war into Germany. War between - Venice and the Turks.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1682—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. War in Italy. War in Hungary - against the Turks.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1689—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A remarkable Comet observed all over Europe, - followed by war all over Europe. Wars between - France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy. The - Rhine lands were harried by the French with fire - and sword, rendering 4,000,000 people homeless. - Burning of the castle of Heidelberg by the French. - Religious war in Ireland and Scotland. Siege of - Londonderry and Dundee. Battle of Newton Butler - in Ireland.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1729—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">War between France, England and Spain.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Frederick the Great’s Star.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1744—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A six-tailed Comet observed in Germany just before - the death of Emperor Charles VII. His death - followed by war between Frederick the Great and - Maria Teresa of Austria. War spreads to England, - Holland, France, Spain and Italy. A British fleet - beaten by French and Spaniards off Toulon.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1755—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet precedes earthquake of Lisbon, by which - 40,000 people lost their lives.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1759—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. Seven Years’ War in Germany. - Frederick the Great overthrown in four bloody - battles. French lose Canada by their disastrous - defeat of the plains of Abraham, and lose India by - the loss of their fleet through three successive - defeats on the sea.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Napoleon’s Star.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1769—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">“Napoleon’s Comet.” A Comet of unusual red lustre - was observed over Italy and France. French overrun - Corsica. Bloody massacre of Corsicans. Birth of - Napoleon on August 15 in Corsica, just after the - Comet was seen no more.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1811-12—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">This huge Comet was one of the most famous - Comets of modern times. It was first seen in France - on March 26, 1811, and was last observed over - southern Russia on August 17, 1812—an appearance - of seventeen months, the longest on record. For - a while it had two tails, then only one. The - length of this tail was estimated as 100,000,000 - miles. It was called “Napoleon’s Comet.” Under its - lustre Napoleon gathered his “grand armée,” the - greatest army assembled in Europe since Xerxes, and - invaded Russia. Wars were fought at the same time - in Portugal and Spain, where the British stormed - Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos; and in America, where - Harrison’s victory over the Indians under Tecumseh - at Tippecanoe, and the seafight between the - “President” and “Little Belt” ushered in the War of - 1812. In Egypt the Comet was taken as an omen of the - bloody massacre of the Mamelukes perpetrated at Cairo.</p></td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> -<p class="space-above2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span></p> - -<div id="I053" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_053.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="644" /> - <p class="center">THE GREAT COMET OF 1811.</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p> - -<table border="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Comet Dates" cellpadding="0" > - <tbody><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1821—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">“Napoleon’s Comet.” Seen one night only over France - and over St. Helena the night before the death of - Napoleon at St. Helena.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1823—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">A Comet much mentioned by Spanish writers. - While it shone over Spain, South America and - the Mediterranean, the French overran Spain and - reinstated the Spanish king. Revival of the - Spanish Inquisition and bloody persecutions of the - revolutionists. War of Independence in Central and - South America. Bloody war of Greek Independence.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1835-6—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet. New York City all but destroyed - by fire. Zulu massacre of Boers at Weenen. Mexican - massacre of Americans at the Alamo. Wars throughout - South America.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1843—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Another famous Comet seen all over the world during - the Spring of that year. Especially brilliant in - the Southern Hemisphere and in India. War in India - on the part of the British against Afghanistan, - Beluchistan, Scinde and against the Sikhs.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1848—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Encke’s famous periodic Comet. Bloody revolutionary - risings and civil wars in France, Hungary, Bohemia, - Austria, Germany, Italy and Poland.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1858-9—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Donati’s Comet. This Comet, which appeared to be - charging straight down from the zenith, and had a - curved tail, was observed from June 1858 to April - 1859. It was seen at its brightest in the South, in - Italy, Mexico and in the Far East. While it shone - over the Far East there were bloody wars between - the British and the risen people of India; between - the British and the Chinese, who objected to - having opium thrust upon them; while Japan was in - the throes of revolution and civil war. In Mexico - the standard of revolt against the clericals was - raised by Juarez, thus plunging Mexico into civil - war and war with France. Immediately after the - disappearance of the Comet war broke out in Italy - between the French and Italians on one side and the - Austrians on the other, ending in the bloody Battle - of Solferino.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Civil War Comets.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1861—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">“First Civil War Comet.” The brightest Comet of - the nineteenth century. Sir John Herschel, the - great English astronomer, said of this Comet: “It - far exceeded in brightness any Comet I have before - observed, those of 1811 and the recent splendid one - of 1858 not excepted.” The Comet was first seen - by a layman, and appeared at its brightest during - the Summer months in North America. Its coming was - heralded as a token of the great Civil War which - broke out then in America.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1862—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">“Second Civil War Comet.” Another Comet of very - peculiar appearance, with jets of flame flaring - from its head, showed itself during the Summer - months in North America. The Civil War was then at - its height. The coming of the Comet was taken to - herald the bloody battles of Shiloh, Williamsburg, - Seven Days, Seven Pines, Cedar Mountain and - Antietam, all fought that year after the Comet’s - appearance.</p></td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> -<p class="space-above2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span></p> - -<div id="I056" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_056.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="381" /> - <p class="center">THE GREAT COMET OF 1843<br /> - AS SEEN ON MARCH 17 FROM BLACKHEATH, KENT.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> -<table border="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Comet Dates" cellpadding="0" > - <tbody><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1874—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Coggia’s Comet. This Comet was seen at its - brightest over Southern France and Spain during the - Summer months of that year. Spain was then in the - throes of the bloody Carlist War.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Garfield’s Comet.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1881—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Garfield’s Comet. This Comet showed itself for a - few nights only in March during the week following - President Garfield’s inauguration. It was observed - also in Russia. On March 13, Emperor Alexander II. - of Russia, was assassinated with a bomb. Three - months later President Garfield was assassinated in - Washington.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>War Comets.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1882—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Comet of Tel-el-Kebir. A Comet with two tails was - seen at its brightest over Egypt during the first - two weeks of September. Egypt was then in the midst - of Arabi Pasha’s uprising against the British. On - September 18, when the Comet was last seen, Arabi - Pasha was overthrown by General Wolseley in the - bloody battle of Tel-el-Kebir.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1904-5—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Manchurian War Comet. From the early part of - February, 1904, until Midsummer, 1905, Chinese - observers recorded the appearance of a Comet over - Northern China. Throughout that period Manchuria - was ravaged by the bloody war between the Japanese - and Russians.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>Earthquake Comets.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1906—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span></td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">San Francisco Comet. A Comet discovered by Ross on - March 17, remaining visible for one month. Observed - from the Lick Observatory in California. On April 17 - came the California earthquake and burning of - San Francisco.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1908—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Morehouse’s Comet. Visible for more than a month, - during the autumn. In Italy it was interpreted - afterward as an omen foreboding the Messina - earthquake late in the year.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><big><i>This Year’s Comets.</i></big></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1910—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Inness’ Comet, otherwise known as “1910 A”. An - unexpected Comet of short duration during January. - On the appearance of this Comet Madame de Thebes, - a French astrologer, predicted floods and general - disaster for France. The disappearance of the Comet - in France was followed by unprecedented rains and - floods which covered one-fourth of France with - water and inundated Paris, completely submerging - all the bridges over the Seine. Floods also in - Italy and Germany. This Comet was likewise observed - in China late in January, where it caused universal consternation.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1910—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Pidoux’s Comet. Another unexpected Comet was first - observed by Pidoux, in Geneva, during a few nights - late in February. It is recorded astronomically as - “1910 B”. Its fleeting observations by astronomers - were followed by Socialist franchise riots in - Germany and by the labour riots of Philadelphia, - with widespread bloodshed between the rioters and - the constabulary.</p></td> - </tr><tr> - <td class="tdr_top">1910—</td> - <td class="tdl"><p class="no-indent">Halley’s Comet of this year was first “picked - up” by Dr. Wolf, in Germany. Already various - astrologers have foretold disaster from its coming. - It remains to be seen whether their predictions - will come true.</p></td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> - -<p class="space-below2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span></p> -<div id="I059" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_059.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="632" /> - <p class="center">THE GREAT COMET OF 1882,<br /> ON OCTOBER 9, AT 4 A. M.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">HALLEY’S BALEFUL COMET</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Among</span> all the stars -known in astronomy, the periodically returning Comet now known as -Halley’s Comet has the most baleful record.</p> - -<p>In this Comet’s wake, after every one of its recorded appearances, -there have always followed terrible disasters.</p> - -<p>Not only war and battles, or other deeds of bloodshed, such as -massacres and murders, but each of the dread disasters that are held to -go with Comets have followed along one after the other in this Comet’s train.</p> - -<p>Of the eight baneful after-effects of Comets mentioned in the old -German ditty that has been sung in the Fatherland ever since the great -Comet which ushered in the dreadful Thirty Years’ War,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Wind, Famine, Plague and Death to Kings</div> - <div class="verse indent4">War, Earthquakes, Floods and Dire Things.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Halley’s Comet is known to have preceded each and every form of these -evils in turn.</p> - -<p>Directly after each return of Halley’s Comet there has always followed -somewhere within the influence of its rays one or other of those “dire -things,”—a flood, an earthquake, a hurricane, famine, plague, war, -bloodshed, or the sudden death of a ruler.</p> - -<p>Thanks to the careful work of such painstaking astronomers and -historians as Lubienitius, Pingré, Dionys de Séjour, J. Russell Hind, -Laugier, and Messrs. Cowell and Crommelin, the records of great events -connected with Halley’s Comet have been traced back nearly 2,000 years, -to the days before Christ. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span></p> - -<p>Among the signal events following in the train of this Comet there have -been so many bloody massacres and appalling disasters that Halley’s -Comet now has the ominous distinction of being the bloodiest of all -stars of ill omen.</p> - -<p>Herewith follows the story of this Comet’s periodic appearances in -history and of the events connected therewith, as traced back from its -last return in 1835 to its first recorded entrance into the history of -mankind.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1835-1836</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Halley’s</span> Comet last -appeared in the Summer of 1835, and was seen until Spring of the -following year.</p> - -<p>It was first discerned by Father Dumouchel with a powerful telescope -from the observatory of the Collegio Romano in Rome on the night of -August 6, 1835. Father Dumouchel, who had been watching for it many -months, picked it up close to the spot in the heavens that Rosenberger, -a German astronomer, had predicted for its appearance on that date.</p> - -<p>The last astronomer to see the Comet was Sir John Herschel, who -observed it from the Cape of Good Hope until the middle of May, 1836.</p> - -<p>Other noted astronomers who made observations of it were Arago, Struve, -Bessel, Kaiser, Sir Thomas Maclear, Admiral Smyth, Baron Damoiseau and -Count Pontécoulant.</p> - -<p>This last astronomer, many years before, had computed the exact time -of its coming and came within four days of it. For this brilliant feat -Count Pontécoulant received a gold medal from the French Academy of Sciences. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p> - -<div id="I062" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_062.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="656" /> - <p class="center">HALLEY’S COMET OF 1835.<br /> FROM A DRAWING BY ROSENBERGER.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> -The German astronomer, Rosenberger, who had likewise computed the -Comet’s return, coming within five days of its passage nearest to the -Sun, received a similar gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society -of Great Britain.</p> - -<p>Professor Struve, who studied the Comet through the great telescope -at Dorpat in Russia, described it as “glowing like a red-hot coal of -oblong form.”</p> - -<p>Bessel, who observed it from the Koenigsberg observatory in Northern -Germany, described the Comet’s appearance as that of “a blazing rocket, -the flame from which was driven aside as by a strong gale, or as the -stream of fire from the discharge of a cannon when the sparks and smoke -are carried backwards by the wind.”</p> - -<p>Struve at Koenigsberg and Kaiser at Leyden were the first to see the -Comet with their naked eyes in the third week of September.</p> - -<p>Immediately after the Comet became generally visible in the Old World -the bubonic plague, known of old as the “Black Death,” broke out in -Egypt. In the City of Alexandria alone 9,000 people died on one day. -By the Moslems this calamity was generally attributed to the evil -influence of the Comet.</p> - -<p>In America the Comet became visible to the naked eye only late in the -year. Then, on its approach to the Sun, it was lost to view and passed -over to the Southern Hemisphere where it was next observed by Sir John -Herschel in South Africa.</p> - -<p>Shortly after its brief blaze over North America the great “New York -Fire” laid waste the entire business section of the biggest city in the -New World. All the commercial centre of the city, including the richest -firms and largest commercial warehouses, were laid in ashes. The fire -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> -raged through days and nights. In all, 530 houses burned down and -$18,000,000 of property was consumed. Owing to the intense cold, the -sufferings of the homeless were pitiable.</p> - -<p>Down in Florida, at the same time, Osceola, the chieftain of the -Seminole Indians, called upon the Comet as a signal for war against the -whites. The Indians called the Comet “Big Knife in the Sky.”</p> - -<p>The war began with a bloody massacre of American soldiers under General -Wiley Thompson at Fort King. All were slaughtered. Osceola scalped -General Thompson with his own hands.</p> - -<p>On the same day, Major Dade of the American Army, who was leading a -relief expedition into Florida from Tampa Bay, was ambushed by the -Indians near Wahoo Swamp and was massacred with his men. Of the whole -expedition only four men escaped death.</p> - -<p>Within forty-eight hours of this horrible massacre came another bloody -Indian fight on the banks of the Big Withlacoochee.</p> - -<p>With the passing of the Comet to the Southern Hemisphere, bloody wars -broke out one after another in Mexico, Cuba, Central America, Ecuador, -Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. All those countries were in a welter of -blood.</p> - -<p>At the same time the American settlers of Texas declared themselves -independent and made open war on Mexico. The war began with the bloody -battle of Gonzales, in which 500 American frontiersmen fought and -defeated over a thousand Mexican soldiers. This was followed by other -fierce fights at Goliad and Bexar.</p> - -<p>Next came the bloody massacre of the Alamo, when all of Jim Bowie’s and -Davy Crockett’s American followers were killed in an all night fight. -Out of 200 Americans every man fell at his post. This was the deed of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> -blood on which Joaquin Miller wrote his stirring Ballad of the Alamo.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“Santa Ana came storming as a storm might come,—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">There was rumble of cannon; there was rattle of blade;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">There was cavalry, infantry, bugle and drum,—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Full seven thousand, in pomp and parade,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The chivalry, flower of Mexico,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And a gaunt two hundred in the Alamo.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>One month before the final disappearance of the Comet, the Texas War -came to an end with the bloody battle of San Jacinto, when Sam Houston, -with 800 American frontiersmen, defeated 1,500 Mexicans, and made a -prisoner of President Santa Ana of Mexico.</p> - -<p>When the Comet had passed to the Southern Hemisphere, it was seen at -its brightest in South Africa.</p> - -<p>The pious Boers of Cape Colony understood it to be a sign from heaven -and forthwith set out on their great trek across the Orange and Vaal -rivers, where they founded the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic.</p> - -<p>Thus the Comet was the signal for the first blood drawn in the long -fight between the British and Boers.</p> - -<p>A little later, though, the Boers found another, more woeful -significance for the blazing of the Comet.</p> - -<p>Under the leadership of Piet Relief, a thousand Boer families had -trekked across the Drakensberg Mountains into Natal. A solemn treaty -of peace with the Zulu warriors was entered into with Dingaan, the -chief of the Zulus at Dingaan’s Kraal. Suddenly the Zulus pounced upon -the unsuspecting Piet Relief and his sixty-five Boer followers and -massacred them to a man.</p> - -<p>Then the Zulus, numbering some 10,000 warriors, swept out into the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> -veldt and made for the Boer wagon trains. Near Colenso, at a spot -called Weenen (weeping), in remembrance of the dreadful tragedy there -perpetrated, the Zulus overwhelmed the Boer laager and slaughtered all -its inmates—41 men, 56 women, 185 children and 250 Kaffir slaves.</p> - -<p>After this bloody massacre, equalling in horror the Massacre of the -Alamo on the other side of the world, the Comet of 1835-36 was seen no -more.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1758-1759</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">This</span> was the first -return of the Comet predicted by Halley. Hence it must be reckoned as -the first appearance of “Halley’s Comet” under his name.</p> - -<p>It was first seen on Christmas night, 1758, by John Palitsch, a Saxon -farmer, near Dresden, who was looking for it with a self-constructed -telescope of eight-foot focus. The Comet did not become visible to the -naked eye until well into 1759. It passed around the sun on March 12, -1759. After that it was seen throughout Europe during April and May, -appearing at its brightest during the first week in May. Later it was -seen to advantage in the Southern Hemisphere.</p> - -<p>In Germany, where it was seen at its fiercest, the Comet was taken as -a token of the bloody Seven Years’ War, which was then being fought -between Frederick the Great and his enemies on all sides.</p> - -<p>The ominous Comet had scarcely vanished from view when all Germany was -overrun by marching armies from France, from Austria, from Russia.</p> - -<p>The French, under the Duke of Broglie, overthrew the Germans, under the -Duke of Brunswick, at Bergen, and seized the city of Frankfurt. Then -came the bloody battle of Minden, in which two large French armies were -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> -beaten. Meanwhile the Russians were marching into Prussia, and another -bloody battle was fought at Kay in midsummer.</p> - -<p>Within a fortnight King Frederick the Great and his whole army were -overthrown by the Austrians and Russians in the disastrous battle of -Kunersdorf.</p> - -<p>Another Prussian army was overcome at Maxen, where 13,000 Prussians -were taken.</p> - -<p>Altogether, during this year’s campaigns, several hundred thousand -soldiers lost their lives.</p> - -<p>It was the worst year of the Seven Years’ War for Frederick the Great -and his soldiers, who attributed their bloody defeats to the ill omen -of the Comet.</p> - -<p>In other parts of the world, likewise, the coming of the Comet was -followed by widespread war and bloody fighting.</p> - -<p>For the French, the Comet signalled disaster after disaster. After -their armies had been beaten in Germany, their navy was defeated on -August 17 in a great sea fight in the Bay of Lagos, on the coast of -Portugal. Six weeks later there was another bloody sea fight between -the British and French, when Admiral Pocock inflicted a telling defeat -on the French fleet.</p> - -<p>Then came the final French naval disaster off Quiberon, in the Bay of -Biscay, when Admiral Hawke destroyed French naval power by sinking -or blowing up over a score of the French fighting ships. This bloody -defeat was a disaster of untold consequences to the French, since it -meant the loss of India.</p> - -<p>But this was not all that this Comet of ill omen had brought to the -French.</p> - -<p>On September 13th of that year the French lost their strongest hold on -America in the disastrous defeat inflicted upon them by General Wolfe -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> -in the bloody battle on the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe himself fell -fighting. On the French side, General Montcalm, the Commander-in-Chief, -was mortally wounded. This meant the loss of Quebec and of all Canada -to the French, an event of far-reaching importance that has changed the -destiny of all America and of the modern world.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1682</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet which put -Halley on the right track in his theories of Comets, first came -into view on the night of August 15, 1682. It was first detected by -Flamsteed’s assistant at the Greenwich Observatory, while searching the -northern heavens with a telescope.</p> - -<p>Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, and Halley, his successor, kept -a close watch upon the Comet every night, and followed its course over -the sky. Others who watched it were Sir Isaac Newton, Cassini, Picard -and La Hire in Paris, Baert at Toulon, Kirch and Zimmermann in Germany, -Montanari at Padua, and Hevelius in Dantsic. They observed that the -tail lengthened considerably as the Comet came nearer the sun. Later -a jet of luminous matter was seen shooting out toward the sun, which -afterward fell back into the tail. Hevelius has left us a drawing of -this phenomenon.</p> - -<p>On November 11th, Halley found that the Comet had come within a -semi-diameter of the path of our earth. This startling discovery -caused Halley to reflect what might happen if the earth and the Comet -had arrived at the same time at the spot in space where their two -orbits intersect. Assuming as he did that the mass of the Comet was -considerably larger than our earth, he declared: “If so large a body -with so rapid a motion were to strike the earth—a thing by no means -impossible—the shock might reduce this beautiful world to its original chaos.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img id="I069" src="images/i_069a.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="144" /> - <p class="center space-below2">HALLEY’S COMET, JANUARY 9,<br /> - 1683, AS DRAWN BY HEVELIUS.</p> - <img src="images/i_069b.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="480" /> - <p class="center space-below2">THE COMET OF 1682, AS REPRESENTED<br /> - IN THE NUREMBURG CHRONICLE.</p> - <img src="images/i_069c.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="210" /> - <p class="center space-below2">MEDAL STRUCK IN GERMANY TO ALLAY THE<br /> - TERROR CAUSED BY THE COMET OF 1680-81.</p> - <p class="center">TRANSLATION OF INSCRIPTION:</p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent3">“THE STAR THREATENS EVIL THINGS—ONLY TRUST!</div> - <div class="verse indent4">GOD WILL MAKE IT TURN OUT WELL.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> -Others beside Halley took alarm at the Comet. They called it -“The Chariot of Fire.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Whiston—he who succeeded Newton in the Lucasian chair of -mathematics at Cambridge—in a moment of prophetic vision fervently -declared that this Comet was God’s agent that would bring about the -General Conflagration by involving the world in flames.</p> - -<p>In America, the Rev. Increase Mather, President of Harvard College, -on the appearance of the Comet in New England, preached his great sermon -on “Heaven’s Alarm to the World ... wherein is shown that fearful sights -and signs in the Heavens are the presages of great calamities at hand.”</p> - -<p>Increase Mather’s warning was handed down as an inspired prophesy, -in view of the fact that the English settlers in North America soon -afterwards got into bloody warfare with the Indians. The war raged at -its fiercest in the Carolinas, where the English settlers made war upon -the redskins simply for the purpose of taking them captive and selling -them into slavery in the West Indies.</p> - -<p>To the Indians the Comet appeared as a sign of ill omen, as shown by -their frequent references to it during the parleys with the white men.</p> - -<p>The Comet was shining at its fiercest when the six greatest chiefs of -the Susquehanna nation were enticed into a pretended council of peace -with the white men, only to be foully murdered with all their followers.</p> - -<p>While this was going on in America, the Comet gave the signal in India -for the first hostilities there upon the white settlers from Portugal, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> -as well as for the outbreak of the bloody Mahratta War, which ravaged -India for a generation to come.</p> - -<p>Nearer East, the Turks, under the leadership of Mohammed Bey, ravaged -Egypt, while, on the other side, a Turkish army under Kara Mustapha -carried war into Hungary, to the very gates of Vienna, until Emperor -Leopold felt constrained to call for help from Sobieski, the warrior -king of the Poles.</p> - -<p>In Europe the French overran Alsace, and suddenly seized the German -city of Strasburg.</p> - -<p>At the same time the bubonic plague broke out in North Germany. In the -little university town of Halle alone, within a few days, 4,397 people -died out of a total population of ten thousand.</p> - -<p>It was then that medals were struck off in Germany with a design of -the comet on their face, and an inscription imploring God to avert the -evils threatened by the Comet:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The star threatens evil things;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Only trust! God will make it right.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="f120"><b>1607</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet this year -was seen all over Europe. The best observations of it were made by -Kepler and Longomontanus (Langberger). It was seen at its brightest -in England.</p> - -<p>Shortly after its appearance over England, there came freshets and -floods which completely submerged the richest counties of England. In -Somersetshire and Gloucestershire the water rose above the tops of the -houses. This was followed by a visitation of the plague.</p> - -<p>In Ireland the Comet was taken as an omen of the fate of Londonderry, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> -where the Irish rebels, suddenly seizing the city, massacred Sir George -Powlett and all his English garrison.</p> - -<p>In Germany the Comet was taken as a token of the war then brewing -between the Emperor and the German Protestant Princes—the so-called -Protestant League—which ushered in the dreadful Thirty Years’ War -in Germany.</p> - -<p>Off Gibraltar, a Dutch fleet completely destroyed a fleet of Spanish -war galleons, thereby crippling Spanish sea power for a generation to come.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, in America, the early settlers in Virginia, led by John -Smith, found themselves beset by the redskins, who were incited to -war by the appearance of the Comet. They called it “Red Knife in the -Sky.” During the war, John Smith was taken prisoner, and escaped with -his life only through the intercession of Pocahontas, the daughter of -Powhattan.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1531</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet was first -sighted by the German astronomer Bienewitz (“Apianus”) in midsummer of -this year. Zwingli preached about it as an omen of disaster.</p> - -<p>German astrologers regarded it as a herald of the wars between Spain -and France, which broke out in that year, and of the bloody war carried -into Hungary by the Turks under Soleyman, who ravaged the Danube -country to the very walls of Vienna. These wars were followed by a -visitation of the black plague.</p> - -<p>In the Netherlands the breaking of the ocean dykes caused terrific -floods, in which over 400,000 people were drowned.</p> - -<p>Toward the close of the year the Comet passed over to the Southern Hemisphere. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p> - -<p>To the aborigines of South America it proved a star of dreadful omen. -During this year the most cruel of Spanish conquerors did their -bloodiest work in the New World—Cortez in Mexico, Alvarado at the -Equator, and Pizarro in Peru. Before the Comet disappeared from view, -several hundred thousand wretched Incas and Aztecs had been slaughtered -by the Spaniards, while many more hundred thousands were worked to -death as slaves.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1456</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet this year was -observed throughout Europe and also in China. It came into view over -Europe on the 29th of May, and was seen gliding over the sky towards -the moon.</p> - -<p>Writers of that period say that it shone with exceeding brightness and -spread out a fan-shaped train of fire. The Arab astronomers describe -its shape as that of a Turkish scimitar, which, blazing against the -dark sky, was regarded as a sign from heaven of the war then raging -against the Christian infidels.</p> - -<p>A clear story of the Comet’s appearance has been left by the Bavarian -Jesuit, Brueckner (Pontanus). He based his story on the record of -Georgos Phranza, Grandmaster of the Wardrobes to the Emperor of -Constantinople. There the Comet is described as “rising in the West; -moving towards the East, and approaching the Moon.”</p> - -<p>By the Chinese this Comet was described as having a tail sixty degrees -long, and a head “which at one time was round, and the size of a bull’s -eye, the tail being like a peacock’s.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span></p> - -<p class="blockquot">Halley wrote of this Comet in 1686: “In the -summer of the year 1456 a Comet was seen, which passed in a retrograde -direction between the earth and the sun. From its period and path, I -infer that it was the same Comet as that of the years 1531, 1607 and -1682. I may therefore with confidence predict its return in the year 1758.”</p> - -<p>The appearance of the Comet in 1456 was so well remembered even 225 -years later, because this was the scimitar-shaped Comet hailed by the -conquering Turks as their guiding star, against the evil influence of -which Pope Calixtus III. exhorted all Christians to pray to God.</p> - -<p>This story has been denied by certain latter-day sceptics, but the -medieval historian Platina, who was living in Rome at the time, and who -knew whereof he spoke, wrote in his “Lives of the Popes” in 1470:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“A hairy and fiery star having then made its -appearance for several days, the mathematicians declared that there -would follow grievous pestilence, dearth and some great calamity. -Calixtus, to avert the wrath of God, ordered supplications that if -evils were impending for the human race He would turn all upon the -Turks, the enemies of the Christian name. He likewise ordered, to move -God by continual entreaty, that notice should be given by the bells to -call the faithful at midday to aid by their prayers those engaged in -battle with the Turk.”</p> - -<p>In truth, all Christendom appeared indeed to have fallen under the -“wrath of God,” for the Turks; having wrested Constantinople away from -the Christians, now came ravaging up the Danube countries and laid -siege to the Christian city of Belgrade. Bloody battles were fought -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> -between the Magyars and Turks on the Danube, until Hunyadi, the great -Magyar leader, at last overthrew the Turks under Mahomet II., under -the walls of Belgrade, in a great battle, in which no less than 24,000 -Turks were slain. This was on July 21st, on the eve of which day the -Comet had been seen to blaze at its fiercest.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1378</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet appeared late -in the year, and was seen at its brightest over Northern Europe, in -Scotland, Scandinavia, Russia and Poland.</p> - -<p>All these countries, during the same period and immediately afterwards, -were cursed by the terrible pestilence called the “Black Death,” now -known to have been the worst visitation of the bubonic plague known in -history. Wherever the dread sickness appeared, the people “died like -rats.” So many succumbed to the disease, and so many others fled aghast -from the pestilence, that whole cities and towns were left empty, and -no labourers could be found to till the fields.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1301</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet this year was -first observed by German and Flemish astrologers during the late Summer -and Autumn. It was interpreted as an ill omen of the wars which then -ravaged Europe. Immediately after the appearance of the Comet, Emperor -Albrecht of Germany ravaged the Rhine lands with fire and sword. -Afterwards the German astrologers explained the Comet as a warning omen -of the death of the Emperor’s son Rudolf, who died within a twelvemonth -of his coronation as King of Bohemia.</p> - -<p>In Flanders the Comet was taken as a heavenly token of the fierce war -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> -which followed the bloodstained massacre of 3,000 French soldiers by the -enraged people of Flanders.</p> - -<p>Soon after this came Robert of Artois’ bloody defeat at Coutrai, the -famous “Battle of the Spurs,” so called from the thousands of gilt -spurs that were taken afterwards from the feet of the slain French -cavaliers.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1222</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet during this -year is recorded by the Chinese astronomers in the months of September -and October. During these months, and immediately afterwards, Jenghis -Khan, the bloody Mongol conqueror, with his fierce Mongol hordes, was -ravaging all China, Persia, India and the Caucasus country as far as -the River Don.</p> - -<p>The Comet was taken as a special omen of the terrible fate of the City -of Herat and its surrounding country, where the bloodthirsty conqueror -caused to be slaughtered over a million of people. Jenghis Khan, who -believed in stars and omens, having been born with bloodstained hands, -hailed the Comet as his special Star. Under its rays he extended his -immense Empire to its outermost boundaries from the China seas to the -banks of the Dniepr in Russia. After the Comet’s disappearance, Jenghis -Khan regarded the planets that had crossed its orbit as stars of ill -omen, betokening his death, so he set his face backward from his march -of conquest, and soon afterwards died in Mongolia.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1145</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet appeared over -Europe early in Spring. It was seen at Rome in March and April.</p> - -<p>Inspired by the appearance of the Comet, Pope Eugenius III. called for -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> -a crusade against the Moslems. St. Bernard in France took up the cry, -and preached a holy war all over France. On Easter Sunday, King Louis -VII. of France, his Queen and all his nobles, received the Cross from -St. Bernard at Vizelay.</p> - -<p>In Rome, however, the Comet was taken as a token of the Pope’s -downfall. Arnold of Brescia preached against the Pope and aroused the -Roman populace against him. The Holy Father had to flee.</p> - -<p>On the disappearance of the Comet, the Pope returned and excommunicated -the Patricians of Rome. Arnold of Brescia was taken and strangled in -his cell. Later historians, like Lubienitius, accordingly interpreted -the Comet as a sign of warning rather than as an ill omen.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>1066</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">This</span> is the most famous -appearance of the Comet now known as Halley’s Comet. Under its seven -rays, that year, William the Conqueror felt inspired to fall upon -England, while Harold, the Saxon, on the other hand, saw in the Comet a -star of dread foreboding and of doom.</p> - -<p>The medieval chronicles of this year all make special mention of the -Comet. A picture of the Comet, as it appeared to the doomed Harold, was -embroidered by Matilde of France, on the famous coloured tapestry of -the Norman Conquest, which is still preserved at Bayeux in Normandy.</p> - -<p>Zonares, the Greek historian, in his account of the death of Emperor -Constantinus Ducas (who died in May, 1067), writes of the Comet as -“large as the full moon, and at first without a tail, on the appearance -of which the star dwindled in size.”</p> - -<p>The Chinese astronomers have recorded that this Comet had seven tails, -and was seen for sixty-seven days, after which “the star, the blaze, -and the star’s tails all drew away.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span></p> - -<div id="I078" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_078.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="363" /> - <p class="center">HALLEY’S COMET, 1066.<br /> (<i>From the Bayeux Tapestry.</i>)</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> -The Christian chroniclers record that this Comet, “in size and -brightness equalled the full moon, while its tail, slowly lengthening -as it came near the Sun, spread out into seven rays and arched over the -heavens in the shape of a dragon’s tail.”</p> - -<p>Sigebert of Brabant, the Belgian chronicler of that time, wrote of it: -“Over the island of Britain was seen a star of a wonderful bigness, to -the train of which hung a fiery sword not unlike a dragon’s tail; and -out of the dragon’s mouth issued two vast rays, whereof one reached as -far as France, and the other, divided into seven lesser rays, stretched -away towards Ireland.”</p> - -<p>William of Malmesbury wrote how the apparition affected the mind of -a fellow monk of his monastery in England. His words were: “Soon -after the death of Henry, King of France, by poison, a wonderful star -appeared trailing its long tail over the sky. Wherefore, a certain monk -of our monastery, by name Elmir, bowed down with terror at the sight of -the strange star, wisely exclaimed, ‘Thou art come back at last, thou -that will cause so many mothers to weep; many years have I seen thee -shine, but thou seemest to me more terrible now that thou foretellest -the ruin of my country.’”</p> - -<p>Another old Norman chronicler, by way of defending the divine right -of William of Normandy to invade England, wrote: “How a Starre with -seven long Tayles appeared in the Skye. How the Learned sayd that newe -Starres only shewed themselves when a Kingdom wanted a King, and how -the sayd Starre was yclept a Comette.”</p> - -<p>William himself appealed to the Comet as his guiding star. It shone at -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> -its brightest during the Summer months while William was preparing his -expedition at St. Valery. When the spirits of his followers failed -them, William pointed to the blazing Comet and bid monks and priests -who accompanied his expedition to preach stirring sermons on the -“wonderful Sign from Heaven.”</p> - -<p>The trip across the English Channel, late in September, was lighted up -by the Comet, and under its lustre the Norman invaders first pitched -their camp at Pevensey.</p> - -<p>Once more, when William’s Norman followers quailed at the fierce work -before them, William pointed to the Comet as a token of coming victory.</p> - -<p>A fortnight later, directly after the disappearance of the Comet, the -Battle of Hastings was fought, in which King Harold and his Saxon -thanes lost their lives and their country.</p> - -<p>Afterwards, when Queen Matilda and her court ladies embroidered the -pictorial story of her husband’s Conquest of England in the huge -tapestry of Bayeux, they did not forget the Comet. They represented -Harold cowering in alarm on his throne, whilst his people are huddled -together, pointing with their fingers at the fearful omen in the sky, -the birds even being upset at the sight. The Latin legend over the -picture “Isti Mirant Stella” (they marvel at the star), makes it all -plain.</p> - -<p>As I. C. Bruce, the editor of “The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated,” has -said: “This embroidery is remarkable for furnishing us with the -earliest human representation we have of a Comet.”</p> - -<p>The Comet of 1066 will ever be famous for ushering in a new era for -England. Even to-day Halley’s Comet is remembered as “The Comet of the -Conquest.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span></p> - -<div id="I081" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_081.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="505" /> - <p class="center">WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.<br /> (An English Dream.)</p> -<p class="f90">Halley’s Comet appeared in 1066—<br />When William the Conqueror took -England.<br /> Halley’s Comet is here to-day.—Kladderadatsch (Berlin).</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span></p> - -<p class="f120"><b>989</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> appearance of the -Comet this year was marked by bloody wars all over Europe. The Lombards -under Otho were harrying the ancient Roman Empire, while the heathen -Danes and Wends ravaged Germany.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>912</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet appeared early -in the year and was seen over Germany, as noted in the chronicles -of the monks of St. Gallus in Switzerland. Immediately after the -appearance of the Comet, Germany was ravaged by war, both inside and -outside, the Empire being invaded on all sides by the Danes in the -North, the Slavs in the Northeast, and the Magyars from Hungary.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>837</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Chinese Astronomers -record two Comets for this year, one in February, and the other in -April. But the modern view is that this was the same Comet, as seen -going to the Sun, and afterward, when it was coming away from the -Sun.</p> - -<p>Immediately after the appearance of the Comet there followed a -widespread rebellion in China with much bloodshed and fierce reprisals.</p> - -<p>The only Christian record of the Comet we have is that of Eginard, an -astrologer employed at the Court of Louis the Debonair, in France. This -is Eginard’s account of the Comet: “In the midst of the holy festival -of Easter there shone forth in our sky a sign always ominous and of sad -foreboding. As soon as the Emperor—who was in the habit of gazing up -into the sky at night—first saw the Comet, he had me called before him, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> -together with another learned star gazer. As soon as I came before him -he asked me what I thought of the sign in heaven.”</p> - -<p>“‘Let me have but a little time,’ I asked of him, ‘that I may study -this sign and see the exact constellation of the other stars around -it, thus to gather from the stars the true meaning of this portent,’ -promising him that I would tell him on the morrow of the results of my -studies.</p> - -<p>“But the Emperor, guessing that I was trying to gain time—as was -indeed the truth, lest I be driven to tell him something unlucky and -fatal to him—he said to me:</p> - -<p>“‘Go up on the terrace of the palace and look. Then come back at once -and tell me what thou hast seen! For I did not see this star last -night; nor didst thou point it out to me; but I know that sign in -heaven is a Comet. Thou must tell me true what it forebodes to me!’</p> - -<p>“Then, before I could say anything, he said: ‘There is another thing -thou art hiding from me. It is that changes in Kingdoms and the deaths -of rulers are foretold by this sign.’</p> - -<p>“To soothe him I reminded the Emperor of the words of the Prophet -Isaiah, who said: ‘Fear not signs in the Heaven, like unto the Heathen.’</p> - -<p>“But the Emperor smiled sadly and said: ‘We should believe only in God -on High, who has created us and also all Stars in Heaven. Since He has -sent this Star, and since this unlooked for Sign may be meant for us, -let us look upon it as a warning from Heaven.’”</p> - -<p>Thereupon Louis the Debonair betook himself to fasting, prayers, and -the building of churches and shrines, he and all his Court. Shortly -thereafter he died. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span></p> - -<p>The French chronicler, Raoul Glaber, afterward wrote in his chronicle: -“Comets never show themselves to man without foreboding surely some -coming event, marvellous or terrible.”</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>760</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">A</span> Comet appeared in the -Spring of this year, which without any doubt whatever was Halley’s. It -was recorded in detail both by European and Chinese annalists, and its -orbit has been calculated and identified by Laugier.</p> - -<p>A Greek record of Constantinople tells how “a Comet like a great beam” -and very brilliant was observed in the twentieth year of Emperor -Constantine V., surnamed Copronymus, first in the East and then in the -West, for about thirty days. Its appearance was followed next Winter -by a biting frost throughout the Orient, which endured 150 days, from -October until February, blighting all crops in Egypt and elsewhere in -the Eastern Empire.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>684</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Chinese</span> -annals record a Comet observed in the West in September and -October. This accords with the computed time for the course of Halley’s -Comet that year. Immediately after the Comet’s appearance, China and -the Far East were ravaged by the black plague. Millions died of it. -Baeda the Venerable, in his “Chronicle of the English People,” records -that the plague also reached England. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span></p> - -<p class="f120"><b>607</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">All</span> -Europe and the former Roman Empire were in such dire confusion -during this period that no records of this year, either astronomic -or historical, have come down to us. Messrs. Cowell and Crommelin, -however, have computed astronomically that the Comet must have appeared -during this year. All we know is that Italy and the Latin World were -overrun by ravaging Slavonian hordes from Hungary, who made all the -country run with blood.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>530</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Of the</span> Comet this year, -likewise, there is no astronomic record. All we know is that the -appearance of a Comet is noted in European chronicles. It was followed -by a virulent outbreak of the black plague.</p> - -<p>In the legendary history of Merlin, the ancient British seer, it is -stated that on the appearance of a Comet this year he prophesied that -Uter, brother of Ambrosius, on the death of the latter, should rule the -kingdom; that a ray from the Comet which pointed toward Gaul presaged -a son who should be born to him and who should be great in power; and -that the ray “that goes toward Ireland represents a daughter, of whom -thou shalt be the father, and her sons and grandsons shall reign over -all the Britons.” These prophecies all came true.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>451</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> Comet which appeared -over Europe this year has been proven by Laugier to have been Halley’s Comet. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span></p> - -<p>It was seen in France just before the monster battle on the Catalaunian -Fields (Châlons-sur-Marne), when Aetius, the last of the Romans, -together with King Theoderic and his Goths, stemmed the tide of Hunnish -invasion led by Attila, the “Scourge of God.”</p> - -<p>Theoderic, together with 148,000 warriors on both sides, were slain in -this tremendous fight, which alone saved Europe from Tartar savagery.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>373</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Chinese</span> -annals of this year record a Comet seen in the northern -constellation of Ophiuchus in October. This year marks the beginning -of the tremendous migration of peoples, which started in Mongolia and -Tartary, and crossing the Volga gradually overflowed all the known -world, like a huge human deluge.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>295</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> appearance of a -Comet this year (identified by Hind with Halley’s) was followed by -a bloody rebellion of the ancient Britons against the Romans, and -by another rebellion against Rome by the Egyptians. These patriotic -uprisings of the people were suppressed with fire and sword and both -countries ran with blood.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>218</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> -Chinese catalogue of Ma-tuan-lin records a Comet with a path -exactly analogous with the orbit of Halley’s Comet computed for that -year by Hind. In the Chinese record the Comet is described as “pointed -and bright.” Its coming was connected with the death of Emperor Ween-te -directly afterward, and the Civil Wars between various claimants to the -throne of the Celestial Empire, which then rent China asunder. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p> - -<p>Dion Cassius, the Roman historian, describes the Comet of this year as -“a very fearful star with a tail stretching from the West towards the East.”</p> - -<p>The Roman augurs explained the Comet as a portent of the bloody death -of Emperor Macrinus of Rome, who was murdered by his own soldiers on -the night after the disappearance of the Comet.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>141</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">In this</span> -year the Chinese astronomers recorded a Comet in March and -April (the time computed for Halley’s Comet), which they described as -“a star six or seven cubits long and of a bluish-white colour.” The -coming of the Comet was followed by a virulent outbreak of the plague -in China and the Far East, which spread all over the known world. So -virulent was this pestilence that in the City of Naples alone 400,000 -people died of the disease.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>65-66</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Halley’s</span> -Comet, according to astronomic calculations, must have made -its reappearance during the winter months of 65-66 A. D. The Chinese -have recorded “two Comets,” one in 65, which was seen for fifty-six -days, and “the other” in February, 66, which remained visible fifty days.</p> - -<p>This was the Comet which St. Peter and Josephus saw over the City of -Jerusalem, before the fall of the Holy City. Josephus wrote of it: -“Amongst other warnings, a Comet, of the kind called Xiphias, because -their tails appear to represent the blade of a sword, was seen above -the doomed city for the space of nearly a whole year.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span></p> - -<p>Jerusalem was ravaged by pestilence and famine and soon afterward was -stormed by the Roman soldiery led by Titus. The Temple was burned down -and the streets of the Holy City ran with blood. It was the end of -Jerusalem and of the Jews as a free city and people.</p> - -<p class="f120"><b>B. C. 11</b></p> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">This</span> -is the farthest back that the appearances of Halley’s Comet -have been traced in history. For earlier appearances there are no -sufficiently trustworthy computations or records.</p> - -<p>Dion Cassius in his “History of Rome” has recorded “a Comet which hung -suspended over the City of Rome just before the death of Agrippa,” who -ruled over the Roman Empire during the absence of Augustus in Greece -and Asia. Agrippa was so universally beloved, and his death was held to -be such a loss to Rome that he was buried with imperial honours in the -tomb intended for Augustus.</p> - -<p>The death of Agrippa occurred in the year 12, shortly after the -disappearance of the Comet which Hind has identified with Halley’s.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">This</span> completes the -record of all the known appearances of Halley’s Comet. The record fully -justifies Chambers’ dictum, that the “Comet known as Halley’s is by far -the most interesting of all the Comets recorded in history.”</p> - -<p>This historic record also appears to justify in no small measure the -popular beliefs of the last two thousand years concerning Comets, as -expressed by Leonard Digges in his book on Prognostics, published 350 -years ago: -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span></p> - -<p class="blockquot">“Cometes signifie corruption of the ayre. They -are signs of earthquakes, of warres, of changying of Kyngdomes, -great dearth of food, yea a common death of man and beast from -pestilence.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">THE STORY OF EDMUND HALLEY</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> great French -astronomer Lalande considered Halley the greatest astronomer of his -time. This opinion is still held. Halley’s “time” means the age of -Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton, Flamsteed, Hevelius, and Leibnitz, all of -whom achieved first rank in Astronomy.</p> - -<p>Halley’s greatest achievement in Astronomy was the discovery that our -solar system was but an atom in immeasurable space whence wandering -stars could be caught within the influence of our Sun, our Earth and -the other Planets swinging around our Sun.</p> - -<p>Halley was the first to discover and to prove that the Comets that come -within the vision of man have fixed periods of return. He made this -discovery during the appearance of the great Comet of 1682, which has -since been known by his name.</p> - -<p>In his studies of the motions of Comets, of which Halley computed the -orbits of twenty-four, he observed that a Comet of similar phenomena, -recorded by Appian in 1531 and by Kepler in 1607, had swung through the -same orbit as the Comet under his observation in 1682. Halley surmised -from this that these Comets might be one and the same, whose intervals -of return appeared to cover a period of seventy-five or seventy-six -years. Halley’s surmise seemed to be confirmed by the recorded -appearance of similar bright Comets in the years 1456, 1378, and 1301, -the intervals again being seventy-five or seventy-six years.</p> - -<p>Halley was deeply imbued with Newton’s new discovery of gravitation, -for the publication of which Halley paid the expenses, so he brought -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> -the principles of Newton’s theory of gravitation to bear on his own new -theory of the motions of Comets. He rightly conjectured that Comets -were drawn to our Sun across the disturbing orbits of our planetary -system, and that the comparatively small differences of one or two -years in the recorded intervals of this one Comet (Halley’s Comet) were -due to the attraction of the larger planets.</p> - -<p>During the previous year, 1681, Halley computed that the Comet had -passed near the planet Jupiter, the attraction of which must have had a -considerable influence on the Comet’s motion. Making due allowance for -this disturbing influence of Jupiter, he computed that the Comet would -return to the vicinity of our Sun about the end of 1758 or beginning of 1759.</p> - -<p>Halley did not live to see his prediction fulfilled (he died in 1742), -but he wrote shortly before he died: “If this Comet should return -according to our predictions about the year 1758, impartial posterity -will not refuse to acknowledge that this was first discovered by an -Englishman.”</p> - -<p>All through the year 1758 the most noted astronomers of Europe were -on the lookout for the return of the predicted Comet. One of these -astronomers, Messier, looked for it through his telescope at the Paris -Observatory every night from sunset to sunrise throughout that whole -year. On Christmas night, 1758, the Comet was first seen by a German -peasant near Dresden, who had heard about the Comet and was looking -for it. He was a man of unusually good eyesight, yet his discovery was -doubted until Messier, nearly a month afterward, at Paris, “picked up” -the Comet with his telescope.</p> - -<p>From that time forth this Comet, which returned in 1835, and is -reappearing in this year (1910), has been known as Halley’s Comet. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span></p> - -<div id="I092" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_092.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="623" /> - <p class="center">EDMUND HALLEY.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> -Besides this achievement, Halley accomplished many other noteworthy -feats in astronomy, such as his discovery of the proper motions of the -fixed stars; his detection of the “long inequality” of Jupiter and -Saturn, and of the acceleration of the moon’s mean motion; his theory -of variation, including the hypothesis of various magnetic poles, with -his suggestion of the magnetic origin of the aurora borealis; and his -indication of a method still used for determining the solar parallax by -means of the transits of Venus.</p> - -<p>On the strength of these achievements, Halley for many years was -elected to serve as secretary to the Royal Society. Commissioned as a -Captain in the Royal Navy, he also commanded a vessel on a long cruise -of exploration, and late in life he was made Astronomer Royal.</p> - -<p>Although in his sixty-fourth year, he then undertook to observe the -moon through an entire revolution of her nodes (eighteen years), and -actually carried out his purpose. To appreciate the full significance -of so painstaking an achievement it should be borne in mind that -astronomical observations must be made in a temperature equal to that -of the open air. Observatories cannot be heated because the heat would -impair the accuracy of the instruments.</p> - -<p>Great astronomers, like poets, are born, not made. Edmund Halley was -one of these. At the age of seventeen he had already observed the -change in the variations of the compass. At nineteen he was recognized -as an astronomer of reputation, having supplied a new and improved -method of determining the elements of the planetary orbits. His -detection of considerable errors in the tables then in use led him to -the conclusion that a more accurate determination of the places of the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> -fixed Stars was indispensable to the progress of astronomy. With this -end in view he set out on a voyage to the other side of the globe, St. -Helena, where he undertook the task of making complete new observations -of the entire Southern Hemisphere. Though the Heavens proved clouded -he succeeded within two years in registering three hundred and sixty -stars, a colossal achievement which won for him the title of the -“Southern Tycho.” This was when Halley was barely of age.</p> - -<p>(The famous astronomer Tycho Brahe, long before this had won his fame -by mapping the stars of the Northern Heavens.)</p> - -<p>No one could well have begun with prospects more remote from so high a -career, for Edmund Halley was born in 1656, the son of a soap boiler -in a shabby London suburb. From the refuse of rancid fat and lye the -boy was rescued by friends, who procured for him a scholarship at Saint -Paul’s school. By his brilliant attainments in mathematics he won -another scholarship to Oxford University.</p> - -<p>While at Oxford the youth published a treatise on the planetary orbits -and argued the Sun’s axial rotation.</p> - -<p>On his graduation from Oxford, the young would-be astronomer conceived -the project of turning his attention to the southern Stars, of which -no good observations had been made. Shortly before this time a Dutch -astronomer, named Houtman, had observed these Stars in the island of -Sumatra; and Blaeu, the best globe maker of the age, had used these -new observations in the correction of his celestial globes. Halley, on -examining these corrections, came to the conclusion that he himself -could do better. He also concluded that the Island of St. Helena might -be a better point for southern observations. His father, unable to pay -the expenses of so long a trip, broached the project to some friends. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> -The young astronomer was recommended to King Charles II. by Williamson -and Jones Moore, and the King in turn recommended the youth to the -Indian Company, which then had control over the island of St. Helena.</p> - -<p>After this all was plain sailing. The India Company placed a ship -at his disposition and promised him all the assistance he required. -Young Halley provided himself with telescopes, and micrometers, and -other instruments of the latest approved pattern. In November, 1666, -at the age of twenty, he sailed for St. Helena. Among his luggage was -a sextant of five and a half feet and a telescope twenty-four feet in -length constructed under the supervision of Flamsteed, the Astronomer -Royal.</p> - -<p>Halley was disappointed in the climate of St. Helena. Frequent rains -and a constantly hazy sky scarcely permitted any observations in the -months of August and September. Notwithstanding these difficulties, he -succeeded in observing and cataloguing some 360 Stars.</p> - -<p>In addition to his work on the Stars, Halley made some investigations -on the Moon’s parallax, combining his observations at St. Helena -with those made in northern skies. He also evolved a new theory of -the Moon’s motion, which proved of great aid in the determination of -longitudes.</p> - -<p>On November 7, 1677, Halley observed a transit of Mercury which -suggested to him the important idea of employing similar phenomena for -the calculation of the Sun’s distance.</p> - -<p>Halley returned to England in November, 1678, and was hailed by his -fellow astronomers as the “Southern Tycho.” He was elected a fellow of -the Royal Society, and by the King’s command the degree of Master of -Arts was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span></p> - -<p>Six months later Halley set out for Dantsic for a personal conference -with Hevelius, the Polish astronomer. Halley wanted to satisfy himself -as to the accuracy of observations claimed by Hevelius without the -aid of a telescope. Halley convinced himself that the errors of the -observations made by Hevelius were less than had been supposed, and did -not exceed a minute of an arc. The two became life-long friends. Halley -proceeded to other cities of Europe where there were observatories. In -Paris he observed with Cassini the great Comet of 1680. This was the -beginning of Halley’s special study of Comets.</p> - -<p>Returning to England, the young astronomer married the daughter of -Mr. Tooke, auditor of the Exchequer, with whom he lived harmoniously -until her death, fifty-five years later. The young couple settled at -Islington, where Halley erected an observatory of his own and engaged -in constant lunar observations with a view toward finding a method for -computing longitudes at sea.</p> - -<p>Halley’s mind at the same time was busy with the momentous problem of -gravity, upon which Isaac Newton was working then. Independently of -Newton, Halley reached the conclusion that the central force of the -Solar System must decrease inversely as the square of the distance. -Having applied vainly to his fellow astronomers, Hooke and Wren, Halley -in August, 1684, made a special journey to Cambridge to consult Isaac -Newton, who confirmed his conjectures.</p> - -<p>Halley and Newton became life-long friends. Halley had Newton elected -to the Royal Society, and when Newton became too poor to pay his -quarterly dues, Halley, through his influence with the leading members -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> -of the Society, had them remitted. It was Halley who encouraged Newton -to put his momentous discovery and elucidation of the forces of gravity -into permanent form in his “Principia,” the first volume of which, “De -Motu,” was presented to the Royal Society at Halley’s suggestion.</p> - -<p>In the proceedings of the Royal Society for December, 1684, there is an -entry that “Mr. Halley had lately seen Mr. Newton at Cambridge, who had -told him of a curious treatise ‘De Motu,’ which at Mr. Halley’s desire -he promised to send to the Society to be entered upon their register. -Mr. Halley was desired to put Mr. Newton in mind of his promise for the -securing this invention to himself, till such time as he could be at -leisure to publish it.”</p> - -<p>Early in the following year Newton sent his treatise to the Society, to -whom it was read aloud by Halley. This treatise “De Motu” was the germ -of the “Principia” and was intended to be a short account of what the -greater work was to embrace.</p> - -<p>During the next two years Newton was hard at work on his “Principia,” -while Halley was equally hard at work on his computations of the Comet -of 1682, and on his theory of the orbits and the periodical returns of -Comets which grew out of his observations.</p> - -<p>On April 21, 1686, Halley read to the Royal Society his own “Discourse -Concerning Gravity and its Properties,” in which he stated that his -“worthy countryman, Mr. Issac Newton, has an incomparable treatise on -Motion almost ready for the press,” and that the law of the inverse -square “is the principle on which Mr. Newton has made out all the -phenomena of the celestial motions so easily and naturally that its -truth is past dispute.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span></p> - -<p>Shortly afterward Newton sent in the manuscript of his great work. -The Society voted “that a letter of thanks be written to Mr. Newton and -that the printing of his book be referred to the consideration of the -council and that in the meantime the book be put into the hands of Mr. -Halley.”</p> - -<p>The truth was that the Royal Society, at that time, did not have money -enough to print the book. The Society went through the empty form of -“ordering” that the book be printed “forthwith,” but no printer was -forthcoming until Halley himself undertook the publication of the great -work at his own expense.</p> - -<p>The delicacy of Halley’s feeling is revealed by his correspondence with -Newton, in which he informed Newton that the book had “been ordered -to be printed at the Society’s charge.” The preliminary delay about -printing he explained to Newton “arose from the President’s attendance -on the King, and the absence of the vice-presidents, whom the good -weather had drawn out of town.”</p> - -<p>Later Newton came to realize how much he owed to Halley in this matter. -In his letters to Halley henceforth he always referred to his book -as if it had been Halley’s book. When the great work was finished at -last Newton wrote to Halley under the date of July 5, 1687: “I have at -length brought your book to an end, and hope it will please you.”</p> - -<p>The finished work contained a note to this effect: “The inverse law -of gravity holds in all the celestial motions, as was discovered also -independently by my countrymen Wren, Hooke, and Halley.”</p> - -<p>The book was dedicated to the Royal Society, and to it was prefixed a -set of Latin hexameters addressed by Halley to the author, ending with -the well known line: -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nec fac est propius mortali attingere divos.”</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">(“It is not given to a mortal to get in closer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">touch with the gods.”)</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Halley was fifty years old when he made his famous prediction of -the return of the Comet of 1682. This was in his “Synopsis of Comet -Astronomy,” which ended with these words: “Hence I may venture to -foretell that this Comet will return again in the year 1758.”</p> - -<p>Besides being an astronomer of the first class, Halley was also a good -navigator. In 1698 he was commissioned a captain in the Royal Navy -and was put in command of the King’s ship, “The Paramour Pink.” With -this vessel he set out on a long cruise to the Pacific for the purpose -of making observations on the laws which govern magnetic variations. -This task he accomplished in a voyage which lasted two years and -extended to the fifty-second degree of southern latitude, when the ice -compelled him to turn back. On the return voyage his crew mutinied and -his lieutenant sided with the mutineers. Halley quelled the mutiny by -sheer force of personality, and returning to England got rid of his -lieutenant. The results of his voyage were published in his “General -Chart of the Variation of the Compass” in 1701. Immediately afterwards -Halley set out on another King’s ship and executed by royal command -a careful survey of the tides and coasts of the British Channel, an -elaborate chart of which he published in 1702.</p> - -<p>Next Halley was sent by the King to Dalmatia, for the purpose of -selecting and fortifying the port of Trieste.</p> - -<p>On Halley’s return to England, he was made Savilian professor of -geometry at Oxford, and received an honorary doctor’s degree. He filled -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> -two terms of eight years each as secretary to the Royal Society, and -early in 1720 he succeeded Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal.</p> - -<p>He died on January 14, 1742, at the age of eighty-five in the full -possession of his faculties, the foremost astronomer of the day and a -man universally beloved and respected. His gravestone stands at the -Greenwich Observatory.</p> - -<p>Halley’s works fill several shelves in the library of the Royal -Society. His fame is kept green by the periodical return of the -wandering star known by his name.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">WHAT ARE COMETS?</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> modern answer -to the question “What are Comets made of?” is this:</p> - -<p>Probably the heads are a mixture of solid and gaseous matter. The tails -are gaseous—the result of the volatilisation of the solid matter of -the heads.</p> - -<p>The spectroscope shows that gases appear to be a constituent of all -Comets. The spectra of Comets are very similar to those of a Bunsen -flame. Recent spectroscopic photographs have revealed the presence of -hydrocarbons, nitro-carbons, of cyanogen and of the vapours of sodium, -iron and other metals.</p> - -<p>The connection between Comets and Meteors implies the presence in -Comets of solid matter. A modern theory, voiced by Schiaparelli, is -that meteor showers are broken up Comets.</p> - -<p>The tails of Comets appear to be composed of luminous gases ejected -from the head of the Comet through a solar force held to be “Light -Pressure,” which causes these tails to shoot off and disperse into -space at the rate of 865,000 miles an hour.</p> - -<p>The length of some Comets’ tails has been estimated at 125,000,000 -miles, while the Comets’ heads themselves are generally much larger in -size than our Earth. Halley’s Comet is more than ten-fold the size of -our Earth.</p> - -<p>E. W. Maunder, of the Royal Observatory of Greenwich, a modern -astronomer, has thus summarized the latest theories of the substance of -Comets:</p> - -<p>“Though the bulk of comets is huge, they contain extraordinarily little -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> -substance. Their heads must contain some solid matter, but it is -probably in the form of a loose aggregation of stones enveloped in -vaporous material. There is some reason to suppose that Comets are apt -to shed some of these stones as they travel along their paths, for the -orbits of the meteors that cause some of our greatest ‘star showers’ -are coincident with the paths of Comets that have been observed. But it -is not only by shedding its loose stones that a Comet diminishes its -bulk; it loses also through its tail. As the Comet gets close to the -Sun its head becomes heated, and throws off concentric envelopes, much -of which consists of matter in an extremely fine station of division.”</p> - -<p>The orbits of Comets visible to human eyes are all governed by the Sun. -In the words of C. L. Poor: “The attraction of the Sun is to the Comet -like the flame to the moth. The Comet flutters for a moment about the -Sun, and then swings back into outward space. But not unscathed; like -the moth, the Comet has been singed. The fierce light of the Sun has -beaten upon it, and spread out its particles and scattered them along -its path.”</p> - -<p>As a comet swings toward and away from the Sun, it travels at a -tremendous rate of speed—over a million miles an hour. The distance -covered from one end of the orbit to the other is 3,370,000,000 miles.</p> - -<p>The great majority of Comets appear to travel in parabolas, open curves -leading from infinite space to and around the Sun, and thence back into -infinite space to some other fixed star invisible to us. As a matter -of fact, though, the parabolic curves of Comets’ orbits through the -gravitational attraction of the planets, whose orbits are crossed by -it, may be changed into hyperbolic curves and ellipses by planetary -perturbations. Hence the differences in time between the returns of -certain Comets, like Halley’s, for instance. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span></p> - -<div class="figcontainer"> - <div class="figsub"> - <img id="I103A" src="images/i_103a.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="697" /> - <p class="center">RELATIVE SIZES OF THE EARTH,<br /> - THE MOON’S ORBIT AND<br />HALLEY’S COMET.</p> - </div> - <div class="figsub"> - <img id="I103B" src="images/i_103b.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="689" /> - <p class="center">ORBIT OF HALLEY’S COMET.<br />THE TAIL ALWAYS POINTS<br /> - AWAY FROM THE SUN.</p> - </div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> -In a general way, it may be said that every Comet comprises a nucleus, -an envelope (called the “coma”) surrounding the nucleus and measuring -from 20,000 to 1,000,000 miles in diameter, and a long tail which streams -behind the nucleus from sixty to a hundred million miles or more.</p> - -<p>Astronomers have decided that the nucleus is probably a heap of -meteorites varying in size from a grain to masses weighing several -tons each; a heap, moreover, so easily sundered that its elements are -distributed gradually along the orbit. It follows that every Comet must -eventually perish unless it restores its nucleus by collecting stray -meteors. That disintegration does occur has been observed time and time again.</p> - -<p>For example, Biela’s Comet, which was discovered in 1826, burst into -two fragments, which drifted apart a distance of one million miles. -Thus it became a twin Comet. Eventually it disappeared as a Comet, and -in its stead we see a shoal of meteors whenever we cross its track -every six and a half years.</p> - -<p>It is possible that the Comets of 1668, 1843, 1880, 1882 and 1887, all -travelling in approximately the same path, are fragments of a single -large body which was broken up by the gravitational action of other -bodies in the system, or through violent encounter with the Sun’s -surroundings.</p> - -<p>The luminous tail which streams behind the nucleus, which Shakespeare -described so beautifully as “crystal tresses,” is startling, to say the -least. Despite a length which may exceed a hundred million miles, it -is so diaphanously light and subtle that it is difficult to compare it -with any earthly fabric. The air that we breathe is a dense blanket in -comparison. Several hundred cubic miles of the matter composing that -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> -wonderful luminous plume would not outweigh a jarful of air. By reason -of its fairy lightness, it is possible for a tail occupying a volume -thousands of times greater than the sun to sweep through our solar -system without causing any perturbations in planetary movements.</p> - -<p>No celestial phenomenon has caused more perplexity than the ghostly -sheaf of light we call a Comet’s tail. In a day, in a few hours even, -the form of that wonderful gossamer may change. Hence it is that -periodic Comets are identified when they return, not by the length and -arch of their tails, but by their orbits. These alone are permanent.</p> - -<p>When a Comet is first seen in the telescope, it appears as a diminutive -filmy patch, often unadorned by any tail. As it travels on toward the -Sun, at a speed compared with which a modern rifle bullet would seem to -crawl, violent eruptions occur in the nucleus.</p> - -<p>The ejected matter is bent back to form the cloak called the “coma.” -With a nearer approach to the sun, the tail begins to sprout, -increasing in size and brightness as it proceeds. Evidently there is -some connection between the Sun and the tail, something akin to cause -and effect.</p> - -<p>When the Comet rushes on toward the Sun, invariably the tail drifts -behind the nucleus like the smoke from a locomotive. But when the Comet -swings around the Sun and travels away from it, a startling change -takes place. The tail no longer trails behind, but projects in front as -if some mighty solar wind were blowing it in advance of the head.</p> - -<p>This phenomenon has long been an astronomical riddle. Here was a kind -of matter that refused to obey the laws of gravitation and yield to the -enormous pull of the Sun. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span></p> - -<div id="I106" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_106.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="638" /> - <p class="center">OCTOBER 5.   OCTOBER 9.<br /> DONATI’S COMET OF 1858.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> -It was thought for a time that the tail was flung away from the Sun by -stupendous repelling electrical forces. That electricity plays its part -in the formation of the fairy plume is conceivable, and even probable; -but recently the physicist has discovered a new source of repellent -energy which very plausibly explains the mystery of a Comet’s tail.</p> - -<p>This new source of energy is nothing less than the pressure or push of -the Sun’s light. Solar gravitation is a force more powerful than we can -realize. If it were possible for us to live on the Sun, we would find -ourselves pulled down so violently that our body would weigh two tons. -Our clothing alone would weigh more than one hundred pounds. Running -would be a very difficult athletic feat. Light-pressure must indeed be -powerful if it can conquer so relentless a force.</p> - -<p>Because we have never seen objects torn from our hands by the pressure -of light, it may be inferred that this newly discovered force affects -only bodies that are invisibly small. With the aid of instruments that -feel what our hands can never feel and see what our eyes can never see, -the modern physicist has critically analyzed the radiation that beats -upon the earth from the distant Sun.</p> - -<p>Light really does sway infinitely small particles, as was first -experimentally proved by the Russian Lebedev. Two American astronomers, -Nichols and Hull, improved upon his method. They cast the solar -effulgence into mighty mathematical scales and found that the earth -sustains a light-load of no less than 75,000 tons.</p> - -<p>Most city-bred people are familiar with the so-called “Sun -Motors”—little mills with black and white wings, enclosed in airtight -vessels, which spin around in “perpetual motion” under the effect of -“Sun Pressure.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span></p> - -<p>It remained for the broad mind of a Swedish physicist, Svante -Arrhenius, to apply the principle of light-pressure cosmically. He -explained, very simply, that because a Comet’s tail is composed of a -very fine dust it can easily be driven away from the Sun by radiation -pressure.</p> - -<p>To understand how it is possible for so immaterial a thing as a sunbeam -to produce so huge an effect, we have only to take a very simple -example.</p> - -<p>Assume that you have before you a block of wood weighing one pound. The -block exposes a certain amount of surface to the Sun’s light. Saw the -block in half, and you increase the amount of that surface. Divide each -half again into half, and the exposed surface is further augmented. If -this process of subdivision is carried on far enough, the block will be -reduced to sawdust.</p> - -<p>The entire mass of sawdust still weighs one pound; but its surface has -been vastly enlarged. Indeed, the particles of sawdust, individually -considered, may be said to consist of much surface and very little -weight. If it were possible to take each granule of visible sawdust -and subdivide it into invisible particles, a point would be reached -where the pressure of light would exactly counterbalance the pull of -gravitation, so that the particles would remain suspended in space, -perfectly balanced in the scale of opposing cosmic forces.</p> - -<p>Finally, if the subdivision be continued beyond this critical point, -the particles will be wrenched away from the grip of gravitation and -hurled out into space by the pressure of light.</p> - -<p>So much has been discovered about the particles that compose a Comet’s -tail that the more progressive scientists of our day have accepted this -ingenious theory. Thus it has been decided by them that the delicate -tresses of a Comet are to a large extent composed of fine particles of -dust and soot. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span></p> - -<div id="I109" class="figcontainer"> - <div class="figsub"> - <img src="images/i_109a.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="240" /> - <p class="f120">June 26.</p> - </div> - <div class="figsub"> - <img src="images/i_109b.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="233" /> - <p class="f120">June 28.</p> - </div> -</div> - -<div class="figcontainer"> - <div class="figsub"> - <img src="images/i_109c.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="230" /> - <p class="f120">June 30.</p> - </div> - <div class="figsub"> - <img src="images/i_109d.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="225" /> - <p class="f120">July 1.</p> - </div> -</div> - -<div class="figcontainer"> - <div class="figsub"> - <img src="images/i_109e.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="228" /> - <p class="f120">July 6.</p> - </div> - <div class="figsub"> - <img src="images/i_109f.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="229" /> - <p class="f120">July 8.</p> - </div> - <p class="f120 space-below2">CHANGES IN THE COMET OF 1863.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> -Before we can completely accept the view that light-pressure forms -this train of soot we must ascertain whether the pressure of light is -capable of accounting for the flash-like rapidity with which a Comet’s -tail changes.</p> - -<p>A Comet may throw out a tail sixty million miles long in two days. Is -it actually possible for light-pressure to accomplish that astonishing -feat? Arrhenius has computed that 865,000 miles an hour is the speed -of a light-flung particle of one-half the critical diameter. Because -they are only one-eighteenth as large as this particle of critical -diameter, the dust grains in a Comet’s tail would be propelled over the -same 865,000 miles in less than four minutes. It follows that the solar -radiation is amply strong enough to toss out a tail of sixty million -miles in two days.</p> - -<p>Photography in the hands of Prof. E. E. Barnard, of the Yerkes -Observatory, has revealed some extraordinary changes in Comets’ tails, -changes which are not apparent to the eye and which cannot be explained -by light-pressure or by solar electrical forces. He has collected a -formidable mass of photographic evidence which seems to show that -there are other influences at work besides the Sun’s radiation, and -that these influences manifest themselves in distorting and breaking a -Comet’s tail. In some Comets of recent years, streams of matter have -been shot out in large angles to the main direction of the tail without -being at all bent by the pressure of light. In Morehouse’s Comet of -1908, tails were repeatedly formed and discarded to drift bodily out -into space and melt away. Sometimes the photographic plate has shown -the tail twisted like a corkscrew and sometimes it has revealed masses -of matter at some distance from the head, where apparently no supply -had reached it. At one time the entire tail of Morehouse’s Comet was -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> -thrown violently forward, a peculiarity so utterly opposed to the laws -of gravitation that Professor Barnard suspects some unknown force at -work in planetary space besides a force which undoubtedly resides -in the Comet itself. If Halley’s Comet serves no other purpose than -to throw light upon this mystery, its return will more than repay -astronomers for all their observatory vigils.</p> - -<p>From the fact that the matter is ejected from the head to form the -tail, it would follow that, unless it has the means of rejuvenating -itself, a comet must eventually be disintegrated. Instances of this -fragmentation and, eventual disappearance of a Comet are not wanting in -astronomical annals. It has been stated previously that when Biela’s -Comet appeared in 1846 it became distorted and elongated, that it -eventually split up into two separate bodies, that in 1852 it again -appeared in its double form, and that it has since disappeared.</p> - -<p>In a way, Comets may be said to bleed to death. At each return of -Halley’s Comet, future astronomers will find it less brilliant than it -was seventy-six or seventy-seven years before. Some time there will -be no Halley’s Comet left, and the most famous Comet of its kind will -be reduced to a shoal of meteors varying in weight from a few ounces -to several tons and faithfully pursuing the orbit which their parent -traced and retraced century after century. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span></p> - -<div id="I112" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_112.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="566" /> - <p class="center">COGGIA’S COMET, 1874: ON JULY 13.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">THE PERIL OF THE COMET</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">It was</span> Edmund Halley who -first revealed a source of danger from Comets, of which even medieval -superstition had never dreamed.</p> - -<p>While he was patiently plotting out the orbit of the Comet of 1680, -which had inspired no little dismay among his contemporaries, Halley -found that the Earth’s orbit had been approached by the Comet within -four thousand miles—half the diameter of the Earth.</p> - -<p>If the Earth had been struck by that fiery wanderer?</p> - -<p>None had ever thought of the possibility.</p> - -<p>Halley began to do some mathematical figuring, and decided that, if a -Comet’s mass were comparable with that of the Earth, our year would -have been changed in length because the Earth’s orbit would have been -altered. He also speculated what would happen to the Earth, and reached -this conclusion:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“If so large a body with so rapid a motion were to -strike the Earth—a thing by no means impossible—the shock -might reduce this beautiful world to its original chaos.” </p> - -<p>Halley even thought it probable that the Earth had actually been struck -by a Comet at some remote period, struck obliquely, moreover, so that -the axis of rotation had been changed. Thus he was led to infer that -possibly the North Pole had once been at a point near Hudson’s Bay, and -that the rigour of North America’s climate might thus be accounted for.</p> - -<p>The seed which was thus sown by Halley has borne fruit. In Halley’s own -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> -time, learned men were brooding over the ultimate destruction of the -Earth by collision with a Comet.</p> - -<p>Dr. Whiston, who succeeded Newton at Cambridge in the Lucasian chair of -mathematics, was sure that a Comet caused the Deluge, and went so far -as to prophesy that a Comet, as it passed us on its outward course from -the Sun, would ultimately bring about a “General Conflagration,” and -thus envelope the Earth in flames.</p> - -<p>One century after Halley, the French astronomer Laplace, whose -mathematical attainments were surpassed only by those of Newton, -applied his brilliant mind to the possibility of a collision with a -Comet, and arrived at this conclusion:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">“The seas would abandon their ancient beds and -rush towards the new equator, drowning in one universal deluge the -greater part of the human race.... We see, then, in effect, why the -ocean has receded from the high lands upon which we find incontestable -marks of its sojourn; we see how the animals and plants of the south -have been able to exist in the climate of the north, where their -remains and imprints have been discovered.”</p> - -<p>The famous French mathematician Lalande showed that if a Comet as heavy -as the Earth were to come within six times the distance of the Moon, -it would exert such a powerful attraction upon the waters of the globe -as to pull up a tidal wave 13,000 feet above the ordinary sea-level -and inundate the continents Every European mountain would be submerged -except Mt. Blanc, and only the inhabitants of the Rockies, the Andes -and the Himalayas would escape death.</p> - -<p>Since Lalande’s day there has been more than one Comet “scare.” One -of these startled Europe in 1832. On October 29th of that year, Biela’s -Comet crossed the Earth’s orbit. The announcement was received with -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> -stupefaction. It was only when Arago soothingly pointed out that the -Earth would not reach the exact point where the Comet had intersected -the Earth’s orbit until November 30, at which time the Comet would be -50,000,000 miles away, that the popular excitement subsided. A similar -alarm seized the world in 1857. Some prophet declared that on June 13 -the world would collide with a certain periodic Comet having a period -of revolution of three centuries. It is related that the churches -and confessionals were crowded for days. Still another prediction, -made in 1872 by Plantamour, the distinguished director of the Geneva -Observatory, set Europe in a ferment. His calculations were based on -errors, which were pointed out by other astronomers, and the public -mind was quieted.</p> - -<p>Although more than two centuries have passed since Halley was in his -prime, the possibility of a collision with some vagabond star still -haunts the mind of the astronomer.</p> - -<p>That a collision is apt to occur is an admitted astronomic fact. The -latest estimate, made in 1909 by Prof. William H. Pickering of Harvard -University, would seem to prove that the core of one Comet in about -100,000,000 Comets will hit the earth squarely. An encounter with some -part of a Comet’s head will happen once in 4,000,000 years. Since -Comets’ orbit are more thickly distributed near the ecliptic than else -where in the celestial sphere, the collisions will occur according to -Pickering, perhaps more frequently than this.</p> - -<p>Because Pickering’s figures differ from those other astronomers—Arago -and Babinet, for instance—it must not be inferred that his -predecessors are wrong and that he is right in his calculations. The -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> -problem is too complex for that. Pickering, Arago and Babinet differ -partly because they have assumed different average sizes for their -Comets, and partly because their definitions of visible Comets are not -in accord.</p> - -<p>That the possibility is very real, we shall all have an opportunity of -judging on May 18, 1910. On that date the Earth will be plunged in the -tail of Halley’s Comet, and the head will be less than 15,000,000 miles -away—a mere hand’s breadth in the vastness of the universe.</p> - -<p>What will happen?</p> - -<p>Nobody knows for certain.</p> - -<p>By means of the wonderful instrument called the spectroscope, an -instrument which analyzes a distant star as readily as if it were a -stone picked up in the road, it has been discovered that a Comet’s tail -is composed of gases called “hydrocarbons” (combinations of hydrogen -and carbon), and that it bears a close chemical resemblance to the blue -flame of a kitchen gas-stove.</p> - -<p>Illuminating gas, as we all know, is poisonous. If a Comet’s tail were -dense enough, it is conceivable, therefore, that every human being on -this planet might be asphyxiated by breathing the Comet’s poisonous -vapour as the Earth plowed through it. There is also this possibility, -suggested by Flammarion, that the gases of a very dense tail might so -combine with the nitrogen which constitutes nearly 80 per cent. of -the air we breathe, that the atmosphere would be converted into the -“laughing gas” employed by dentists. The world would die in a delirium -of joy. At first a delightful serenity would settle upon mankind. Then -would follow a contagious gaiety, febrile exaltation, a paroxysm of -delight, and then madness. Flammarion even conceives the world merrily -dancing a joyous, hysterical sarabande in which it perishes laughing. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span></p> - -<p>The tail of a Comet is fraught with still other possible dangers. Our -atmosphere contains a certain amount of hydrogen, a marvellously light -gas to which balloons owe their buoyancy. Besides its lightness, this -gas is characterized by an extreme inflammability. The law of the -diffusion of gases teaches us that part of this hydrogen in the air -is mechanically mixed with other gases, and that part of it probably -floats in the upper air, far beyond the reach of any balloon. A Comet -may be regarded as a huge lighted torch whirling through space, which -may be brought dangerously near that upper layer of highly inflammable -hydrogen. If the gas shall ever be touched off by this flying torch, -our planet will be ignited. The whole atmosphere will become a seething -ocean of flame, in which forests and cities will burn like straw, in -which oceans will boil away in vast clouds of steam, and in which all -animal life will be snuffed out of existence before it shall realize -that the world is on fire. In a word, the globe will become a planetary -funeral pyre. Since water results from burning hydrogen in oxygen, -this same fierce and terrible flame must be speedily extinguished by -a mighty deluge which will engulf the Earth.</p> - -<p>A spectroscope analysis of Halley’s Comet has furthermore revealed -the presence of cyanogen gas in the tail. Cyanogen is a compound of -nitrogen and carbon, one of the most poisonous compounds with which the -chemist is familiar. Prussic acid, potassium cyanide and many other -cyanides, all of them almost instantaneously fatal if taken into the -human system, are compounds of cyanogen. If that gas is present in -large enough quantities, one flick of a Comet’s tail will end all human -and animal existence.</p> - -<p>So much is certain. A collision of the Earth with a Comet will -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> -undoubtedly prove disastrous—how disastrous will depend largely on -the size of the Comet’s head and on its speed. That a violent heat will -be developed, we have every reason to believe, from our knowledge of -meteors. The mere movement of a meteor through the thin upper layers of -our atmosphere produces a dazzling trail and reduces the meteor itself -to a molten metallic mass. Arrest a body in swift motion, and you must -dissipate its energy in some way. As a rule, the energy is converted -into heat. A bullet discharged from a rifle is often melted when -suddenly stopped by steel armour. A Comet travels at a pace compared -with which a projectile, fired from the most powerful twelve-inch gun, -seems only to crawl. What, then, must be the frightful effect when it -strikes the Earth?</p> - -<p>A Comet rushes through space not at the bullet’s rate of thousands of -feet an hour, but of a million miles an hour. The bigger it is, and the -faster it moves, the greater will be the heat developed by its stoppage.</p> - -<p>“At the first contact with the upper regions of the atmosphere,” writes -Prof. Simon Newcomb, “the whole heavens would be illuminated with a -resplendence beyond that of a thousand Suns, the sky radiating a light -which would blind every eye that beheld it, and a heat which would melt -the hardest rocks.” The same conclusion was reached by Prof. Faye.</p> - -<p>When the time comes for a collision with a Comet of formidable size, -the human race will be in the horrible predicament of knowing the exact -hour and minute of its doom. The newspapers will print a dispatch from -some great observatory, reading perhaps like this:</p> - -<p class="space-below2">“A telescopic Comet was discovered by Caxton in -right ascension 7 hours 13 minutes 1 second, and declension 17 degrees -28 minutes 31 seconds. Moderate motion in a northwest direction.” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span></p> - -<div id="I119" class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/i_119.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="627" /> - <p class="blockquot">“If so large a body with so rapid a motion were to -strike the Earth—a thing by no means impossible—the -shock would reduce this beautiful world to its original -chaos.”</p> -<p class="author space-below2">—<span class="smcap">Edmund Halley.</span></p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> -At first the discovery produces not even a ripple of excitement. -Telescopic Comets are discovered too frequently. Three days later the -discoverer has worked out an ephemeris, which gives the date when the -body will pass around the Sun, and which indicates the Comet’s path. He -finds that on a certain date and at a certain hour the Earth and the -Comet must crash together. Again and again he repeats his calculations, -hoping that he may have erred. The utmost permissible allowance for -accelerations and retardations caused by the outer planets of the solar -system fails to change the result.</p> - -<p>The Earth and the Comet must meet. With some hesitation the astronomer -sends a telegram to a central observatory, which acts as a distributor -of astronomical news. At first his prediction is discredited and even -laughed at. Another computation is made at the observatory. Again -mathematics infallibly indicates the exact time and place of the -encounter, and the last lingering hope is dispelled. Telegrams are sent -to astronomical societies, to the leading scientific periodicals and to -the newspapers.</p> - -<p>At first the prediction of the Earth’s doom is received with popular -incredulity, engendered by years of newspaper misrepresentation. The -world’s end has been too frequently and too frightfully foretold -on flamboyant double-page Sunday editions. When the truth is at -last accepted, after days of insistent repetition of the original -announcement, a wave of terror runs through the world.</p> - -<p>There is no escape. International committees of astronomers meet daily -to mark the approach of the Comet. Bulletins are published announcing -the steadily dwindling distance between the world and the huge -projectile in the sky. The great tail, arching the Heavens as the Comet -approaches, seems like a mighty, fiery sword held in an unseen Titanic -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span> -hand and relentlessly sweeping down. The temples, churches and -synagogues are thronged with supplicating multitudes on bended knees, -in a catalepsy of terror. The stock exchanges, banks, shops and public -institutions are deserted. Business is at a standstill. The roar of the -street is hushed. No wagons rattle over the pavement; no hucksters call -out their wares.</p> - -<p>As the Comet draws nearer and nearer, night changes into an awful, -nocturnal day. Even at noon the Comet outshines the Sun. There is no -twilight. The Sun sets; but the Comet glows in the sky, another more -brilliant luminary, marvellously yet fearfully arrayed in a fiery plume -that overspreads the sky. The Moon is completely lost, and the Stars -are drowned out in this dazzling glare. Warned by the astronomers, -mankind takes refuge in subterranean retreats to await its fate.</p> - -<p>Long before the actual collision—long before the Earth is reduced -to a maelstrom of lava, gas, steam and planetary debris—mankind is -annihilated with merciful swiftness by heat and suffocation. A candle -flame blown out by a gust of wind is not more quickly extinguished.</p> - -<p>When the Comet encounters the upper layers of the atmosphere, there is -a blinding flash, due to friction between the air and the Comet. A few -seconds later the crash comes. From within, molten rock and flame, pent -up for geologic ages, burst forth, geyser-like. The Earth is converted -into a gigantic volcano, in the eruption of which oceans are spilled -and continents are torn asunder, to vanish like wax in a furnace.</p> - -<p>When it is all over, the Earth swims through space, a blackened -planetary cinder,—desolate and dead.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak">THE END OF THE WORLD</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Camille Flammarion</span>, the -French astronomer, in his story, “The End of the World,” gives this -graphic description of the results of a collision between a Comet and -our Earth:</p> - -<p>In Paris, London, Rome, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, New -York and Chicago—in all the great capitals of the world, in all the -cities, in all the villages—the frightened people wandered out of -doors, as one sees ants run about when their ant-hills are disturbed. -All the affairs of every-day life were forgotten.</p> - -<p>All human projects were at a standstill. People seemed to have -lost interest in all their affairs. They were in a state of -demoralization—a dejection more abject even than that which is -produced by sea-sickness.</p> - -<p>All places of worship had been crowded on that memorable day when it -was seen that a collision with a Comet had become inevitable.</p> - -<p>In Paris the crowds in the churches were so great that people could -no longer get near Notre Dame, the Madeleine and the other churches. -Within the churches, vast congregations of worshippers were on their -knees praying to God on High. The churches rang with the sounds of -supplication, but no other sound was heard. The great church organs and -the bells in the steeples were hushed.</p> - -<p>In the streets, on the avenues, in the public squares, there was the -same dread silence. Nothing was bought or sold. No newspapers were -hawked about.</p> - -<p>The only vehicles seen on the streets were funeral hearses carrying to -the cemeteries the bodies of the first victims of the Comet. Of these -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> -there were already many. They were people who had died from fright and -from heart disease.</p> - -<p>With what anxiety everyone waited for the night!</p> - -<p>Never, perhaps, was there a more beautiful sunset. Never a clearer sky. -The sun seemed to dip into a sea of red and gold.</p> - -<p>The huge red ball of the sun sank majestically to the horizon. But the -stars did not appear. Night did not come.</p> - -<p>To the solar day succeeded a new day, the daylight of the Comet. Its -intense light resembled that of an Aurora Borealis, but more vivid, -coming from a great incandescent spot, which had not been visible -during the day because it was below the horizon, but which would -certainly have rivalled the splendour of the Sun.</p> - -<p>This luminous spot rose in the East almost at the same time as the full -Moon. The two luminous bodies rose together, side by side. As they -rose, the light of the Moon seemed to pale, but the head of the Comet -increased in splendour with the disappearance of the Sun below the -western horizon.</p> - -<p>Now, after nightfall, the Comet dominated the world—a scarlet-red ball -with jets of yellow and green flame which seemed to flutter like fiery wings.</p> - -<p>To the terrified people it seemed like a giant of fire taking -possession of all Heaven and Earth.</p> - -<p>Already the outermost jets of flame had reached the Moon. From one -instant to the next the flaming rays would descend upon the Earth.</p> - -<p>All eyes were distended with horror when it was seen that the horizon -was lighting up with tiny violet flames as from a vast fire.</p> - -<p>An instant afterward, the Comet diminished in brilliancy. This was -apparently because the Comet, upon touching the atmosphere of our -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> -Earth, had come within the penumbra of our planet and had lost part of -its reflected light coming from the Sun. But in reality this apparent -extinction was the effect of contrast. When the less dazzled eyes of -the awestruck, human spectators had grown used to this new light, it -appeared almost as intense as at first, but paler, more sinister and -sepulchral.</p> - -<p>Never before had the Earth been lit up with so sickly a light.</p> - -<p>The drouth of the air became intolerable. Heat, as from a huge burning -oven, came from above. A horrible stench of burning sulphur—due, no -doubt, to electrified ozone—poisoned the atmosphere.</p> - -<p>All the people then saw that their time had come. -Many-thousand-throated cries rent the air. “The World is burning. -We are on fire!” they cried.</p> - -<p>All the horizon, in fact, was now lit up with flame, forming a crown -of blue light. It was, indeed, as had been foreseen by scientists, the -oxide of carbon igniting in the air and producing anhydrid of carbon. -Clearly, too, hydrogen from the Comet combined with it.</p> - -<p>On a sudden, as the people were gazing terrified, motionless, mute, -holding their breath, and scared out of their wits, the vault of Heaven -seemed to be rent asunder from the zenith to the horizon. Through the -gaping breach there seemed to appear the huge red mouth of a dragon, -belching forth sheaves of sputtering green flames.</p> - -<p>The glare of the atmosphere was so fierce that those who had not -already hidden themselves in the cellars of their houses, now all -rushed helter-skelter to the nearest underground openings, be they -subway steps, cellar doors or sewer manholes. Thousands were crushed or -maimed during this mad stampede, while many others, frantic from fright -and stricken with the heat, fell dead from apoplexy. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span></p> - -<p>All reasoning powers seemed to have ceased. Among those cowering in -dark cellars and subterranean passages below, there was nothing but -silence, begot by dull resignation and stupor.</p> - -<p>Of all this panic-stricken multitude, only the astronomers had remained -at their posts in the Observatories, making unceasing observations of -this great astronomic phenomenon. They were the only eye-witnesses of -the impending collision.</p> - -<p>Their calculations had been that the terrestrial globe would penetrate -into the core of the Comet, as a cannon ball might into a cloud. From -the first contact of the extreme atmospheric zones of the Earth and of -the Comet, they had figured, the transit would last four hours and a half.</p> - -<p>It was easy to compute, since the Comet, being about fifty times as -large as the Earth, was to be pierced, not in its centre, but at -one-quarter of the distance from the centre, with a velocity of 173,000 -kilometers an hour.</p> - -<p>It was about forty minutes after the first atmospheric impact with the -Comet, that the heat and horrible stench of burning sulphur became so -suffocating that a few more moments of this torment would put an end -to all life. Even the most intrepid of astronomers withdrew into the -interior of their glass-domed observatories, which they could close -hermetically as they descended into the deep subterranean vaults.</p> - -<p>The longest to stay above was a young assistant astronomer, a girl -student from California, whose nerves had been steeled during the -ordeal of the San Francisco earthquake. She remained long enough to -witness the apparition of a huge, white-hot meteorite, precipitating -itself southward with the velocity of lightning.</p> - -<p>But it was beyond human endurance to remain longer above. It was no -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> -longer possible to breathe. To the intense heat and atmospheric drouth, -destroying all vital functions, was added the poisoning of our air by -the oxide of carbon.</p> - -<p>The ears rang as from the tolling of funeral bells, and all hearts were -in a flutter of feverish palpitation. And always, everywhere, there was -that suffocating stench of sulphur.</p> - -<p>Now a shower of fire fell from the glowing sky. It was raining -shooting-stars and white-hot meteorites, most of which burst like -bombs. The fragments of these, like flying shrapnel, crashed through -the roofs and set fire to the buildings.</p> - -<p>To the conflagration of the sky were added the flames of fire -everywhere on earth.</p> - -<p>Claps of ear-splitting thunder followed each other incessantly, -produced partly by the explosions of the meteors, and partly by a -tremendous electric thunderstorm. Rifts of lightning zig-zagged hither -and thither.</p> - -<p>A continuous rumbling, like that of distant drums, filled the ears of -the cowering people below, awaiting their fate. This low rumble was -interspersed with the deafening detonations of exploding meteors and -the high shriek of hurtling aerial fragments.</p> - -<p>Then followed unearthly noises, like the seething of some immense -boiling cauldron, the wild wailing of winds, and the quaking of the -soil where the earth’s crust was giving way.</p> - -<p>This unearthly tempest became so frightful, so fraught with agony and -mad terror, that the multitudes grovelling below were overcome with -paralysis, and lay prone. Laid low like dumb brutes, they met their doom.</p> - -<p>The end of all had come.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>COLOPHON</i></h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>POST HOC, NON PROPTER HOC:<br /> -Sic veteres de multis rebus opinabantur,<br /> -Eodemque dicto eas jugiter absolvisse<br /> -Recte sibi visi sunt,<br /> -Vt puta quaecumque et qualiacumque<br /> -Cometarum saeculares reditus sequuntur.<br /> -CVR TV ITAQVE, forsitan quaeras,<br /> -Haec auditu minime jucunda nobis narrasti,<br /> -Terrae motus, fluminum inundationes, annonae defectus,<br /> -Pestes mortiferas, incendia, bella,<br /> -regumque magnorum excidia?<br /> -Si tibi cordi est,<br /> -LECTOR BENEVOLENTISSIME,<br /> -rationem nostram didicisse,<br /> -eia, veram accipe:<br /> -MVNDVS VVLT DECIPI.</i></p> - -<p class="f150 space-above2"><b><i>FINIS.</i></b></p> - -<div class="transnote bbox space-above2"> -<p class="f120 space-above1">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> -<hr class="r5" /> -<p class="indent">Antiquated spellings or ancient words were not corrected.</p> -<p class="indent">The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up - paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate.</p> -<p class="indent">Typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected.</p> -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMET LORE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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