,transcriber's ,notes3 ,underscores 80 before and after a word or phrase indicate italics in the original text4 ,equal signs 80 before and after a word or phrase indicate bold in the original text4 ,small capitals have been converted to ,,solid capitals4 ,illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs4 ,antiquated words have been preserved4 ,typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected4 ,illustration3 ,,halley',s ,,comet ,,of #aiaj1 ,,as ,,seen ,,in ,,new ,,york1 ,,looking ,,westward1 ,,during ,,the ,,latter ,,part ,,of ,,may4 ,,comet ,,lore ,halley's ,comet in ,history and ,astronomy ,by ,,edwin ,,emerson ,author of 8,a ,history of the ,nineteenth ,century10 ,etc4 ,,printed ,,by ,,the ,,schilling ,,press #acg-aci ,,east #beth ,,street ,,new ,,york ,copyrighted1 #aiaj1 by ,,edwin ,,emerson ,entered at ,stationers' ,hall1 ,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 #g ,the ,terror of the ,comet #aj ,famous ,comets of ,olden ,times #cj ,the ,star of ,bethlehem #ci ,great ,events and ,disasters ,linked with ,comets #db ,halley's ,comet the ,bloodiest of ,all #fj ,the ,story of ,edmund ,halley #ij ,what ,are ,comets8 #aja ,our ,peril from ,collision with the ,comet #aac ,the ,end of the ,world #abb ,,illustrations ,,page ,cover ,designs by ,william ,stevens ,halley's ,comet of #aiaj ,frontispiece ,the ,terror of the ,comet in ,antiquity #ac ,the ,terror of the ,comet in ,medival ,times #bj ,the ,terror of the ,comet at the ,present ,day #be ,the ,latest ,photograph of the ,comet of #aiaj #bh ,napoleon's ,comet of #ahaa #ec ,the ,great ,comet of #ahdc #ef ,comet of ,tel-el-,kebir1 #ahhb #ei ,halley's ,comet of #ahce #fb ,halley's ,comet of #afhb #fi ,halley's ,comet of #ajff in the ,bayeux ,tapestry #gh ,william the ,conqueror1 an ,english ,dream #ha ,portrait of ,edmund ,halley #ib ,the ,orbit of ,halley's ,comet #ajc ,relative ,sizes of the ,earth1 the ,moon and ,halley's ,comet #ajc ,donati's ,comet of #aheh #ajf ,the ,civil ,war ,comet of #ahfc #aji ,coggia's ,comet of #ahgd #aab ,halley's ,conception of a ,collision with the ,comet #aai ,,to ,,the ,,comet 8,thereby ,hangs a ,tail40--,shakespeare4 ,lone wanderer of the trackless sky6 ,companionless6 ,say1 dost thou fly ,along thy solitary path1 ,a flaming messenger of wrath-- ,warning with thy portentous train ,of earthquake1 plague and battle-plain8 ,some say that thou dost never fail ,to bring some evil in thy tail4 ,w4 ,,lattey4 ,,the ,,coming ,,of ,,the ,,comet ,the ,sun will surely rise and set to-morrow4 ,just so surely must a ,comet flare forth in our ,heavens this ,spring4 ,star gazers1 astronomers and learned men have been waiting for this ,comet all over the earth--in ,america1 in ,europe1 in far ,china4 ,they have known for certain that this ,comet would come2 and they knew just when and where in the ,heavens the ,comet would first show itself to the naked eye--down to the very night4 ,all this has been known so surely because this same ,comet has been seen by the people of this earth before4 ,it came and went seventy-four years ago4 ,seventy-six years before that1 it came and went4 ,and seventy-six years before that1 the ,comet had come and gone4 ,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 so4 ,the longest time between the ,comet's coming has been seventy-nine years4 ,the shortest interval of all--#gd years--was this time4 ,for thousands of years in the past1 wise men have written down records of this ,comet4 ,long1 long ago1 when white men were still savages who dwelt in caves1 patient star gazers in ,china and ,chaldea studied the motions of this ,comet4 ,farther back than that1 in the hoary days before the art of writing was known1 ancient bards sang of this ,star and its hairy tail4 ,some of their words are still remembered4 ,artists have drawn pictures of this ,comet4 ,their pictures are still shown4 ,women have stitched images of this ,comet into their handiwork4 ,some of this handiwork can still be seen4 ,coiners have stamped designs of this comet on their coins and medals4 ,those coins are still shown in museums4 ,priests1 ,popes and great ,divines have preached about this ,comet4 ,their sermons are still preserved in the records of the ,church4 ,learned men have written in their books what happened when the ,comet came4 ,those books are read to-day4 ,the coming of this ,comet in olden times has been fixed in lasting records1 which he who runs may read4 ,nothing in all ,history is more certain than the story of this ,comet4 ,,why ,,halley',s ,,comet8 ,two hundred and twenty-eight years ago1 when this ,comet was seen shining over the ,city of ,london1 the great astronomer1 ,edmund ,halley1 made a special study of it4 ,halley was the first to say that this ,comet had come before and would surely come again4 ,he wrote down the time when the ,comet would come again1 long after he should be dead4 8,if it should return10 he wrote1 8according to our predictions1 about the year #ageh1 impartial posterity will not refuse to acknowledge that this was first discovered by an ,englishman40 ,the ,comet returned1 as he had foretold1 seventeen years after ,halley's death1 when it was first seen in #ageh1 on ,christmas night1 by a man in ,saxony1 named ,palitsch1 who was looking for the ,comet4 ,from that day this ,comet has been called after ,halley4 ,since then many famous astronomers1 such as ,clairaut1 ,pontcoulant and ,laplace in ,france1 have calculated the dates for the ,comet's return4 ,last time1 in #ahce1 ,halley's ,comet returned within a few nights of their prediction4 ,this time1 so the astronomers figured seventy-five years ago1 the ,comet should be plainly seen after dark late this ,may4 ,what they predicted has come true4 ,,the ,,terror ,,of ,,the ,,comet 8,canst thou fearless gaze ,even night by night on that prodigious ,blaze1 ,that hairy ,comet1 that long streaming ,star1 ,which threatens ,earth with ,famine1 ,plague and ,war80 --,sylvester4 ,so long as the memory of man goes back1 the appearance of a ,comet has always been taken as a just cause for dread4 ,in the train of ,comets1 it has ever been held1 come wars1 bloodshed1 fires1 floods1 plagues1 famine and the fall of mighty rulers4 ,our ,holy ,bible confirms this time-honoured belief4 ,the ,saviour ,himself said1 according to the ,gospel of ,st4 ,luke1 ,chap4 ,,xxi41 ,verse #aj-aa3 8,nation shall rise against nation1 and kingdom against kingdom2 and great earthquakes shall be in divers places1 and famines and pestilences2 and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from ,heaven40 ,in the ,revelation of ,st4 ,john the ,divine 7,chap4 ,,viii41 ,verse #aj7 we read3 8,there fell from ,heaven a great star burning as a torch10 and again 7,chap4 ,,xii41 ,verse #c73 8,there was seen another sign in ,heaven1 and behold a great red dragon 444 and his tail draweth a third part of the stars in ,heaven4 ,and behold the third woe cometh quickly40 7,chap4 ,,xii41 ,verse #ad47 ,the 8flaming sword0 in the hands of the angel of the ,lord1 when ,adam and ,eve were driven from the ,garden of ,eden1 many sacred writers hold1 can only be interpreted as a ,comet4 8,for the ,almighty set before the door ,of th' holy park a seraphim that bore ,a warning sword1 whose body shined bright ,a flaming ,comet in the midst of night40 --,todd4 ,so1 too1 when ,jerusalem was to be wasted by a plague1 ,david beheld a ,comet in the shape of a flaming sword3 8,and ,david lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the ,lord stand between the earth and the ,heaven1 having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over ,jerusalem40 --,i4 ,chron4 ,,xxi4 #af4 ,the fall of ,satan1 some sacred writers hold1 was marked by the appearance of a ,comet4 ,in ,isaiah 7,,xiv4 #ab7 we find3 8,how art thou fallen from ,heaven1 ,o flaming one1 son of the morning60 ,john ,milton1 in his 8,paradise ,lost10 has fixed this image in immortal verse3 8,satan stood ,unterrified1 and as a ,comet burned ,that fired the length of ,ophiuchus huge ,in th' arctic sky1 and from its horrid hair1 ,shakes pestilence and war40 ,the ,great ,deluge1 described in ,holy ,writ1 came after the appearance of a mighty ,comet 7,halley's ,comet71 so ,dr4 ,william ,whiston1 ,sir ,isaac ,newton's successor in the ,lucasian chair of ,mathematics at ,cambridge1 set forth in a special treatise4 ,the great ,french astronomer1 ,laplace1 also reached the same conclusion4 ,this same ,comet 7,halley's ,comet7 likewise foretold the final fall of the ,holy ,city1 ,jerusalem1 in the year #gj after ,christ4 ,this ,comet was seen by ,st4 ,peter4 ,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 ,city4 8,amongst other warnings10 writes ,josephus1 who saw this ,comet with his own eyes1 8a ,comet of the kind called sword-shaped1 because their tails appear to represent the blade of a sword1 was seen above the city for the space of a whole year40 ,josephus at the time rebuked his ,jewish countrymen for listening to false prophets while so clear a sign from ,heaven was before their very eyes4 ,this same ,comet 7,halley's ,comet7 reappeared at a critical period of the rule of ,constantine the ,great1 the first ,christian ,emperor of ,rome4 ,he first beheld his sign from ,heaven in the midst of battle as it blazed overhead in the sign of a ,cross4 ,with the help of his mother1 the sainted ,helen1 ,constantine was moved thereby to turn ,christian4 ,constantinople1 the great capital of the ,orient1 which owes its name to this same ,emperor ,constantine1 was lost to ,christendom in the year #adec1 when the ,turks overran the great city with fire and sword4 ,this event1 it is recorded1 was heralded by another appearance of a ,comet4 ,three years later1 when the ,turks were about to descend upon ,belgrade1 another ,comet 7,halley's ,comet7 spread consternation throughout ,europe4 ,at that time ,pope ,calixtus ,,iii41 on the appearance of this ,comet1 seeing that evils were impending for the human race1 called for prayers that the ,almighty would turn these evils upon the ,turks1 the enemies of the ,christian faith4 ,illustration3 8,a ,,sword-,,shaped ,,comet ,,blazed ,,over ,,the ,,doomed ,,holy ,,city40 --,josephus' 8,history of ,judea40 ,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 ,turk4 ,into the ,ave ,maria were put the words3 8,from the ,devil1 the ,turk and the ,comet1 ,good ,lord1 deliver us60 ,since that time in most ,catholic countries the ,angelus is still regularly rung at noon4 ,in ,italy1 even to-day1 the cakes sold before the church doors at noon go by the name of ,comete4 ,all the great ,fathers of the ,church have taught that ,comets are to be taken as signs from ,heaven4 ,baeda1 the ,venerable1 declared in the seventh century in ,england1 that 8,comets portend revolutions of kingdoms1 pestilence1 war1 winds1 or heat40 ,john of ,damascus1 preaching in the same century in the ,orient1 laid down the same belief4 ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas1 the great ,light of the ,church in the thirteenth century1 accepted and handed down the same opinion4 ,the sainted ,albert the ,great1 the most noted thinker of the ,church in the ,middle ,ages1 received and taught the same doctrine4 ,the teachings of these ,church ,fathers as to ,comets have been commended in our own day by ,pope ,pius ,,ix4 ,the great teachers of other religions1 likewise1 have laid down identical beliefs as to the meaning of ,comets4 ,the sacred books of ,india are full of awed references to the baleful influence of ,comets4 ,the ancient year books of ,china1 written centuries before white men kept any records1 tell of the appearance of ,comets and of the disasters they foretold4 ,the ,mohametans and their wise ,arab star gazers1 when they saw a ,comet in the ,heavens1 knew that it meant war4 ,the woe of one ,comet 7,halley's ,comet of #adef71 which had the shape of a ,turkish scimitar1 so the ,arab soothsayers foretold1 would be turned against their enemies4 ,this was the same ,comet which brought such fear to the hearts of ,pope ,calixtus ,,iii4 and all his ,christian followers4 ,thus it can be seen that ,comets have been held to foretell disaster on one side1 and victory on the other4 ,the ,comets which conquerors hailed as their guiding stars1 have meant war and bloodshed and disaster to those whom they came to conquer4 ,the same ,comets which shone upon the birth of mighty rulers1 have blazed in warning of their death4 ,julius ,caesar1 who was born under a ,comet1 saw his bloody end foretold by another ,comet4 ,therefore1 ,shakespeare in his play 8,julius ,caesar10 makes ,calpurnia say to ,caesar3 8,when beggars die1 there are no ,comets seen2 ,the ,heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes40 ,on the night of ,caesar's assassination1 when the ,comet was seen blazing at its brightest1 the ,romans said that it had come to bear away the great soul of the murdered ,caesar4 ,at the death of ,nero1 the ,roman ,emperor1 who persecuted the ,christians1 a ,comet blazed forth again4 ,the ,roman historian ,suetonius1 who wrote the ,life of ,emperor ,nero1 thus described this ,comet3 8,a blazing star1 which was commonly held to portend destruction to ,kings and ,princes1 reappeared above the horizon several nights in succession40 ,another great ,comet 7,halley's again7 reappeared when ,attila1 the ,king of the ,huns1 the 8,scourge of ,god10 was overthrown in the greatest battle of ,christendom on the ,catalaunian fields4 ,claudius1 a ,roman writer of that period1 then stated that 8a ,comet was never seen in the ,heavens without implying some dreadful event40 ,this has ever been the belief of all the great poets of olden time4 ,homer1 the greatest poet of ,ancient ,greece1 a thousand years before the birth of ,christ1 sang of3 8,the red star1 that from his flaming hair ,shakes down diseases1 pestilence and war40 ,let it be explained here that the word ,comet in ,greek means 8long-haired10 from kome1--hair4 ,virgil1 the greatest ,roman poet1 sang of 8the baleful glare of bloody ,comets10 and again1 of 8dreadful ,comets blazing in the sky40 ,tasso1 the greatest of ,italian poets after ,dante1 sang thus of ,comets in his 8,jerusalem ,delivered03 8,qual con le chiome sanguinose horrende ,splender ,cometa suol per l'aria adusta1 ,che i regni muta1 e i feri morbi adduce1 ,ai purpurei tiranni infausta luce40 --,gerusalemme ,liberata1 ,canto ,,vii41 ,stanza #eb4 ,rendered thus by ,wiffen into ,english3 8,as with its bloody locks let loose in air ,horribly bright1 the ,comet shows whose shine ,plagues the parched ,world1 whose looks the ,nations scare1 ,before whose face ,states change1 and ,powers decline1 ,to purple ,tyrants all1 an inauspicious sign40 ,the great ,english poets1 on their part1 have lifted up their voices to sing of the dire effects of ,comets4 ,shakespeare1 the greatest of them all1 abounds in allusions to these dread wandering stars4 ,thus he makes ,horatio in the first scene of 8,hamlet0 speak with awe of3 8,stars with trains of fire and dews of blood2 99 99 99 99 99 ,and even the like precurse of fierce events1 ,as harbingers preceding still the fates ,and prologue to the omen coming on40 ,more briefly ,shakespeare in his 8,henry ,,vi40 refers to3 8,a ,comet of revenge ,a prophet to the fall of all our foes02 and again1 in 8,the ,taming of the ,shrew0 to3 8,some ,comet or unusual prodigy40 ,spenser in his 8,faerie ,queene0 sings of a woman's hair loosely dispersed in the wind3 8,all as a blazing starre doth farre outcast ,his heavy beames1 and flaming lockes dispredd1 ,at sight whereof the people stand aghast2 ,but the sage ,wizzard telles1 as he has redd1 ,that it importunes death and doleful drearyhedd40 ,john ,milton1 besides likening ,satan to a ,comet1 as before quoted1 also showed that he shared in the belief that the flaming swords mentioned in ,holy ,writ were ,comets3 8,high in front advanced ,the brandish'd sword of ,god before them blazed ,fierce as a ,comet40 ,the poet ,young1 in his 8,night ,thoughts10 aptly writes of the ,comet3 8,hast thou ne'er seen the ,comet's flaming light8 ,th' illustrious stranger passing1 terror sheds ,on gazing ,nations1 from his fiery train40 ,the poets of other nations have written of ,comets in like vein4 ,there is an old ,german rhyme1 sung by ,german school children even to-day1 which has been put into ,english by ,dr4 ,andrew ,d4 ,white in his 8,history of the ,doctrine of ,comets03 8,eight things there be a ,comet brings1 ,when it on high doth horrid range2 ,wind1 ,famine1 ,plague1 and ,death to ,kings1 ,war1 ,earthquake1 ,floods and ,direful ,change40 ,this little rhyme was originally put forth for ,german school children by two ,protestant preachers of ,basle1 ,switzerland1 at the time of the great ,comet of #afah1 which heralded the outbreak of the great 8,thirty ,years' ,war40 ,these ,protestant ministers got their belief in ,comets and their evil influence upon mankind not from the ,church of ,rome1 but from the ,bible teachings of such great ,protestant reformers as ,martin ,luther1 ,melanchthon1 ,zwingli1 ,calvin1 ,john ,knox of ,scotland1 ,bishop ,jeremy ,taylor and ,john ,howe1 the great ,nonconformist divine4 ,martin ,luther preached in one of his ,advent sermons3 8,the heathen write that the ,comet may arise from natural causes2 but ,god creates not one that does not foretoken a sure calamity40 ,luther's friend1 ,melanchthon1 in a letter1 declared ,comets to be 8heralds of ,heaven's wrath40 ,zwingli1 in #aeca1 declared that the great ,comet of that year 7,halley's ,comet7 was sent by ,god to betoken calamity4 ,john ,knox1 preaching in his ,scottish kirk at ,edinboro1 declared that he saw in ,comets tokens of the wrath of ,heaven4 ,the great divines of the ,church of ,england1--from ,cranmer1 ,bishop ,latimer1 ,archbishops ,spottiswoode and ,bramhall1 ,bishop ,jeremy ,taylor1 down to our own times1 clearly preached the doctrine that ,comets must be taken as tokens from ,heaven4 ,thus the ,comet of #aegb was pointed out from the pulpits of ,england and ,scotland as a token of ,heaven's wrath and warning at the ,st4 ,bartholomew ,massacre on the night of ,august #bd1 #aegb1 when thirty thousand ,huguenots were murdered in the streets of ,paris and elsewhere in ,france4 ,across the sea1 in the new ,commonwealth of ,massachusetts1 the great ,new ,england divine and ,president of ,harvard ,college1 ,increase ,mather1 on the apparition of the great ,comet now known as ,halley's1 in #afhb1 preached on 8,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 hand40 ,increase ,mather preached on the text taken from the ,book of ,revelation3 8,and the third ,angel sounded1 and there fell a great ,star burning as a ,torch1 444 and behold the ,third ,woe cometh quickly40 ,in this sermon the great preacher told of the ,roman ,emperor ,vespasian1 who1 when warned of the omen of a ,comet1 made fun of it1 and then died miserably4 ,so ,mather preached3 8,for the ,lord hath fired his beacon in the ,heavens among the stars of ,god there4 ,the fearful sign is not yet out of sight4444 ,do we not see the sword blazing over us8444 ,doth ,god threaten our very ,heavens8 ,o pray unto ,him1 that he would not take away stars and send ,comets to succeed them60 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,terror ,,of ,,the ,,comet ,,of #aeca4 ,,from ,,an ,,old ,,nuremberg ,,wood-,,cut4 ,the profound ,russian thinker ,tolstoy1 in his great book 8,war and ,peace10 has written of the flaming ,comet of #ahaa4 ,this was the famous 8,comet of ,napoleon10 which blazed over ,western ,europe when ,napoleon was gathering his grand army for its disastrous march into ,russia and to ,moscow4 ,at ,moscow1 the ancient capital of ,russia1 this ,comet was observed by anxious thousands4 ,one night there was this talk between a novice nun and the ,abbess of her ,convent4 ,on their way to vesper service one evening in ,moscow the nun suddenly beheld the ,comet for the first time and asked3 8,what is that star80 ,the ,abbess answered3 8,it is not a star4 ,it is a ,comet40 8,but what is a ,comet80 asked the young nun4 8,i have never heard that word40 ,the ,abbess then answered3 8,comets are signs in ,heaven1 which ,god sends before misfortunes40 ,shortly after this the bloody battle of ,borodino was fought1 and ,napoleon1 with his army1 appeared before the gates of ,moscow4 ,the hundred-towered city was abandoned by the ,russians and was given over to the flames4 ,years afterward this same nun thus told her story1 as printed in the 8,revue des ,deux ,mondes03 8,every night the ,comet blazed in the ,heavens1 and we all asked ourselves3 ,what misfortune does it bring8 ,then the enemy came1 and our sacred city was put to the torch4 ,our convent1 together with all other cloisters1 monasteries and churches1 was burned to the ground40 ,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 trail4 ,napoleon himself gloried in this dread omen and hailed the ,comet as his 8guiding star40 ,all this has been fully set forth by the famous ,french astronomer ,messier1 a latter-day observer of ,halley's ,comet1 who wrote a special book on 8,the ,wonderful ,comet which appeared at the ,birth of ,napoleon the ,great40 ,as for the many ,comets that have blazed down upon other great conquerors and other bloody wars1 before the comparatively recent ,comets of the ,american ,civil ,war and the ,napoleonic ,wars1 they are all set down in a special ,history of ,comets4 ,in this great work1 entitled 8,a ,history of ,all ,comets10 the ,latin scholar ,lubienitius has pointed out all the calamities and dire events which attended the appearance of each and every ,comet recorded in history4 ,,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 ,comets4 ,only this year 7#aiaj7 the appearance of ,inness' ,comet over ,mexico caused a panic-stricken holy pilgrimage to the ,shrine of ,talpa4 ,in ,china1 too1 it caused terror1 resulting in ,christian massacres4 ,hence1 also1 several ,jewish massacres inspired by ,comets in the past and hence also so many terrifying plagues connected with ,comets4 ,thus ,ambroise ,par1 the 8,father of ,french ,surgery10 who flourished in the sixteenth century1 has recorded the effect produced upon his contemporaries by the ,comet of #aebh4 8,this ,comet was so horrible10 wrote ,dr4 ,par1 8so frightful1 and it produced such great terror among the common people1 that many died of fear and many others fell sick40 ,dr4 ,par himself appears to have come under the influence of this fear1 judging from his awestruck description of the appearance of this ,comet3 8,it appeared to be of excessive length2 and was of the colour of blood4 ,at the summit of it was seen the figure of a bent arm1 holding in its hand a great sword as if about to strike4 8,at the end of the point there were three stars4 ,on both sides of the rays of this ,comet were seen a great number of axes1 knives1 and blood-coloured swords1 among which were a great number of hideous human faces with beards and bristling hair40 ,hannibal committed suicide on account of a ,comet4 ,so did ,mithridates4 ,so did one ,toma1 in ,hungary1 only this year4 ,king ,louis 8the ,debonair0 of ,france1 died from fear of a ,comet 7,halley's ,comet7 in #hcg ,a4 ,d4 ,emperor ,charles ,v41 of ,germany and ,spain1 the monarch who boasted that 8the sun never set on his dominions10 was so moved by the appearance of a ,comet in #aeef1 that he gave up his crown and became a monk4 ,certain metaphysicians have held that there is a substance in a ,comet1 or in its tail1 which has a weird effect on man's brain1 as moonshine is believed to have on some men1 making them lunatics4 ,as a matter of fact1 as ,arago pointed out1 ,comets have caused tremendous spring tides just like the moon4 ,the same irresistible pull of gravity or electricity or light-pressure must perforce affect other substances besides water1 such as human brains4 ,according to this metaphysical theory1 the close approach of a ,comet to the earth affects and disturbs men's brains1 so that men are inwardly stirred with warlike impulses4 ,hence the great wars almost invariably following the appearance of ,comets4 ,hence1 too1 the appeal to ,comets made by so many conquerors1 from ,william the ,conqueror down to ,napoleon4 ,in the homely phrase of one writer1 8the inner eye of man1 under the weird effect of a ,comet1 sees red and makes him thirst for blood40 ,those rare beings who have lying latent within them the gift of ,second ,sight or divination1 according to this same metaphysical theory1 upon the near approach of ,comets find themselves stirred to prophesy4 ,hence1 so many marvellous prophesies inspired by ,comets since the ancient days of ,merlin1 the seer4 ,illustration3 8,,the ,,comet ,,of #aiaj ,,so ,,alarmed ,,the ,,people ,,of ,,mexico ,,that ,,many ,,thousands ,,went ,,on ,a ,,holy ,,pilgrimage ,,to ,,the ,,shrine ,,of ,,talpa ,,in ,,xalisco40--,mexican ,herald4 ,,this ,,year',s ,,prophecies ,the return of ,halley's ,comet in this ,year of ,our ,lord #aiaj has already called forth several memorable prophesies4 ,on ,january #bjth the ,french astrologer and prophetess ,madame de ,thebes1 who predicted the disastrous ,french floods of this year1 as well as the coming of ,inness' unexpected ,comet1 uttered the following prophesies3 8,this year1 #aiaj1 will be one to look back to with trembling4 8,the earth is under a terrific strain from ,comets and planetary revolutions4 ,human destiny is red4 ,that means blood4 ,political events are black4 ,terrible changes are imminent4 8,this winter1 ,france will be swept by terrible floods4 ,paris will be under water4 ,the influence of form changes in other planets and the coming of a ,comet will affect us for the worse4 8,the strain of the stars will be most severely felt in ,america4 ,the people of ,america will have to pay dearly for all their riches and sudden prosperity4 ,with the coming of another ,comet disaster will descend upon ,america4 8,a financial crash is impending1 to be followed by a long string of suicides4 ,black ruling us1 men will commit all manner of crimes and knaveries for money4 8,the times are swaying toward degeneration4 ,we are swinging within the evil influence of a strange orbit4 ,our souls are jarred from their proper bearings4 ,i dare not say all that is revealed to me4 ,it would be too terrible40 ,soon after this prophesy was uttered came the first of such suicides4 ,adam ,toma1 a wealthy landowner of ,szozona1 ,hungary1 cut his throat because of the ,comet4 ,he left a note saying that the ,comet was the cause of his death4 ,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 sins1 of which the ,comet was a fiery warning4 ,commenting on ,madame de ,thebes' predictions and her connection of the ,comet of #aiaj with this year's spring-floods in ,france1 ,italy and ,germany1 the ,french astronomer ,henri ,deslandres1 late ,director of the ,astronomical ,observatory of ,meudon and member of the ,french ,academy of ,sciences1 said3 8,however distant ,comets may be1 it is not at all impossible that their enormous tails1 measuring #ge1jjj1jjj to #abe1jjj1jjj miles in length1 may come in contact with our atmosphere4 ,the theory that a ,comet may disturb the atmosphere of the earth1 causing rains of great duration1 and consequently inundations and the sudden overflow of rivers1 is not at all absurd4 ,it can be sustained by scientific reasoning40 ,it should be remembered here that ,laplace1 one of the greatest of all astronomers1 credited the deluge to a ,comet4 ,before ,madame de ,thebes' ominous prophesy concerning ,halley's ,comet and its effects upon ,america were cabled over to this country1 another1 no less dire prediction of financial disaster in the ,united ,states1 coincident with the appearance of ,halley's ,comet1 was made by ,w4 ,e4 ,corey1 the ,president of the ,american ,steel ,trust4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,comet ,,of #aiaj1 ,,from ,a ,,telescopic ,,photograph ,,taken ,,at ,,greenwich4 ,mr4 ,corey then warned his friends to 8call in their money and get from under0 because a calamitous financial crash and general business ruin would surely come during the ,spring of #aiaj4 ,the most ominous of all prophesies connected with the coming of ,halley's ,comet this year was made by the venerable ,general ,ballington ,booth1 the head of the ,salvation ,army4 ,speaking in ,london1 immediately after ,halley's ,comet had been located1 early this year1 ,general ,booth said3 8,we are1 this year1 rapidly approaching the end of all things1 with similar results1 but far surpassing in horrors any disaster that has gone before4 8,all things will be wound up4 ,besides a deluge of water sweeping parts of the world and its inhabitants there will be fierce destruction by fire40 ,,famous ,,comets ,,of ,,olden ,,times ,bacon1 the great ,english thinker1 has said3 8,comets have some action and effect on the universality of things40 ,all ,comets recorded in history1 so ,lubienitius has shown in his 8,universal ,history of ,all ,comets10 appeared in connection with some great event or catastrophe in the ,history of ,man4 ,george ,f4 ,chambers1 one of the most up-to-date writers on ,astronomy and ,comets1 on the second page of his 8,story of the ,comets0 7#aiji71 declares3 8,it is the general testimony of ,history during many hundreds of years1 one might even say during fully #b1jjj years1 that ,comets were always considered to be peculiarly #8ominous of the wrath of ,heaven and as harbingers of wars and famines1 of the dethronement of ,monarchs and the dissolution of ,empires4'0 ,reaching back into remotest history1 the sacred books of ,india show that the births of ,krishna and of ,buddha were foretold by moving lights in the ,heavens4 ,the ancient records of ,china tell of the appearance of a moving beacon in ,heaven at the birth of ,yu1 the first ruler of the ,celestial ,empire1 and again at the birth of the great ,chinese prophet1 ,lao-,tse4 ,the ancient ,greeks have recorded similar appearances of ,comets4 ,aesculapius1 the divine healer and first physician1 was born under a ,comet4 ,the oldest traditions of the ,jews tell us that when ,abraham was born a moving star was seen in the ,east4 ,another moving star with long radiant gleams of light streaming behind it shone forth at the birth of ,moses4 ,this ,comet was seen by the ,magi of ,egypt1 who pointed it out to the ,king as an omen meant for him4 ,hence ,pharaoh's order1 as recorded in the ,old ,testament1 for the slaughter of all male ,jewish infants then born in ,egypt4 ,,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 era1 recently found on the north bank of ,nahr-al-,kalb1 near ,beyrut in ,syria4 ,this ,comet is recorded to have been visible to the naked eye for #bi nights4 ,at the time ,lubienitius wrote his big 8,history of all the ,comets0 the exact date of this ,comet had not been fixed4 ,lubienitius1 though1 had a record of this same ,comet1 the date of which he fixes at the year #bcab before ,christ1 the date computed by him and other writers for the beginning of the deluge4 ,in modern times the great ,french astronomer ,laplace credited a ,comet with causing huge floods at the time of the great ,deluge4 ,two hundred and eighty-eight years after the great ,deluge1 according to the records of the ,chaldean star gazers1 there appeared another ,comet4 ,this is the date1 computed by ,lubienitius1 for the building of the ,tower of ,babel and the confusion of tongues4 ,two thousand and sixty-four years before ,christ1 another ,comet appeared1 as recorded by the ,chaldeans4 ,this is the date given for the birth of ,abraham4 ,when ,abraham was seventy years old1 in the year #aidi ,b4 ,c41 a ,comet was seen shining over the ,valley of ,siddim for twenty-two nights4 ,this is the date given by ,bible historians for the destruction of ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 the two cities of iniquity which lay in the ,vale of ,siddim4 ,jewish annalists record a ,comet in ,egypt in the year corresponding to ,b4 ,c4 #ahda4 ,this ,comet shone at the time of the bitter persecution of the ,jews by the ,egyptians4 ,arabian star gazers have recorded a ,comet shining over ,arabia #agcb ,b4 ,c4 ,in that year there was a terrible famine1 of which mention is made in the ,old ,testament4 ,the ancient ,chinese year books record the appearance of a ,comet over northern ,china and ,manchuria in the year corresponding to #aecg ,b4 ,c4 ,the appearance of the ,comet1 so the ,chinese chronicles tell1 was followed by a great flood and disastrous famine4 ,the next ,comet of which we have any record1 appeared #aeae ,b4 ,c4 ,this was at the time of the expulsion of the ,jews from ,egypt4 ,in the year ,b4 ,c4 #aaid1 we are told by ,hyginus that 8,on the fall of ,troy1 one of the ,pleiades group of stars rushed along the ,heavens toward the ,arctic pole1 where the star remained visible with dishevelled hair1 to which the name of ,comet is applied40 ,we are informed by ,pliny1 the ,roman historian1 that in ,b4 ,c4 #ige1 the 8,egyptians and ,ethiopians suffered from a terrible famine1 the dire effects of a ,comet4 ,it appeared all on fire1 and was twisted in the form of a wreath1 and had a hideous aspect4 ,it seemed not to be a star1 but rather a knot of fire40 ,babylonian cuneiform inscriptions tell us that about #ege ,b4 ,c41 when ,nebuchadnezzar overran ,elam1 8a star arose whose head was bright as day1 while from its luminous body a tail extended like the sting of a scorpion40 ,according to ,pliny1 again1 a ,comet in the form of a horn was seen in the year ,b4 ,c4 #dhj1 just before the great invasion of ,greece by ,xerxes ending in the bloody sea fight of ,salamis4 ,the next ,comet mentioned by ,lubienitius appeared in ,b4 ,c4 #dff1 when it was seen for #ge nights all over ,greece4 ,in that year ,greece was ravaged by war between the ,spartans and ,athenians1 and the city of ,sparta was all but destroyed by an earthquake4 ,the next ,comet appeared one generation later in #dca ,b4 ,c41 and was seen through #fj nights all over the ancient world4 ,this ,comet was followed by a terrible pestilence which swept over ,aethiopia1 ,egypt1 ,athens1 and ,rome4 ,war broke out all over ,greece4 ,it was the beginning of the great ,peloponnesian ,war1 which devastated ,greece for a generation to follow4 ,in the year #cid ,b4 ,c41 there was another ,comet seen in ,greece1 followed by the great ,corinthian ,war with the bloody battles of ,knidus and ,koronea4 ,aristotle records a ,comet seen by him in his fifteenth year1 #cga ,b4 ,c4 ,the sight of it inspired the youth to a special study of astronomy4 ,the ,comet was visible until the end of the first week of ,july4 ,on ,july eighth was fought the great battle between the ,thebans and ,spartans1 when ,epaminondas1 one of the greatest generals of antiquity1 overthrew the ,spartans4 ,the next ,comet1 that of #cch ,b4 ,c41 which was likewise observed by ,aristotle1 who had then become the teacher of ,alexander the ,great1 marked ,alexander's first public entry into the history of the world4 ,the ,comet blazed its brightest on the eve of the bloody battle of ,chaeronea1 ,alexander's first victory and achievement in war4 ,in the year #cdd ,b4 ,c41 there was another ,comet1 followed by another war in ,greece and ,sicily4 ,diodorus of ,sicily wrote of this ,comet3 8,on the departure of the expedition of ,timoleon from ,corinth for ,sicily with all his war ships1 the ,gods foretold success by an extraordinary prodigy3 ,a burning torch appeared in the ,heavens for an entire night and went before the fleet into ,sicily40 ,the ,comets of ,carthage4 ,nearly a hundred years passed before the appearance of another ,comet in #bdj ,b4 ,c4 ,this is the first recorded appearance of ,halley's ,comet4 ,by the light of this ,comet1 ,hamilcar1 the great ,carthaginian general1 made his young son ,hannibal swear eternal enmity to the ,romans4 ,hamilcar was then in the midst of preparations for the war against ,rome1 which broke out soon afterward4 ,comets appear to have been stars of special omen to ,hannibal and to his native city1 ,carthage4 ,twenty years later1 appeared another ,comet which shone over ,carthage for #bb nights4 ,its appearance was followed by the outbreak of the great war between ,hannibal and the ,romans1 and by a terrible earthquake in ,greece4 ,the next ,comet shone in #bjd ,b4 ,c41 when ,hannibal suffered his first bloody defeat by ,sempronius1 while ,scipio1 ,hannibal's arch enemy1 was crossing over to ,africa1 for the first attack upon ,carthage4 ,the appearance of the next ,comet1 twenty years later1 #ahd ,b4 ,c41 which shone through #hh nights over ,asia ,minor 8with a horrible lustre0 was followed by the death of ,hannibal4 ,soothsayers at the court of ,king ,prusias of ,bithynia1 in ,asia ,minor1 whither ,hannibal had fled from the ,romans1 told the ,king that the ,comet betokened ,hannibal's early death4 ,this so wrought on ,hannibal's spirit that he ended his life with poison4 ,in the year #aej ,b4 ,c41 appeared another ,comet 8of horrible size40 ,it was seen for many nights running all over the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,its appearance was followed by the outbreak of the third great ,punic ,war between ,rome and ,carthage4 ,within four years another ,comet1 blazing over northern ,africa in #adf ,b4 ,c41 was followed by the fall of ,carthage1 which was stormed and utterly destroyed by the ,romans4 ,mithridates' ,star4 ,mithridates1 ,king of ,pontus1 and conqueror of ,asia ,minor1 another arch foe of the ,romans1 having been born under a ,comet1 seems to have fallen under the bane of ,comets4 ,during the ,winter of #acd-ace ,b4 ,c41 preceding ,mithridates' birth1 a ,comet of unusual lustre flared over ,asia ,minor through #gb days4 ,this ,comet was so bright that its long1 flaming tail was plainly visible even in day time4 ,the ancient historian ,justinus thus described it3 8,its splendour eclipsed that of the midday sun and occupied the fourth part of ,heaven40 ,the next ,comet1 burning through #gb nights again1 preceded ,mithridates' accession to the throne of ,pontus1 #aai ,b4 ,c4 ,mithridates' fourth ,comet1 now identified as ,halley's ,comet1 was seen over ,asia ,minor through the ,winter months of #hg-hh ,b4 ,c41 just before the horrible massacre of #aej1jjj ,italians ordered by ,mithridates4 ,twenty-five years later1 #fc ,b4 ,c41 ,mithridates saw his ,comet for the last time when his own son rose up in arms against him4 ,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 sword4 ,no other ,comet is recorded in ancient history during this century1 except the one which was seen shining over ,italy preceding the birth 7,july #aa1 #ajj ,b4 ,c47 of ,julius ,caesar1 destined to become 8,the foremost man of all this world10 as ,shakespeare calls him4 8,caesar's ,comet0 as it came to be known 7now identified as ,halley's ,comet7 appeared again over ,italy during the great ,civil ,war between ,marius and ,sylla1 when ,caesar was first entering into public affairs and earned his spurs as a warrior4 8,caesar's ,comet0 shone again over ,rome in the year #fj ,b4 ,c41 when ,julius ,caesar1 together with ,pompey and ,crassus1 took charge of the government of ,rome and presently seized supreme power as ,consul of ,rome4 ,ten years later 8,caesar's ,comet0 was seen once more in ,italy in the ,winter months of #di-ej ,b4 ,c41 when ,caesar1 returning from his conquest of ,gaul1 crossed the ,rubicon and began the great ,civil ,war against his rival for power1 ,pompey4 ,the last appearance of 8,caesar's ,comet10 was in #dd ,b4 ,c41 on the death of ,caesar4 ,its coming was foreseen in a dream by ,caesar's wife ,calpurnia1 who warned him of the omen1 as immortalized in ,shakespeare's lines1 put into the mouth of ,caesar's wife3 8,when beggars die1 there are no ,comets seen1 ,the ,heavens themselves blaze forth the death of ,princes02 followed by ,caesar's famous answer1 as culled from ,plutarch by ,shakespeare3 8,what can be avoided1 ,whose end is purposed by the mighty gods8 ,yet ,caesar shall go forth2 for these predictions ,are to the world in general as to ,caesar40 ,on the following morning ,caesar was murdered at the foot of ,pompey's statue in the ,curia4 ,immediately after ,caesar's death1 records the ,roman historian ,suetonius in his 8,life of ,caesar03 8,a ,comet blazed for seven nights together1 rising always about eleven o'clock1 visible to all in ,rome4 ,it was taken by all to be the soul of ,caesar1 now received into ,heaven2 for which reason1 accordingly1 ,caesar is represented in his statue with a star on his brow40 ,only one more ,comet is recorded in ancient history before the birth of ,christ4 ,this was the ,comet1 now identified as ,halley's ,comet1 which shone over the dense forests of ,germany1 eleven years before the birth of ,christ1 when ,drusus1 the brother of ,tiberius1 was warring against the ancient ,germans and robbing them of their last vestige of liberty4 ,at the same time fell the death of ,agrippa1 who ruled over the ,roman ,empire in the absence of ,augustus4 ,,the ,,star ,,of ,,bethlehem ,the coming of the ,messia1 according to the sacred legends of the ,jews1 was to be foretold by a flaming star4 ,many sacred writers have held1 and many still hold1 as did the distinguished ,american astronomer ,r4 ,a4 ,proctor1 that the 8,star of ,bethlehem10 whose shining trail guided the ,wise ,men from ,the ,east1 was a ,comet4 ,lubienitius in his 8,history of ,comets0 expressly mentions the ,star of ,bethlehem as the most important ,comet of history4 ,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 ,arabia1 ,syria1 and the ,holy ,land4 ,when this ,comet appeared ,herod was ,king of ,judea4 ,on the appearance of the ,comet1 ,herod consulted the oracle of the ,sibyl in ,rome4 ,she told him that the ,comet shone in token of a boy destined to be far greater than he4 ,herod grew so afraid at this that he caused to be murdered his own two infant sons1 ,aristobolus and ,alexander1 and after that his eldest son1 the boy ,antipater4 ,herod further ordered the massacre of all male infants born in ,judea under this ,comet1 as told in the ,gospel of ,matthew 7,chap4 ,,ii41 ,verse #a74 ,as the ,comet kept on blazing in the sky1 ,herod1 becoming desperate1 tried to kill himself4 ,five days after this he died of a loathsome disease4 ,christian painters and writers from olden times until now1 accordingly have pictured the ,star of ,bethlehem as a ,comet4 ,take for instance this description of 8,the ,light in the ,sky0 as given by ,lew ,wallace in his 8,ben ,hur3 ,a ,tale of the ,christ03 8,about midnight some one on the roof cried out3 #8,what light is that in the sky8 ,awake1 brethren1 awake and see6' ,the people1 half asleep1 sat up and looked2 then they became wide awake1 though wonder struck4444 ,soon the entire tenantry of the house and court and enclosure were out gazing at the sky4 ,and this is what they saw3 ,a ray of light1 beginning at a height immeasurably beyond the nearest stars1 and dropping obliquely to the earth2 at its top1 a diminishing point2 at its base1 many furlongs in width2 its sides blending softly with the darkness of night2 its core a roseate electrical splendour4 ,the apparition seemed to rest on the nearest mountain southeast of the town1 making a pale corona along the line of the summit4 ,the khan was touched luminously so that those upon the roof saw each others' faces all filled with wonder4 ,steadily the ray lingered4444 #8,saw you ever the like8' asked one4 #8,can it be that a star has burst and fallen8' asked another1 his tongue faltering4 #8,when a star falls its light goes out4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,after that there was silence on the housetop1 broken but once again while the mystery continued4 #8,brethren6' exclaimed a ,jew of venerable mien1 #8what we see is the ladder our father ,jacob saw in his dream4 ,blessed be the ,lord ,god of ,our ,fathers6'0 ,meanwhile the ,wise ,men from the ,east1 as described in the same story1 were travelling over the desert1 on the alert for the apparition of the star1 whose coming had been revealed to them4 8,suddenly1 in the air before them1 not farther up than a low hill-top10 writes ,lew ,wallace1 8flared a lambent flame2 as they looked at it1 the apparition contracted into a focus of dazzling lustre4 ,their hearts beat fast2 their souls thrilled2 and they shouted as with one voice3 #8,the ,star6 the ,star6 ,god is with us6'0 ,,great ,,events ,,linked ,,with ,,comets ,,since ,,christ ,since the time of ,christ1 thanks to the spread of ,christianity and learning1 with the growing zeal for keeping records and studying the stars1 a far greater number of ,comets and events connected therewith have been recorded4 ,a number of learned writers have made a special study of the history of ,comets and their effect upon man4 ,long before ,lubienitius' ponderous work on the subject there were other histories written in ,latin and ,arabic1 with references to which his book abounds4 ,since then others have followed in the same direction1 notably ,pingr1 ,hind1 ,lalande1 ,messier1 ,chambers and latterly ,messrs4 ,crommelin and ,cowell1 of the ,greenwich ,observatory4 ,the number of known ,comets has grown immeasurably since ,galileo's invention of the telescope1 #cjj years ago1 and our later perfections of this instrument1 together with latter-day devices for photographing ,comets invisible to the naked eye4 ,it would carry us too far to trace the possible connection between modern events and ,comets that were seen only by astronomers4 ,since our record of ,comets is already too full1 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 now4 ,,dates ,,of ,,comets ,,followed ,,by ,,important ,,events ,a4 ,d4 #ad--;,a ,comet preceded the death of ,augustus1 the first ,emperor of ,rome4 ,earthquake in ,italy4 #ee--,suicide of ,pontius ,pilate1 the judge who condemned ,christ4 #fh--;,halley's ,comet4 ,suicide of ,nero1 persecutor of ,christians4 ,siege of ,jerusalem4 #gc--;,a ,comet shone #ahj days over ,cyprus4 ,earthquake in ,cypress in which #aj1jjj persons perished4 #gi--;,death of ,emperor ,vespasian1 who began the siege of ,jerusalem4 ,the ,roman historians ,dion ,cassius and ,suetonius relate that ,vespasian1 when taken sick1 heard his astrologers discussing in a low tone of voice the ,comet which was then visible1 which they said predicted his death4 ,the ,emperor roused angrily and said3 8,this hairy star is not meant for me4 ,it must be meant for my enemy1 the ,king of the ,parthians1 for he is hairy1 while ,i am bald40 ,on the following night ,vespasian died in great pain1 and the ,comet was seen no more4 ,shortly after ,vespasian's death followed the fierce eruption of ,mt4 ,vesuvius1 ,nov4 #a1 which destroyed the two flourishing cities of ,herculaneum and ,pompeii4 #acj--;,a ,comet shone over ,holy ,land for #ci nights1 followed by destructive earthquake in ,holy ,land4 #ade--,one week's ,comet over ,island of ,rhodus4 ,earthquake in ,rhodus1 followed by famine and pestilence4 #bag--;,from a ,comet which shone for eighteen nights soothsayers predicted the death of the ,roman ,emperor1 ,caracalla4 ,the ,emperor was murdered immediately afterwards by his rival ,macrinus4 #cab--;,a ,comet in the sign of a cross seen by ,constantine the ,great during battle of ,saxa ,rubra under the walls of ,rome4 ,constantine was victorious and afterward turned to ,christian faith4 #ccg--;,a ,comet seen just before death of ,constantine the ,great4 #cgc--;,halley's ,comet4 ,beginning of tremendous migration of peoples which overran all ,central ,asia and ,europe4 #cii--,this ,comet was described by ,nicephorus as 8of prodigious magnitude and horrible aspect1 with a point like a sword and fiery hair reaching nearly to the ground1 from which a great peril to the people was predicted40 ,its appearance was followed by the conquest and capture of ,rome by ,gainas4 #daj--;,a sword-shaped ,comet shone over ,italy for four months until the third week in ,august4 ,on ,aug4 #bd ,rome was taken and plundered by ,alaric1 ,king of the ,visigoths4 ,this marks the end of the old ,roman ,empire4 #ddb--;,first appearance in ,europe of ,attila1 8,the ,scourge of ,god10 and his ,hunnic hordes4 #ddi-ej--,two ,comets 7now believed to be coming and going of ,halley's ,comet7 were observed over ,england and ,france4 ,first invasion of ,england by the ,anglo-,saxons under ,hengist and ,horsa4 ,attila overthrown in the great battle on the ,catalaunian ,fields1 at which a hundred and eighty thousand warriors fell1 among them ,theoderic1 the ,king of the ,goths4 ,the ,roman historian ,callimachus recorded that this battle was preceded by a brilliant ,comet and an earthquake4 #dec--;,death of ,attila and end of his ,hunnic empire4 #ecj--;,halley's ,comet4 ,merlin1 the ,british seer1 prophesied from this ,comet4 ,his prophesies came true4 #eca--;,comet observed in ,constantinople by the astronomers of ,emperor ,justinian4 ,earthquake in ,constantinople followed by famine and uprising of the people in which two thousand were killed4 ,pestilence4 #ech--,terrible famine throughout civilized world1 so that many people became cannibals4 #edg--;,a lance-shaped ,comet over ,italy4 ,ostro-,goths under ,totila overrun ,italy4 ,totila storms ,rome4 ,mohamet's ,star4 #egj--,scimitar-shaped ,comet over ,arabia4 ,birth of ,mohamet4 #faj--;,another scimitar-shaped ,comet over ,arabia4 ,mohamet begins preaching the ,koran4 #fbb--;,flight of ,mohamet to ,medina4 #fbd--;,fourth scimitar-shaped ,comet over ,arabia and ,holy ,land4 ,mohamet's first battle for the new faith4 ,his massacre of #gjj ,jews4 #fcb--,last appearance of ,mohamet's ,comet during first week of ,june4 ,death of ,mohamet on ,june #h at ,medina4 #hjj--;,a ,comet seen during ,coronation of ,charlemagne as ,emperor of ,rome4 #had--,torch-shaped ,comet seen in ,germany during the first three weeks of ,january4 ,death of ,charlemagne on ,jan4 #bh1 at ,aix la ,chappelle4 ,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 life4 ,eginard preached to them from the text of ,isaiah not to believe in the signs of the heathens4 ,but ,charlemagne reproved him1 saying that he felt that he had reason to thank ,god for having sent him a timely warning of his impending death4 ,thereupon the ,emperor made his testament and divided his empire among his successors4 ,on the day following the disappearance of the ,comet1 he died4 #hcg--;,halley's ,comet observed in ,france by ,king ,louis the ,debonair1 who died from fear of it4 #hgf--;,disastrous flood in ,italy1 followed by plague4 #ijj--;,another ,comet over ,italy4 ,saracens invade ,italy4 #idd--;,comet with an immense tail over ,italy1 followed by disastrous earthquake4 #ajjj--;,in ,january of this year a ,comet was observed all over ,europe4 ,gigibertus describes it 8shaped like a horrible serpent and so bright that its light was seen even indoors40 ,it was generally taken to foretell the end of the world1--the millennium prophesied in the ,apocalypse4 ,when it was followed soon by earthquakes1 floods and famine there was universal panic which was not allayed until the end of the 8fateful year40 #ajjb--;,a ,comet over ,england and ,scandinavia4 ,massacre of all ,danes in ,england by ,king ,ethelred4 #ajff--;,halley's ,comet4 ,it appeared in ,may at ,easter time and shone for forty nights1 waxing and waning with the moon4 ,william the ,conqueror haled it as an omen of destruction to ,harold of ,england just before the battle of ,hastings4 #ajgg--;,comet over ,italy and ,germany4 ,emperor ,henry ,,iv4 of ,germany was excommunicated by the ,pope1 followed by war in ,italy and ,germany4 ,crusaders' ,comets4 #ajii--;,arabic astronomers record a ,comet in the shape of a scimitar over ,arabia and the ,holy ,land for six weeks in ,spring and early ,summer4 ,first crusade and storming of ,jerusalem by the crusaders on ,july #ae after a siege of five weeks4 ,bloody massacre of ,mohammedans4 #aaji--;,emperor ,henry ,v4 of ,germany enters ,rome and makes ,pope prisoner4 #aadh-i--,second crusade4 ,utter destruction of whole army of ,french and ,german crusaders4 #abjj--;,comet recorded by ,hal ,ben ,rodoan1 an ,arab astronomer1 over ,north ,africa4 ,bloody revolt of ,arab warriors in ,morocco4 #abab--,lance-shaped ,comet shining over western ,europe for eighteen nights4 ,the ,children's ,crusade4 ,thousands of ,german and ,french boy crusaders perished or were sold into slavery4 ,bloody invasion of ,tartar hordes into ,russia and ,poland4 #abbc--,preaching of fifth crusade4 ,outbreak of 8,guelph and ,ghibelline0 war between ,emperor ,frederick ,,ii4 of ,germany and ,pope ,gregory the ,,ix4 #abfd--,very bright ,comet observed shining all over ,europe for three months4 ,pope ,urban ,,iv4 died on the night of the ,comet's disappearance4 ,a ,latin verse gained great currency in which it was said that the ,comet portended 8disasters1 sickness1 hunger1 and war40 ,the chronicles of that age ascribe to this ,comet besides the death of the ,pope a famine and pestilence in ,italy1 the ravages of the ,russians into ,poland and of the ,slavs into ,prussia4 ,comets of ,bloodshed4 #abhb--;,an immense ,comet over ,italy4 ,disastrous earthquake in southern ,italy4 ,on ,march #cj1 a fortnight after the first appearance of the ,comet followed the massacre of all ,frenchmen in ,sicily on the evening of ,easter ,monday1 known in history as the 8,sicilian ,vespers40 #abih--;,because of the appearance of a ,comet over middle ,germany1 there were riots in ,nuremberg and other neighbouring cities followed by a general massacre of the ,jews in those cities4 #acjj--;,a brilliant ,comet preceded the ,jubilee of ,pope ,boniface the ,,viii4 ,the ,pope interpreted the ,comet as a happy omen1 but because of the popular dread of the ,comet there were riots and blood shed in ,rome and elsewhere in ,italy4 ,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 ,france1 causing him to die of rage4 ,plague ,comets4 #acje--;,a ,comet 8of horrible aspect0 burning all through ,passion ,week preceded the outbreak of the terrible black plague which swept from the ,orient all over ,europe and ,asia4 #accc--;,chinese and ,arab astronomers record a bright ,comet over ,china1 ,turkestan and ,persia4 ,birth of ,tamerlane1 the 8,scourge of the ,nations0 at ,samarkand1 in ,turkestan4 #acdg--;,a ,comet precedes the 8,black ,death10 a terrible pestilence followed by famine all over the world4 ,one-fourth of all the people of ,europe died4 ,fifteen million deaths in ,china1--twenty-five million in ,europe4 #acfc--;,a ,comet of immense size shone for three months over northern ,europe4 ,pestilence and famine in ,england1 ,poland and ,russia4 #acgh--;,halley's ,comet4 ,pestilence in ,germany4 ,holy ,church is rent by the great schism1 with rival popes at ,rome and ,avignon4 ,tamerlane's ,star4 #achb--;,arab astronomers and ,chinese report a very bright ,comet which shone a fortnight4 ,tamerlane and his hordes overrun ,central ,asia4 ,pestilence breaks out there and spreads all over the world4 #adjb--;,arab astronomers report another ,comet seen all over the ,east4 ,tamerlane carries war into ,europe and takes ,constantinople by storm4 ,sultan ,bayezid is taken prisoner by ,tamerlane and is carried to ,asia in a cage4 #adje--;,chinese astronomers record a spear-shaped ,comet over ,china4 ,tamerlane dies while invading ,china4 #adef--;,halley's ,comet4 ,bloody war between the ,christians and the ,turks4 ,battle of ,belgrade4 #adib--;,arab astronomers record a ,comet over northern ,africa and ,spain4 ,final conquest of ,granada from the ,moors by ,ferdinand and ,isabella of ,spain4 ,discovery of the ,new ,world4 #aejj--,sword-shaped ,comet over northern ,europe1 followed by ,tartar invasion into ,russia and ,poland4 #aebh--;,a ,comet noted by ,ambroise ,par1 who recorded that many people fell sick and died of fright4 ,war between ,emperor ,charles ,v4 of ,germany and ,francis ,i4 of ,france1 with fighting in ,france1 ,germany and ,italy4 #aeca--;,halley's ,comet4 ,plague in ,italy4 ,great schism in the ,church4 ,defection of ,german ,protestants from ,rome4 ,henry ,,viii4 of ,england declares ,english ,church independent of ,rome4 ,sultan ,soleyman ravaged ,hungary4 ,disastrous floods in ,holland1 where #djj1jjj people were drowned4 #aeef--;,emperor ,charles ,v4 of ,germany and ,spain1 on account of his fear of the ,comet that appeared in that year1 abdicated his throne and became a monk4 ,wide-spread wars all over ,europe4 ,the ,turks ravaged ,hungary4 ,persecutions of ,english ,protestants under 8,bloody ,mary40 ,many ,protestants burned at the stake1 beheaded or broken on the rack4 #aegb--,st4 ,bartholomew's ,comet4 ,massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew1 when #cj1jjj ,huguenots were slaughtered in ,france4 #aegg--;,general persecution of ,huguenots in ,france1 followed by ,civil ,war in ,france4 #afjg--;,a ,comet seen over ,constantinople for several weeks4 ,wide-spread war on the part of the ,turks against the ,persians on one side1 the ,poles on another1 and against ,venice on the third4 #afah--;,a blood-coloured ,comet observed just before the execution of ,sir ,walter ,raleigh in ,england4 ,a bloody rising of the ,protestants in ,bohemia1 followed by the outbreak of the terrible ,thirty ,years' ,war in ,germany and the ,netherlands4 ,this was the ,comet which gave rise to the ,german school rhyme3 8,eight things a ,comet always brings1 ,wind1 ,famine1 ,plague and ,death to ,kings1 ,war1 ,earthquake1 ,floods and ,dire ,things40 ,louis ,,xiv4's ,star4 #affa--;,inspired by the appearance of a ,comet1 a horde of fanatics under ,venner1 a cooper1 preached the coming of the 8,fifth ,monarchy0 in ,england1 and proclaimed ,jesus ,christ as their only ,king4 ,the fanatics were routed and put to death4 ,death of ,mazarin1 the 8,master of ,france40 ,rise of ,louis ,,xiv41 the most powerful ruler of ,france4 ,french war against the ,pope4 #afhj--,this ,comet was studied by ,halley1 in ,paris1 and by ,newton1 in ,england4 ,it was called 8,heaven's ,chariot40 ,plague in ,europe4 ,the ,french overrun ,alsace and carried war into ,germany4 ,war between ,venice and the ,turks4 #afhb--;,halley's ,comet4 ,war in ,italy4 ,war in ,hungary against the ,turks4 #afhi--;,a remarkable ,comet observed all over ,europe1 followed by war all over ,europe4 ,wars between ,france1 ,germany1 ,england1 ,spain and ,italy4 ,the ,rhine lands were harried by the ,french with fire and sword1 rendering #d1jjj1jjj people homeless4 ,burning of the castle of ,heidelberg by the ,french4 ,religious war in ,ireland and ,scotland4 ,siege of ,londonderry and ,dundee4 ,battle of ,newton ,butler in ,ireland4 #agbi--,war between ,france1 ,england and ,spain4 ,frederick the ,great's ,star4 #agdd--;,a six-tailed ,comet observed in ,germany just before the death of ,emperor ,charles ,,vii4 ,his death followed by war between ,frederick the ,great and ,maria ,teresa of ,austria4 ,war spreads to ,england1 ,holland1 ,france1 ,spain and ,italy4 ,a ,british fleet beaten by ,french and ,spaniards off ,toulon4 #agee--;,a ,comet precedes earthquake of ,lisbon1 by which #dj1jjj people lost their lives4 #agei--;,halley's ,comet4 ,seven ,years' ,war in ,germany4 ,frederick the ,great overthrown in four bloody battles4 ,french lose ,canada by their disastrous defeat of the plains of ,abraham1 and lose ,india by the loss of their fleet through three successive defeats on the sea4 ,napoleon's ,star4 #agfi--8,napoleon's ,comet40 ,a ,comet of unusual red lustre was observed over ,italy and ,france4 ,french overrun ,corsica4 ,bloody massacre of ,corsicans4 ,birth of ,napoleon on ,august #ae in ,corsica1 just after the ,comet was seen no more4 #ahaa-ab--,this huge ,comet was one of the most famous ,comets of modern times4 ,it was first seen in ,france on ,march #bf1 #ahaa1 and was last observed over southern ,russia on ,august #ag1 #ahab--;an appearance of seventeen months1 the longest on record4 ,for a while it had two tails1 then only one4 ,the length of this tail was estimated as #ajj1jjj1jjj miles4 ,it was called 8,napoleon's ,comet40 ,under its lustre ,napoleon gathered his 8grand arme10 the greatest army assembled in ,europe since ,xerxes1 and invaded ,russia4 ,wars were fought at the same time in ,portugal and ,spain1 where the ,british stormed ,ciudad ,rodrigo and ,badajos2 and in ,america1 where ,harrison's victory over the ,indians under ,tecumseh at ,tippecanoe1 and the seafight between the 8,president0 and 8,little ,belt0 ushered in the ,war of #ahab4 ,in ,egypt the ,comet was taken as an omen of the bloody massacre of the ,mamelukes perpetrated at ,cairo4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,great ,,comet ,,of #ahaa4 #ahba--8,napoleon's ,comet40 ,seen one night only over ,france and over ,st4 ,helena the night before the death of ,napoleon at ,st4 ,helena4 #ahbc--;,a ,comet much mentioned by ,spanish writers4 ,while it shone over ,spain1 ,south ,america and the ,mediterranean1 the ,french overran ,spain and reinstated the ,spanish king4 ,revival of the ,spanish ,inquisition and bloody persecutions of the revolutionists4 ,war of ,independence in ,central and ,south ,america4 ,bloody war of ,greek ,independence4 #ahce-f--;,halley's ,comet4 ,new ,york ,city all but destroyed by fire4 ,zulu massacre of ,boers at ,weenen4 ,mexican massacre of ,americans at the ,alamo4 ,wars throughout ,south ,america4 #ahdc--;,another famous ,comet seen all over the world during the ,spring of that year4 ,especially brilliant in the ,southern ,hemisphere and in ,india4 ,war in ,india on the part of the ,british against ,afghanistan1 ,beluchistan1 ,scinde and against the ,sikhs4 #ahdh--;,encke's famous periodic ,comet4 ,bloody revolutionary risings and civil wars in ,france1 ,hungary1 ,bohemia1 ,austria1 ,germany1 ,italy and ,poland4 #aheh-i--;,donati's ,comet4 ,this ,comet1 which appeared to be charging straight down from the zenith1 and had a curved tail1 was observed from ,june #aheh to ,april #ahei4 ,it was seen at its brightest in the ,south1 in ,italy1 ,mexico and in the ,far ,east4 ,while it shone over the ,far ,east there were bloody wars between the ,british and the risen people of ,india2 between the ,british and the ,chinese1 who objected to having opium thrust upon them2 while ,japan was in the throes of revolution and civil war4 ,in ,mexico the standard of revolt against the clericals was raised by ,juarez1 thus plunging ,mexico into civil war and war with ,france4 ,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 other1 ending in the bloody ,battle of ,solferino4 ,civil ,war ,comets4 #ahfa--8;,first ,civil ,war ,comet40 ,the brightest ,comet of the nineteenth century4 ,sir ,john ,herschel1 the great ,english astronomer1 said of this ,comet3 8,it far exceeded in brightness any ,comet ,i have before observed1 those of #ahaa and the recent splendid one of #aheh not excepted40 ,the ,comet was first seen by a layman1 and appeared at its brightest during the ,summer months in ,north ,america4 ,its coming was heralded as a token of the great ,civil ,war which broke out then in ,america4 #ahfb--8,second ,civil ,war ,comet40 ,another ,comet of very peculiar appearance1 with jets of flame flaring from its head1 showed itself during the ,summer months in ,north ,america4 ,the ,civil ,war was then at its height4 ,the coming of the ,comet was taken to herald the bloody battles of ,shiloh1 ,williamsburg1 ,seven ,days1 ,seven ,pines1 ,cedar ,mountain and ,antietam1 all fought that year after the ,comet's appearance4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,great ,,comet ,,of #ahdc ,,as ,,seen ,,on ,,march #ag ,,from ,,blackheath1 ,,kent4 #ahgd--;,coggia's ,comet4 ,this ,comet was seen at its brightest over ,southern ,france and ,spain during the ,summer months of that year4 ,spain was then in the throes of the bloody ,carlist ,war4 ,garfield's ,comet4 #ahha--;,garfield's ,comet4 ,this ,comet showed itself for a few nights only in ,march during the week following ,president ,garfield's inauguration4 ,it was observed also in ,russia4 ,on ,march #ac1 ,emperor ,alexander ,,ii4 of ,russia1 was assassinated with a bomb4 ,three months later ,president ,garfield was assassinated in ,washington4 ,war ,comets4 #ahhb--;,comet of ,tel-el-,kebir4 ,a ,comet with two tails was seen at its brightest over ,egypt during the first two weeks of ,september4 ,egypt was then in the midst of ,arabi ,pasha's uprising against the ,british4 ,on ,september #ah1 when the ,comet was last seen1 ,arabi ,pasha was overthrown by ,general ,wolseley in the bloody battle of ,tel-el-,kebir4 #aijd-e--,manchurian ,war ,comet4 ,from the early part of ,february1 #aijd1 until ,midsummer1 #aije1 ,chinese observers recorded the appearance of a ,comet over ,northern ,china4 ,throughout that period ,manchuria was ravaged by the bloody war between the ,japanese and ,russians4 ,earthquake ,comets4 #aijf--,san ,francisco ,comet4 ,a ,comet discovered by ,ross on ,march #ag1 remaining visible for one month4 ,observed from the ,lick ,observatory in ,california4 ,on ,april #ag came the ,california earthquake and burning of ,san ,francisco4 #aijh--,morehouse's ,comet4 ,visible for more than a month1 during the autumn4 ,in ,italy it was interpreted afterward as an omen foreboding the ,messina earthquake late in the year4 ,this ,year's ,comets4 #aiaj--;,inness' ,comet1 otherwise known as 8#aiaj ,a04 ,an unexpected ,comet of short duration during ,january4 ,on the appearance of this ,comet ,madame de ,thebes1 a ,french astrologer1 predicted floods and general disaster for ,france4 ,the disappearance of the ,comet in ,france was followed by unprecedented rains and floods which covered one-fourth of ,france with water and inundated ,paris1 completely submerging all the bridges over the ,seine4 ,floods also in ,italy and ,germany4 ,this ,comet was likewise observed in ,china late in ,january1 where it caused universal consternation4 #aiaj--,pidoux's ,comet4 ,another unexpected ,comet was first observed by ,pidoux1 in ,geneva1 during a few nights late in ,february4 ,it is recorded astronomically as 8#aiaj ,b04 ,its fleeting observations by astronomers were followed by ,socialist franchise riots in ,germany and by the labour riots of ,philadelphia1 with widespread bloodshed between the rioters and the constabulary4 #aiaj--;,halley's ,comet of this year was first 8picked up0 by ,dr4 ,wolf1 in ,germany4 ,already various astrologers have foretold disaster from its coming4 ,it remains to be seen whether their predictions will come true4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,great ,,comet ,,of #ahhb1 ,,on ,,october #i1 ,,at #d ,a4 ,m4 ,,halley',s ,,baleful ,,comet ,among all the stars known in astronomy1 the periodically returning ,comet now known as ,halley's ,comet has the most baleful record4 ,in this ,comet's wake1 after every one of its recorded appearances1 there have always followed terrible disasters4 ,not only war and battles1 or other deeds of bloodshed1 such as massacres and murders1 but each of the dread disasters that are held to go with ,comets have followed along one after the other in this ,comet's train4 ,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' ,war1 8,wind1 ,famine1 ,plague and ,death to ,kings ,war1 ,earthquakes1 ,floods and ,dire ,things40 ,halley's ,comet is known to have preceded each and every form of these evils in turn4 ,directly after each return of ,halley's ,comet there has always followed somewhere within the influence of its rays one or other of those 8dire things10--a flood1 an earthquake1 a hurricane1 famine1 plague1 war1 bloodshed1 or the sudden death of a ruler4 ,thanks to the careful work of such painstaking astronomers and historians as ,lubienitius1 ,pingr1 ,dionys de ,sjour1 ,j4 ,russell ,hind1 ,laugier1 and ,messrs4 ,cowell and ,crommelin1 the records of great events connected with ,halley's ,comet have been traced back nearly #b1jjj years1 to the days before ,christ4 ,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 omen4 ,herewith follows the story of this ,comet's periodic appearances in history and of the events connected therewith1 as traced back from its last return in #ahce to its first recorded entrance into the history of mankind4 #ahce-ahcf ,halley's ,comet last appeared in the ,summer of #ahce1 and was seen until ,spring of the following year4 ,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 #f1 #ahce4 ,father ,dumouchel1 who had been watching for it many months1 picked it up close to the spot in the heavens that ,rosenberger1 a ,german astronomer1 had predicted for its appearance on that date4 ,the last astronomer to see the ,comet was ,sir ,john ,herschel1 who observed it from the ,cape of ,good ,hope until the middle of ,may1 #ahcf4 ,other noted astronomers who made observations of it were ,arago1 ,struve1 ,bessel1 ,kaiser1 ,sir ,thomas ,maclear1 ,admiral ,smyth1 ,baron ,damoiseau and ,count ,pontcoulant4 ,this last astronomer1 many years before1 had computed the exact time of its coming and came within four days of it4 ,for this brilliant feat ,count ,pontcoulant received a gold medal from the ,french ,academy of ,sciences4 ,illustration3 ,,halley',s ,,comet ,,of #ahce4 ,,from ,a ,,drawing ,,by ,,rosenberger4 ,the ,german astronomer1 ,rosenberger1 who had likewise computed the ,comet's return1 coming within five days of its passage nearest to the ,sun1 received a similar gold medal from the ,royal ,astronomical ,society of ,great ,britain4 ,professor ,struve1 who studied the ,comet through the great telescope at ,dorpat in ,russia1 described it as 8glowing like a red-hot coal of oblong form40 ,bessel1 who observed it from the ,koenigsberg observatory in ,northern ,germany1 described the ,comet's appearance as that of 8a blazing rocket1 the flame from which was driven aside as by a strong gale1 or as the stream of fire from the discharge of a cannon when the sparks and smoke are carried backwards by the wind40 ,struve at ,koenigsberg and ,kaiser at ,leyden were the first to see the ,comet with their naked eyes in the third week of ,september4 ,immediately after the ,comet became generally visible in the ,old ,world the bubonic plague1 known of old as the 8,black ,death10 broke out in ,egypt4 ,in the ,city of ,alexandria alone #i1jjj people died on one day4 ,by the ,moslems this calamity was generally attributed to the evil influence of the ,comet4 ,in ,america the ,comet became visible to the naked eye only late in the year4 ,then1 on its approach to the ,sun1 it was lost to view and passed over to the ,southern ,hemisphere where it was next observed by ,sir ,john ,herschel in ,south ,africa4 ,shortly after its brief blaze over ,north ,america the great 8,new ,york ,fire0 laid waste the entire business section of the biggest city in the ,new ,world4 ,all the commercial centre of the city1 including the richest firms and largest commercial warehouses1 were laid in ashes4 ,the fire raged through days and nights4 ,in all1 #ecj houses burned down and #ah1jjj1jjj of property was consumed4 ,owing to the intense cold1 the sufferings of the homeless were pitiable4 ,down in ,florida1 at the same time1 ,osceola1 the chieftain of the ,seminole ,indians1 called upon the ,comet as a signal for war against the whites4 ,the ,indians called the ,comet 8,big ,knife in the ,sky40 ,the war began with a bloody massacre of ,american soldiers under ,general ,wiley ,thompson at ,fort ,king4 ,all were slaughtered4 ,osceola scalped ,general ,thompson with his own hands4 ,on the same day1 ,major ,dade of the ,american ,army1 who was leading a relief expedition into ,florida from ,tampa ,bay1 was ambushed by the ,indians near ,wahoo ,swamp and was massacred with his men4 ,of the whole expedition only four men escaped death4 ,within forty-eight hours of this horrible massacre came another bloody ,indian fight on the banks of the ,big ,withlacoochee4 ,with the passing of the ,comet to the ,southern ,hemisphere1 bloody wars broke out one after another in ,mexico1 ,cuba1 ,central ,america1 ,ecuador1 ,bolivia1 ,peru and ,argentina4 ,all those countries were in a welter of blood4 ,at the same time the ,american settlers of ,texas declared themselves independent and made open war on ,mexico4 ,the war began with the bloody battle of ,gonzales1 in which #ejj ,american frontiersmen fought and defeated over a thousand ,mexican soldiers4 ,this was followed by other fierce fights at ,goliad and ,bexar4 ,next came the bloody massacre of the ,alamo1 when all of ,jim ,bowie's and ,davy ,crockett's ,american followers were killed in an all night fight4 ,out of #bjj ,americans every man fell at his post4 ,this was the deed of blood on which ,joaquin ,miller wrote his stirring ,ballad of the ,alamo4 8,santa ,ana came storming as a storm might come1-- ,there was rumble of cannon2 there was rattle of blade2 ,there was cavalry1 infantry1 bugle and drum1-- ,full seven thousand1 in pomp and parade1 ,the chivalry1 flower of ,mexico1 ,and a gaunt two hundred in the ,alamo40 ,one month before the final disappearance of the ,comet1 the ,texas ,war came to an end with the bloody battle of ,san ,jacinto1 when ,sam ,houston1 with #hjj ,american frontiersmen1 defeated #a1ejj ,mexicans1 and made a prisoner of ,president ,santa ,ana of ,mexico4 ,when the ,comet had passed to the ,southern ,hemisphere1 it was seen at its brightest in ,south ,africa4 ,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 rivers1 where they founded the ,orange ,free ,state and ,transvaal ,republic4 ,thus the ,comet was the signal for the first blood drawn in the long fight between the ,british and ,boers4 ,a little later1 though1 the ,boers found another1 more woeful significance for the blazing of the ,comet4 ,under the leadership of ,piet ,relief1 a thousand ,boer families had trekked across the ,drakensberg ,mountains into ,natal4 ,a solemn treaty of peace with the ,zulu warriors was entered into with ,dingaan1 the chief of the ,zulus at ,dingaan's ,kraal4 ,suddenly the ,zulus pounced upon the unsuspecting ,piet ,relief and his sixty-five ,boer followers and massacred them to a man4 ,then the ,zulus1 numbering some #aj1jjj warriors1 swept out into the veldt and made for the ,boer wagon trains4 ,near ,colenso1 at a spot called ,weenen 7weeping71 in remembrance of the dreadful tragedy there perpetrated1 the ,zulus overwhelmed the ,boer laager and slaughtered all its inmates--#da men1 #ef women1 #ahe children and #bej ,kaffir slaves4 ,after this bloody massacre1 equalling in horror the ,massacre of the ,alamo on the other side of the world1 the ,comet of #ahce-cf was seen no more4 #ageh-agei ,this was the first return of the ,comet predicted by ,halley4 ,hence it must be reckoned as the first appearance of 8,halley's ,comet0 under his name4 ,it was first seen on ,christmas night1 #ageh1 by ,john ,palitsch1 a ,saxon farmer1 near ,dresden1 who was looking for it with a self-constructed telescope of eight-foot focus4 ,the ,comet did not become visible to the naked eye until well into #agei4 ,it passed around the sun on ,march #ab1 #agei4 ,after that it was seen throughout ,europe during ,april and ,may1 appearing at its brightest during the first week in ,may4 ,later it was seen to advantage in the ,southern ,hemisphere4 ,in ,germany1 where it was seen at its fiercest1 the ,comet was taken as a token of the bloody ,seven ,years' ,war1 which was then being fought between ,frederick the ,great and his enemies on all sides4 ,the ominous ,comet had scarcely vanished from view when all ,germany was overrun by marching armies from ,france1 from ,austria1 from ,russia4 ,the ,french1 under the ,duke of ,broglie1 overthrew the ,germans1 under the ,duke of ,brunswick1 at ,bergen1 and seized the city of ,frankfurt4 ,then came the bloody battle of ,minden1 in which two large ,french armies were beaten4 ,meanwhile the ,russians were marching into ,prussia1 and another bloody battle was fought at ,kay in midsummer4 ,within a fortnight ,king ,frederick the ,great and his whole army were overthrown by the ,austrians and ,russians in the disastrous battle of ,kunersdorf4 ,another ,prussian army was overcome at ,maxen1 where #ac1jjj ,prussians were taken4 ,altogether1 during this year's campaigns1 several hundred thousand soldiers lost their lives4 ,it was the worst year of the ,seven ,years' ,war for ,frederick the ,great and his soldiers1 who attributed their bloody defeats to the ill omen of the ,comet4 ,in other parts of the world1 likewise1 the coming of the ,comet was followed by widespread war and bloody fighting4 ,for the ,french1 the ,comet signalled disaster after disaster4 ,after their armies had been beaten in ,germany1 their navy was defeated on ,august #ag in a great sea fight in the ,bay of ,lagos1 on the coast of ,portugal4 ,six weeks later there was another bloody sea fight between the ,british and ,french1 when ,admiral ,pocock inflicted a telling defeat on the ,french fleet4 ,then came the final ,french naval disaster off ,quiberon1 in the ,bay of ,biscay1 when ,admiral ,hawke destroyed ,french naval power by sinking or blowing up over a score of the ,french fighting ships4 ,this bloody defeat was a disaster of untold consequences to the ,french1 since it meant the loss of ,india4 ,but this was not all that this ,comet of ill omen had brought to the ,french4 ,on ,september #acth 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 ,abraham1 where ,wolfe himself fell fighting4 ,on the ,french side1 ,general ,montcalm1 the ,commander-in-,chief1 was mortally wounded4 ,this meant the loss of ,quebec and of all ,canada to the ,french1 an event of far-reaching importance that has changed the destiny of all ,america and of the modern world4 #afhb ,the ,comet which put ,halley on the right track in his theories of ,comets1 first came into view on the night of ,august #ae1 #afhb4 ,it was first detected by ,flamsteed's assistant at the ,greenwich ,observatory1 while searching the northern heavens with a telescope4 ,flamsteed1 the first ,astronomer ,royal1 and ,halley1 his successor1 kept a close watch upon the ,comet every night1 and followed its course over the sky4 ,others who watched it were ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 ,cassini1 ,picard and ,la ,hire in ,paris1 ,baert at ,toulon1 ,kirch and ,zimmermann in ,germany1 ,montanari at ,padua1 and ,hevelius in ,dantsic4 ,they observed that the tail lengthened considerably as the ,comet came nearer the sun4 ,later a jet of luminous matter was seen shooting out toward the sun1 which afterward fell back into the tail4 ,hevelius has left us a drawing of this phenomenon4 ,on ,november #aath1 ,halley found that the ,comet had come within a semi-diameter of the path of our earth4 ,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 intersect4 ,assuming as he did that the mass of the ,comet was considerably larger than our earth1 he declared3 8,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 chaos40 ,illustration3 ,,halley',s ,,comet1 ,,january #i1 #afhc1 ,,as ,,drawn ,,by ,,hevelius4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,comet ,,of #afhb1 ,,as ,,represented ,,in ,,the ,,nuremburg ,,chronicle4 ,illustration3 ,,medal ,,struck ,,in ,,germany ,,to ,,allay ,,the ,,terror ,,caused ,,by ,,the ,,comet ,,of #afhj-ha4 ,,translation ,,of ,,inscription3 8,,the ,,star ,,threatens ,,evil ,,things--,,only ,,trust6 ,,god ,,will ,,make ,,it ,,turn ,,out ,,well40 ,others beside ,halley took alarm at the ,comet4 ,they called it 8,the ,chariot of ,fire40 ,dr4 ,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 flames4 ,in ,america1 the ,rev4 ,increase ,mather1 ,president of ,harvard ,college1 on the appearance of the ,comet in ,new ,england1 preached his great sermon on 8,heaven's ,alarm to the ,world 444 wherein is shown that fearful sights and signs in the ,heavens are the presages of great calamities at hand40 ,increase ,mather's warning was handed down as an inspired prophesy1 in view of the fact that the ,english settlers in ,north ,america soon afterwards got into bloody warfare with the ,indians4 ,the war raged at its fiercest in the ,carolinas1 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 ,indies4 ,to the ,indians the ,comet appeared as a sign of ill omen1 as shown by their frequent references to it during the parleys with the white men4 ,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 men1 only to be foully murdered with all their followers4 ,while this was going on in ,america1 the ,comet gave the signal in ,india for the first hostilities there upon the white settlers from ,portugal1 as well as for the outbreak of the bloody ,mahratta ,war1 which ravaged ,india for a generation to come4 ,nearer ,east1 the ,turks1 under the leadership of ,mohammed ,bey1 ravaged ,egypt1 while1 on the other side1 a ,turkish army under ,kara ,mustapha carried war into ,hungary1 to the very gates of ,vienna1 until ,emperor ,leopold felt constrained to call for help from ,sobieski1 the warrior king of the ,poles4 ,in ,europe the ,french overran ,alsace1 and suddenly seized the ,german city of ,strasburg4 ,at the same time the bubonic plague broke out in ,north ,germany4 ,in the little university town of ,halle alone1 within a few days1 #d1cig people died out of a total population of ten thousand4 ,it was then that medals were struck off in ,germany with a design of the comet on their face1 and an inscription imploring ,god to avert the evils threatened by the ,comet3 8,the star threatens evil things2 ,only trust6 ,god will make it right40 #afjg ,the ,comet this year was seen all over ,europe4 ,the best observations of it were made by ,kepler and ,longomontanus 7,langberger74 ,it was seen at its brightest in ,england4 ,shortly after its appearance over ,england1 there came freshets and floods which completely submerged the richest counties of ,england4 ,in ,somersetshire and ,gloucestershire the water rose above the tops of the houses4 ,this was followed by a visitation of the plague4 ,in ,ireland the ,comet was taken as an omen of the fate of ,londonderry1 where the ,irish rebels1 suddenly seizing the city1 massacred ,sir ,george ,powlett and all his ,english garrison4 ,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 ,germany4 ,off ,gibraltar1 a ,dutch fleet completely destroyed a fleet of ,spanish war galleons1 thereby crippling ,spanish sea power for a generation to come4 ,meanwhile1 in ,america1 the early settlers in ,virginia1 led by ,john ,smith1 found themselves beset by the redskins1 who were incited to war by the appearance of the ,comet4 ,they called it 8,red ,knife in the ,sky40 ,during the war1 ,john ,smith was taken prisoner1 and escaped with his life only through the intercession of ,pocahontas1 the daughter of ,powhattan4 #aeca ,the ,comet was first sighted by the ,german astronomer ,bienewitz 78,apianus07 in midsummer of this year4 ,zwingli preached about it as an omen of disaster4 ,german astrologers regarded it as a herald of the wars between ,spain and ,france1 which broke out in that year1 and of the bloody war carried into ,hungary by the ,turks under ,soleyman1 who ravaged the ,danube country to the very walls of ,vienna4 ,these wars were followed by a visitation of the black plague4 ,in the ,netherlands the breaking of the ocean dykes caused terrific floods1 in which over #djj1jjj people were drowned4 ,toward the close of the year the ,comet passed over to the ,southern ,hemisphere4 ,to the aborigines of ,south ,america it proved a star of dreadful omen4 ,during this year the most cruel of ,spanish conquerors did their bloodiest work in the ,new ,world--,cortez in ,mexico1 ,alvarado at the ,equator1 and ,pizarro in ,peru4 ,before the ,comet disappeared from view1 several hundred thousand wretched ,incas and ,aztecs had been slaughtered by the ,spaniards1 while many more hundred thousands were worked to death as slaves4 #adef ,the ,comet this year was observed throughout ,europe and also in ,china4 ,it came into view over ,europe on the #bith of ,may1 and was seen gliding over the sky towards the moon4 ,writers of that period say that it shone with exceeding brightness and spread out a fan-shaped train of fire4 ,the ,arab astronomers describe its shape as that of a ,turkish scimitar1 which1 blazing against the dark sky1 was regarded as a sign from heaven of the war then raging against the ,christian infidels4 ,a clear story of the ,comet's appearance has been left by the ,bavarian ,jesuit1 ,brueckner 7,pontanus74 ,he based his story on the record of ,georgos ,phranza1 ,grandmaster of the ,wardrobes to the ,emperor of ,constantinople4 ,there the ,comet is described as 8rising in the ,west2 moving towards the ,east1 and approaching the ,moon40 ,by the ,chinese this ,comet was described as having a tail sixty degrees long1 and a head 8which at one time was round1 and the size of a bull's eye1 the tail being like a peacock's40 ,halley wrote of this ,comet in #afhf3 8,in the summer of the year #adef a ,comet was seen1 which passed in a retrograde direction between the earth and the sun4 ,from its period and path1 ,i infer that it was the same ,comet as that of the years #aeca1 #afjg and #afhb4 ,i may therefore with confidence predict its return in the year #ageh40 ,the appearance of the ,comet in #adef was so well remembered even #bbe years later1 because this was the scimitar-shaped ,comet hailed by the conquering ,turks as their guiding star1 against the evil influence of which ,pope ,calixtus ,,iii4 exhorted all ,christians to pray to ,god4 ,this story has been denied by certain latter-day sceptics1 but the medieval historian ,platina1 who was living in ,rome at the time1 and who knew whereof he spoke1 wrote in his 8,lives of the ,popes0 in #adgj3 8,a hairy and fiery star having then made its appearance for several days1 the mathematicians declared that there would follow grievous pestilence1 dearth and some great calamity4 ,calixtus1 to avert the wrath of ,god1 ordered supplications that if evils were impending for the human race ,he would turn all upon the ,turks1 the enemies of the ,christian name4 ,he likewise ordered1 to move ,god by continual entreaty1 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 ,turk40 ,in truth1 all ,christendom appeared indeed to have fallen under the 8wrath of ,god10 for the ,turks2 having wrested ,constantinople away from the ,christians1 now came ravaging up the ,danube countries and laid siege to the ,christian city of ,belgrade4 ,bloody battles were fought between the ,magyars and ,turks on the ,danube1 until ,hunyadi1 the great ,magyar leader1 at last overthrew the ,turks under ,mahomet ,,ii41 under the walls of ,belgrade1 in a great battle1 in which no less than #bd1jjj ,turks were slain4 ,this was on ,july #bast1 on the eve of which day the ,comet had been seen to blaze at its fiercest4 #acgh ,the ,comet appeared late in the year1 and was seen at its brightest over ,northern ,europe1 in ,scotland1 ,scandinavia1 ,russia and ,poland4 ,all these countries1 during the same period and immediately afterwards1 were cursed by the terrible pestilence called the 8,black ,death10 now known to have been the worst visitation of the bubonic plague known in history4 ,wherever the dread sickness appeared1 the people 8died like rats40 ,so many succumbed to the disease1 and so many others fled aghast from the pestilence1 that whole cities and towns were left empty1 and no labourers could be found to till the fields4 #acja ,the ,comet this year was first observed by ,german and ,flemish astrologers during the late ,summer and ,autumn4 ,it was interpreted as an ill omen of the wars which then ravaged ,europe4 ,immediately after the appearance of the ,comet1 ,emperor ,albrecht of ,germany ravaged the ,rhine lands with fire and sword4 ,afterwards the ,german astrologers explained the ,comet as a warning omen of the death of the ,emperor's son ,rudolf1 who died within a twelvemonth of his coronation as ,king of ,bohemia4 ,in ,flanders the ,comet was taken as a heavenly token of the fierce war which followed the bloodstained massacre of #c1jjj ,french soldiers by the enraged people of ,flanders4 ,soon after this came ,robert of ,artois' bloody defeat at ,coutrai1 the famous 8,battle of the ,spurs10 so called from the thousands of gilt spurs that were taken afterwards from the feet of the slain ,french cavaliers4 #abbb ,the ,comet during this year is recorded by the ,chinese astronomers in the months of ,september and ,october4 ,during these months1 and immediately afterwards1 ,jenghis ,khan1 the bloody ,mongol conqueror1 with his fierce ,mongol hordes1 was ravaging all ,china1 ,persia1 ,india and the ,caucasus country as far as the ,river ,don4 ,the ,comet was taken as a special omen of the terrible fate of the ,city of ,herat and its surrounding country1 where the bloodthirsty conqueror caused to be slaughtered over a million of people4 ,jenghis ,khan1 who believed in stars and omens1 having been born with bloodstained hands1 hailed the ,comet as his special ,star4 ,under its rays he extended his immense ,empire to its outermost boundaries from the ,china seas to the banks of the ,dniepr in ,russia4 ,after the ,comet's disappearance1 ,jenghis ,khan regarded the planets that had crossed its orbit as stars of ill omen1 betokening his death1 so he set his face backward from his march of conquest1 and soon afterwards died in ,mongolia4 #aade ,the ,comet appeared over ,europe early in ,spring4 ,it was seen at ,rome in ,march and ,april4 ,inspired by the appearance of the ,comet1 ,pope ,eugenius ,,iii4 called for a crusade against the ,moslems4 ,st4 ,bernard in ,france took up the cry1 and preached a holy war all over ,france4 ,on ,easter ,sunday1 ,king ,louis ,,vii4 of ,france1 his ,queen and all his nobles1 received the ,cross from ,st4 ,bernard at ,vizelay4 ,in ,rome1 however1 the ,comet was taken as a token of the ,pope's downfall4 ,arnold of ,brescia preached against the ,pope and aroused the ,roman populace against him4 ,the ,holy ,father had to flee4 ,on the disappearance of the ,comet1 the ,pope returned and excommunicated the ,patricians of ,rome4 ,arnold of ,brescia was taken and strangled in his cell4 ,later historians1 like ,lubienitius1 accordingly interpreted the ,comet as a sign of warning rather than as an ill omen4 #ajff ,this is the most famous appearance of the ,comet now known as ,halley's ,comet4 ,under its seven rays1 that year1 ,william the ,conqueror felt inspired to fall upon ,england1 while ,harold1 the ,saxon1 on the other hand1 saw in the ,comet a star of dread foreboding and of doom4 ,the medieval chronicles of this year all make special mention of the ,comet4 ,a picture of the ,comet1 as it appeared to the doomed ,harold1 was embroidered by ,matilde of ,france1 on the famous coloured tapestry of the ,norman ,conquest1 which is still preserved at ,bayeux in ,normandy4 ,zonares1 the ,greek historian1 in his account of the death of ,emperor ,constantinus ,ducas 7who died in ,may1 #ajfg71 writes of the ,comet as 8large as the full moon1 and at first without a tail1 on the appearance of which the star dwindled in size40 ,the ,chinese astronomers have recorded that this ,comet had seven tails1 and was seen for sixty-seven days1 after which 8the star1 the blaze1 and the star's tails all drew away40 ,illustration3 ,,halley',s ,,comet1 #ajff4 7,from the ,bayeux ,tapestry47 ,the ,christian chroniclers record that this ,comet1 8in size and brightness equalled the full moon1 while its tail1 slowly lengthening as it came near the ,sun1 spread out into seven rays and arched over the heavens in the shape of a dragon's tail40 ,sigebert of ,brabant1 the ,belgian chronicler of that time1 wrote of it3 8,over the island of ,britain was seen a star of a wonderful bigness1 to the train of which hung a fiery sword not unlike a dragon's tail2 and out of the dragon's mouth issued two vast rays1 whereof one reached as far as ,france1 and the other1 divided into seven lesser rays1 stretched away towards ,ireland40 ,william of ,malmesbury wrote how the apparition affected the mind of a fellow monk of his monastery in ,england4 ,his words were3 8,soon after the death of ,henry1 ,king of ,france1 by poison1 a wonderful star appeared trailing its long tail over the sky4 ,wherefore1 a certain monk of our monastery1 by name ,elmir1 bowed down with terror at the sight of the strange star1 wisely exclaimed1 #8,thou art come back at last1 thou that will cause so many mothers to weep2 many years have ,i seen thee shine1 but thou seemest to me more terrible now that thou foretellest the ruin of my country4'0 ,another old ,norman chronicler1 by way of defending the divine right of ,william of ,normandy to invade ,england1 wrote3 8,how a ,starre with seven long ,tayles appeared in the ,skye4 ,how the ,learned sayd that newe ,starres only shewed themselves when a ,kingdom wanted a ,king1 and how the sayd ,starre was yclept a ,comette40 ,william himself appealed to the ,comet as his guiding star4 ,it shone at its brightest during the ,summer months while ,william was preparing his expedition at ,st4 ,valery4 ,when the spirits of his followers failed them1 ,william pointed to the blazing ,comet and bid monks and priests who accompanied his expedition to preach stirring sermons on the 8wonderful ,sign from ,heaven40 ,the trip across the ,english ,channel1 late in ,september1 was lighted up by the ,comet1 and under its lustre the ,norman invaders first pitched their camp at ,pevensey4 ,once more1 when ,william's ,norman followers quailed at the fierce work before them1 ,william pointed to the ,comet as a token of coming victory4 ,a fortnight later1 directly after the disappearance of the ,comet1 the ,battle of ,hastings was fought1 in which ,king ,harold and his ,saxon thanes lost their lives and their country4 ,afterwards1 when ,queen ,matilda and her court ladies embroidered the pictorial story of her husband's ,conquest of ,england in the huge tapestry of ,bayeux1 they did not forget the ,comet4 ,they represented ,harold cowering in alarm on his throne1 whilst his people are huddled together1 pointing with their fingers at the fearful omen in the sky1 the birds even being upset at the sight4 ,the ,latin legend over the picture 8,isti ,mirant ,stella0 7they marvel at the star71 makes it all plain4 ,as ,i4 ,c4 ,bruce1 the editor of 8,the ,bayeux ,tapestry ,elucidated10 has said3 8,this embroidery is remarkable for furnishing us with the earliest human representation we have of a ,comet40 ,the ,comet of #ajff will ever be famous for ushering in a new era for ,england4 ,even to-day ,halley's ,comet is remembered as 8,the ,comet of the ,conquest40 ,illustration3 ,,william ,,the ,,conqueror4 7,an ,english ,dream47 ,halley's ,comet appeared in #ajff--,when ,william the ,conqueror took ,england4 ,halley's ,comet is here to-day4--,kladderadatsch 7,berlin74 #ihi ,the appearance of the ,comet this year was marked by bloody wars all over ,europe4 ,the ,lombards under ,otho were harrying the ancient ,roman ,empire1 while the heathen ,danes and ,wends ravaged ,germany4 #iab ,the ,comet appeared early in the year and was seen over ,germany1 as noted in the chronicles of the monks of ,st4 ,gallus in ,switzerland4 ,immediately after the appearance of the ,comet1 ,germany was ravaged by war1 both inside and outside1 the ,empire being invaded on all sides by the ,danes in the ,north1 the ,slavs in the ,northeast1 and the ,magyars from ,hungary4 #hcg ,the ,chinese ,astronomers record two ,comets for this year1 one in ,february1 and the other in ,april4 ,but the modern view is that this was the same ,comet1 as seen going to the ,sun1 and afterward1 when it was coming away from the ,sun4 ,immediately after the appearance of the ,comet there followed a widespread rebellion in ,china with much bloodshed and fierce reprisals4 ,the only ,christian record of the ,comet we have is that of ,eginard1 an astrologer employed at the ,court of ,louis the ,debonair1 in ,france4 ,this is ,eginard's account of the ,comet3 8,in the midst of the holy festival of ,easter there shone forth in our sky a sign always ominous and of sad foreboding4 ,as soon as the ,emperor--who was in the habit of gazing up into the sky at night--first saw the ,comet1 he had me called before him1 together with another learned star gazer4 ,as soon as ,i came before him he asked me what ,i thought of the sign in heaven40 8#8,let me have but a little time1' ,i asked of him1 #8that ,i may study this sign and see the exact constellation of the other stars around it1 thus to gather from the stars the true meaning of this portent1' promising him that ,i would tell him on the morrow of the results of my studies4 8,but the ,emperor1 guessing that ,i was trying to gain time--as was indeed the truth1 lest ,i be driven to tell him something unlucky and fatal to him--he said to me3 8#8,go up on the terrace of the palace and look4 ,then come back at once and tell me what thou hast seen6 ,for ,i did not see this star last night2 nor didst thou point it out to me2 but ,i know that sign in heaven is a ,comet4 ,thou must tell me true what it forebodes to me6' 8,then1 before ,i could say anything1 he said3 #8,there is another thing thou art hiding from me4 ,it is that changes in ,kingdoms and the deaths of rulers are foretold by this sign4' 8,to soothe him ,i reminded the ,emperor of the words of the ,prophet ,isaiah1 who said3 #8,fear not signs in the ,heaven1 like unto the ,heathen4' 8,but the ,emperor smiled sadly and said3 #8,we should believe only in ,god on ,high1 who has created us and also all ,stars in ,heaven4 ,since ,he has sent this ,star1 and since this unlooked for ,sign may be meant for us1 let us look upon it as a warning from ,heaven4'0 ,thereupon ,louis the ,debonair betook himself to fasting1 prayers1 and the building of churches and shrines1 he and all his ,court4 ,shortly thereafter he died4 ,the ,french chronicler1 ,raoul ,glaber1 afterward wrote in his chronicle3 8,comets never show themselves to man without foreboding surely some coming event1 marvellous or terrible40 #gfj ,a ,comet appeared in the ,spring of this year1 which without any doubt whatever was ,halley's4 ,it was recorded in detail both by ,european and ,chinese annalists1 and its orbit has been calculated and identified by ,laugier4 ,a ,greek record of ,constantinople tells how 8a ,comet like a great beam0 and very brilliant was observed in the twentieth year of ,emperor ,constantine ,v41 surnamed ,copronymus1 first in the ,east and then in the ,west1 for about thirty days4 ,its appearance was followed next ,winter by a biting frost throughout the ,orient1 which endured #aej days1 from ,october until ,february1 blighting all crops in ,egypt and elsewhere in the ,eastern ,empire4 #fhd ,chinese annals record a ,comet observed in the ,west in ,september and ,october4 ,this accords with the computed time for the course of ,halley's ,comet that year4 ,immediately after the ,comet's appearance1 ,china and the ,far ,east were ravaged by the black plague4 ,millions died of it4 ,baeda the ,venerable1 in his 8,chronicle of the ,english ,people10 records that the plague also reached ,england4 #fjg ,all ,europe and the former ,roman ,empire were in such dire confusion during this period that no records of this year1 either astronomic or historical1 have come down to us4 ,messrs4 ,cowell and ,crommelin1 however1 have computed astronomically that the ,comet must have appeared during this year4 ,all we know is that ,italy and the ,latin ,world were overrun by ravaging ,slavonian hordes from ,hungary1 who made all the country run with blood4 #ecj ,of the ,comet this year1 likewise1 there is no astronomic record4 ,all we know is that the appearance of a ,comet is noted in ,european chronicles4 ,it was followed by a virulent outbreak of the black plague4 ,in the legendary history of ,merlin1 the ancient ,british seer1 it is stated that on the appearance of a ,comet this year he prophesied that ,uter1 brother of ,ambrosius1 on the death of the latter1 should rule the kingdom2 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 power2 and that the ray 8that goes toward ,ireland represents a daughter1 of whom thou shalt be the father1 and her sons and grandsons shall reign over all the ,britons40 ,these prophecies all came true4 #dea ,the ,comet which appeared over ,europe this year has been proven by ,laugier to have been ,halley's ,comet4 ,it was seen in ,france just before the monster battle on the ,catalaunian ,fields 7,chlons-sur-,marne71 when ,aetius1 the last of the ,romans1 together with ,king ,theoderic and his ,goths1 stemmed the tide of ,hunnish invasion led by ,attila1 the 8,scourge of ,god40 ,theoderic1 together with #adh1jjj warriors on both sides1 were slain in this tremendous fight1 which alone saved ,europe from ,tartar savagery4 #cgc ,chinese annals of this year record a ,comet seen in the northern constellation of ,ophiuchus in ,october4 ,this year marks the beginning of the tremendous migration of peoples1 which started in ,mongolia and ,tartary1 and crossing the ,volga gradually overflowed all the known world1 like a huge human deluge4 #bie ,the appearance of a ,comet this year 7identified by ,hind with ,halley's7 was followed by a bloody rebellion of the ancient ,britons against the ,romans1 and by another rebellion against ,rome by the ,egyptians4 ,these patriotic uprisings of the people were suppressed with fire and sword and both countries ran with blood4 #bah ,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 ,hind4 ,in the ,chinese record the ,comet is described as 8pointed and bright40 ,its coming was connected with the death of ,emperor ,ween-te directly afterward1 and the ,civil ,wars between various claimants to the throne of the ,celestial ,empire1 which then rent ,china asunder4 ,dion ,cassius1 the ,roman historian1 describes the ,comet of this year as 8a very fearful star with a tail stretching from the ,west towards the ,east40 ,the ,roman augurs explained the ,comet as a portent of the bloody death of ,emperor ,macrinus of ,rome1 who was murdered by his own soldiers on the night after the disappearance of the ,comet4 #ada ,in this year the ,chinese astronomers recorded a ,comet in ,march and ,april 7the time computed for ,halley's ,comet71 which they described as 8a star six or seven cubits long and of a bluish-white colour40 ,the coming of the ,comet was followed by a virulent outbreak of the plague in ,china and the ,far ,east1 which spread all over the known world4 ,so virulent was this pestilence that in the ,city of ,naples alone #djj1jjj people died of the disease4 #fe-ff ,halley's ,comet1 according to astronomic calculations1 must have made its reappearance during the winter months of #fe-ff ,a4 ,d4 ,the ,chinese have recorded 8two ,comets10 one in #fe1 which was seen for fifty-six days1 and 8the other0 in ,february1 #ff1 which remained visible fifty days4 ,this was the ,comet which ,st4 ,peter and ,josephus saw over the ,city of ,jerusalem1 before the fall of the ,holy ,city4 ,josephus wrote of it3 8,amongst other warnings1 a ,comet1 of the kind called ,xiphias1 because their tails appear to represent the blade of a sword1 was seen above the doomed city for the space of nearly a whole year40 ,jerusalem was ravaged by pestilence and famine and soon afterward was stormed by the ,roman soldiery led by ,titus4 ,the ,temple was burned down and the streets of the ,holy ,city ran with blood4 ,it was the end of ,jerusalem and of the ,jews as a free city and people4 ,b4 ,c4 #aa ,this is the farthest back that the appearances of ,halley's ,comet have been traced in history4 ,for earlier appearances there are no sufficiently trustworthy computations or records4 ,dion ,cassius in his 8,history of ,rome0 has recorded 8a ,comet which hung suspended over the ,city of ,rome just before the death of ,agrippa10 who ruled over the ,roman ,empire during the absence of ,augustus in ,greece and ,asia4 ,agrippa was so universally beloved1 and his death was held to be such a loss to ,rome that he was buried with imperial honours in the tomb intended for ,augustus4 ,the death of ,agrippa occurred in the year #ab1 shortly after the disappearance of the ,comet which ,hind has identified with ,halley's4 99 99 99 99 99 ,this completes the record of all the known appearances of ,halley's ,comet4 ,the record fully justifies ,chambers' dictum1 that the 8,comet known as ,halley's is by far the most interesting of all the ,comets recorded in history40 ,this historic record also appears to justify in no small measure the popular beliefs of the last two thousand years concerning ,comets1 as expressed by ,leonard ,digges in his book on ,prognostics1 published #cej years ago3 8,cometes signifie corruption of the ayre4 ,they are signs of earthquakes1 of warres1 of changying of ,kyngdomes1 great dearth of food1 yea a common death of man and beast from pestilence40 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,edmund ,,halley ,the great ,french astronomer ,lalande considered ,halley the greatest astronomer of his time4 ,this opinion is still held4 ,halley's 8time0 means the age of ,kepler1 ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 ,flamsteed1 ,hevelius1 and ,leibnitz1 all of whom achieved first rank in ,astronomy4 ,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 ,sun1 our ,earth and the other ,planets swinging around our ,sun4 ,halley was the first to discover and to prove that the ,comets that come within the vision of man have fixed periods of return4 ,he made this discovery during the appearance of the great ,comet of #afhb1 which has since been known by his name4 ,in his studies of the motions of ,comets1 of which ,halley computed the orbits of twenty-four1 he observed that a ,comet of similar phenomena1 recorded by ,appian in #aeca and by ,kepler in #afjg1 had swung through the same orbit as the ,comet under his observation in #afhb4 ,halley surmised from this that these ,comets might be one and the same1 whose intervals of return appeared to cover a period of seventy-five or seventy-six years4 ,halley's surmise seemed to be confirmed by the recorded appearance of similar bright ,comets in the years #adef1 #acgh1 and #acja1 the intervals again being seventy-five or seventy-six years4 ,halley was deeply imbued with ,newton's new discovery of gravitation1 for the publication of which ,halley paid the expenses1 so he brought the principles of ,newton's theory of gravitation to bear on his own new theory of the motions of ,comets4 ,he rightly conjectured that ,comets were drawn to our ,sun across the disturbing orbits of our planetary system1 and that the comparatively small differences of one or two years in the recorded intervals of this one ,comet 7,halley's ,comet7 were due to the attraction of the larger planets4 ,during the previous year1 #afha1 ,halley computed that the ,comet had passed near the planet ,jupiter1 the attraction of which must have had a considerable influence on the ,comet's motion4 ,making due allowance for this disturbing influence of ,jupiter1 he computed that the ,comet would return to the vicinity of our ,sun about the end of #ageh or beginning of #agei4 ,halley did not live to see his prediction fulfilled 7he died in #agdb71 but he wrote shortly before he died3 8,if this ,comet should return according to our predictions about the year #ageh1 impartial posterity will not refuse to acknowledge that this was first discovered by an ,englishman40 ,all through the year #ageh the most noted astronomers of ,europe were on the lookout for the return of the predicted ,comet4 ,one of these astronomers1 ,messier1 looked for it through his telescope at the ,paris ,observatory every night from sunset to sunrise throughout that whole year4 ,on ,christmas night1 #ageh1 the ,comet was first seen by a ,german peasant near ,dresden1 who had heard about the ,comet and was looking for it4 ,he was a man of unusually good eyesight1 yet his discovery was doubted until ,messier1 nearly a month afterward1 at ,paris1 8picked up0 the ,comet with his telescope4 ,from that time forth this ,comet1 which returned in #ahce1 and is reappearing in this year 7#aiaj71 has been known as ,halley's ,comet4 ,illustration3 ,,edmund ,,halley4 ,besides this achievement1 ,halley accomplished many other noteworthy feats in astronomy1 such as his discovery of the proper motions of the fixed stars2 his detection of the 8long inequality0 of ,jupiter and ,saturn1 and of the acceleration of the moon's mean motion2 his theory of variation1 including the hypothesis of various magnetic poles1 with his suggestion of the magnetic origin of the aurora borealis2 and his indication of a method still used for determining the solar parallax by means of the transits of ,venus4 ,on the strength of these achievements1 ,halley for many years was elected to serve as secretary to the ,royal ,society4 ,commissioned as a ,captain in the ,royal ,navy1 he also commanded a vessel on a long cruise of exploration1 and late in life he was made ,astronomer ,royal4 ,although in his sixty-fourth year1 he then undertook to observe the moon through an entire revolution of her nodes 7eighteen years71 and actually carried out his purpose4 ,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 air4 ,observatories cannot be heated because the heat would impair the accuracy of the instruments4 ,great astronomers1 like poets1 are born1 not made4 ,edmund ,halley was one of these4 ,at the age of seventeen he had already observed the change in the variations of the compass4 ,at nineteen he was recognized as an astronomer of reputation1 having supplied a new and improved method of determining the elements of the planetary orbits4 ,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 astronomy4 ,with this end in view he set out on a voyage to the other side of the globe1 ,st4 ,helena1 where he undertook the task of making complete new observations of the entire ,southern ,hemisphere4 ,though the ,heavens proved clouded he succeeded within two years in registering three hundred and sixty stars1 a colossal achievement which won for him the title of the 8,southern ,tycho40 ,this was when ,halley was barely of age4 7,the famous astronomer ,tycho ,brahe1 long before this had won his fame by mapping the stars of the ,northern ,heavens47 ,no one could well have begun with prospects more remote from so high a career1 for ,edmund ,halley was born in #afef1 the son of a soap boiler in a shabby ,london suburb4 ,from the refuse of rancid fat and lye the boy was rescued by friends1 who procured for him a scholarship at ,saint ,paul's school4 ,by his brilliant attainments in mathematics he won another scholarship to ,oxford ,university4 ,while at ,oxford the youth published a treatise on the planetary orbits and argued the ,sun's axial rotation4 ,on his graduation from ,oxford1 the young would-be astronomer conceived the project of turning his attention to the southern ,stars1 of which no good observations had been made4 ,shortly before this time a ,dutch astronomer1 named ,houtman1 had observed these ,stars in the island of ,sumatra2 and ,blaeu1 the best globe maker of the age1 had used these new observations in the correction of his celestial globes4 ,halley1 on examining these corrections1 came to the conclusion that he himself could do better4 ,he also concluded that the ,island of ,st4 ,helena might be a better point for southern observations4 ,his father1 unable to pay the expenses of so long a trip1 broached the project to some friends4 ,the young astronomer was recommended to ,king ,charles ,,ii4 by ,williamson and ,jones ,moore1 and the ,king in turn recommended the youth to the ,indian ,company1 which then had control over the island of ,st4 ,helena4 ,after this all was plain sailing4 ,the ,india ,company placed a ship at his disposition and promised him all the assistance he required4 ,young ,halley provided himself with telescopes1 and micrometers1 and other instruments of the latest approved pattern4 ,in ,november1 #afff1 at the age of twenty1 he sailed for ,st4 ,helena4 ,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 ,flamsteed1 the ,astronomer ,royal4 ,halley was disappointed in the climate of ,st4 ,helena4 ,frequent rains and a constantly hazy sky scarcely permitted any observations in the months of ,august and ,september4 ,notwithstanding these difficulties1 he succeeded in observing and cataloguing some #cfj ,stars4 ,in addition to his work on the ,stars1 ,halley made some investigations on the ,moon's parallax1 combining his observations at ,st4 ,helena with those made in northern skies4 ,he also evolved a new theory of the ,moon's motion1 which proved of great aid in the determination of longitudes4 ,on ,november #g1 #afgg1 ,halley observed a transit of ,mercury which suggested to him the important idea of employing similar phenomena for the calculation of the ,sun's distance4 ,halley returned to ,england in ,november1 #afgh1 and was hailed by his fellow astronomers as the 8,southern ,tycho40 ,he was elected a fellow of the ,royal ,society1 and by the ,king's command the degree of ,master of ,arts was conferred upon him by the ,university of ,oxford4 ,six months later ,halley set out for ,dantsic for a personal conference with ,hevelius1 the ,polish astronomer4 ,halley wanted to satisfy himself as to the accuracy of observations claimed by ,hevelius without the aid of a telescope4 ,halley convinced himself that the errors of the observations made by ,hevelius were less than had been supposed1 and did not exceed a minute of an arc4 ,the two became life-long friends4 ,halley proceeded to other cities of ,europe where there were observatories4 ,in ,paris he observed with ,cassini the great ,comet of #afhj4 ,this was the beginning of ,halley's special study of ,comets4 ,returning to ,england1 the young astronomer married the daughter of ,mr4 ,tooke1 auditor of the ,exchequer1 with whom he lived harmoniously until her death1 fifty-five years later4 ,the young couple settled at ,islington1 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 sea4 ,halley's mind at the same time was busy with the momentous problem of gravity1 upon which ,isaac ,newton was working then4 ,independently of ,newton1 ,halley reached the conclusion that the central force of the ,solar ,system must decrease inversely as the square of the distance4 ,having applied vainly to his fellow astronomers1 ,hooke and ,wren1 ,halley in ,august1 #afhd1 made a special journey to ,cambridge to consult ,isaac ,newton1 who confirmed his conjectures4 ,halley and ,newton became life-long friends4 ,halley had ,newton elected to the ,royal ,society1 and when ,newton became too poor to pay his quarterly dues1 ,halley1 through his influence with the leading members of the ,society1 had them remitted4 ,it was ,halley who encouraged ,newton to put his momentous discovery and elucidation of the forces of gravity into permanent form in his 8,principia10 the first volume of which1 8,de ,motu10 was presented to the ,royal ,society at ,halley's suggestion4 ,in the proceedings of the ,royal ,society for ,december1 #afhd1 there is an entry that 8,mr4 ,halley had lately seen ,mr4 ,newton at ,cambridge1 who had told him of a curious treatise #8,de ,motu1' which at ,mr4 ,halley's desire he promised to send to the ,society to be entered upon their register4 ,mr4 ,halley was desired to put ,mr4 ,newton in mind of his promise for the securing this invention to himself1 till such time as he could be at leisure to publish it40 ,early in the following year ,newton sent his treatise to the ,society1 to whom it was read aloud by ,halley4 ,this treatise 8,de ,motu0 was the germ of the 8,principia0 and was intended to be a short account of what the greater work was to embrace4 ,during the next two years ,newton was hard at work on his 8,principia10 while ,halley was equally hard at work on his computations of the ,comet of #afhb1 and on his theory of the orbits and the periodical returns of ,comets which grew out of his observations4 ,on ,april #ba1 #afhf1 ,halley read to the ,royal ,society his own 8,discourse ,concerning ,gravity and its ,properties10 in which he stated that his 8worthy countryman1 ,mr4 ,issac ,newton1 has an incomparable treatise on ,motion almost ready for the press10 and that the law of the inverse square 8is the principle on which ,mr4 ,newton has made out all the phenomena of the celestial motions so easily and naturally that its truth is past dispute40 ,shortly afterward ,newton sent in the manuscript of his great work4 ,the ,society voted 8that a letter of thanks be written to ,mr4 ,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 ,mr4 ,halley40 ,the truth was that the ,royal ,society1 at that time1 did not have money enough to print the book4 ,the ,society went through the empty form of 8ordering0 that the book be printed 8forthwith10 but no printer was forthcoming until ,halley himself undertook the publication of the great work at his own expense4 ,the delicacy of ,halley's feeling is revealed by his correspondence with ,newton1 in which he informed ,newton that the book had 8been ordered to be printed at the ,society's charge40 ,the preliminary delay about printing he explained to ,newton 8arose from the ,president's attendance on the ,king1 and the absence of the vice-presidents1 whom the good weather had drawn out of town40 ,later ,newton came to realize how much he owed to ,halley in this matter4 ,in his letters to ,halley henceforth he always referred to his book as if it had been ,halley's book4 ,when the great work was finished at last ,newton wrote to ,halley under the date of ,july #e1 #afhg3 8,i have at length brought your book to an end1 and hope it will please you40 ,the finished work contained a note to this effect3 8,the inverse law of gravity holds in all the celestial motions1 as was discovered also independently by my countrymen ,wren1 ,hooke1 and ,halley40 ,the book was dedicated to the ,royal ,society1 and to it was prefixed a set of ,latin hexameters addressed by ,halley to the author1 ending with the well known line3 8,nec fac est propius mortali attingere divos40 78,it is not given to a mortal to get in closer touch with the gods407 ,halley was fifty years old when he made his famous prediction of the return of the ,comet of #afhb4 ,this was in his 8,synopsis of ,comet ,astronomy10 which ended with these words3 8,hence ,i may venture to foretell that this ,comet will return again in the year #ageh40 ,besides being an astronomer of the first class1 ,halley was also a good navigator4 ,in #afih he was commissioned a captain in the ,royal ,navy and was put in command of the ,king's ship1 8,the ,paramour ,pink40 ,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 variations4 ,this task he accomplished in a voyage which lasted two years and extended to the fifty-second degree of southern latitude1 when the ice compelled him to turn back4 ,on the return voyage his crew mutinied and his lieutenant sided with the mutineers4 ,halley quelled the mutiny by sheer force of personality1 and returning to ,england got rid of his lieutenant4 ,the results of his voyage were published in his 8,general ,chart of the ,variation of the ,compass0 in #agja4 ,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 ,channel1 an elaborate chart of which he published in #agjb4 ,next ,halley was sent by the ,king to ,dalmatia1 for the purpose of selecting and fortifying the port of ,trieste4 ,on ,halley's return to ,england1 he was made ,savilian professor of geometry at ,oxford1 and received an honorary doctor's degree4 ,he filled two terms of eight years each as secretary to the ,royal ,society1 and early in #agbj he succeeded ,flamsteed as ,astronomer ,royal4 ,he died on ,january #ad1 #agdb1 at the age of eighty-five in the full possession of his faculties1 the foremost astronomer of the day and a man universally beloved and respected4 ,his gravestone stands at the ,greenwich ,observatory4 ,halley's works fill several shelves in the library of the ,royal ,society4 ,his fame is kept green by the periodical return of the wandering star known by his name4 ,,what ,,are ,,comets8 ,the modern answer to the question 8,what are ,comets made of80 is this3 ,probably the heads are a mixture of solid and gaseous matter4 ,the tails are gaseous--the result of the volatilisation of the solid matter of the heads4 ,the spectroscope shows that gases appear to be a constituent of all ,comets4 ,the spectra of ,comets are very similar to those of a ,bunsen flame4 ,recent spectroscopic photographs have revealed the presence of hydrocarbons1 nitro-carbons1 of cyanogen and of the vapours of sodium1 iron and other metals4 ,the connection between ,comets and ,meteors implies the presence in ,comets of solid matter4 ,a modern theory1 voiced by ,schiaparelli1 is that meteor showers are broken up ,comets4 ,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 8,light ,pressure10 which causes these tails to shoot off and disperse into space at the rate of #hfe1jjj miles an hour4 ,the length of some ,comets' tails has been estimated at #abe1jjj1jjj miles1 while the ,comets' heads themselves are generally much larger in size than our ,earth4 ,halley's ,comet is more than ten-fold the size of our ,earth4 ,e4 ,w4 ,maunder1 of the ,royal ,observatory of ,greenwich1 a modern astronomer1 has thus summarized the latest theories of the substance of ,comets3 8,though the bulk of comets is huge1 they contain extraordinarily little substance4 ,their heads must contain some solid matter1 but it is probably in the form of a loose aggregation of stones enveloped in vaporous material4 ,there is some reason to suppose that ,comets are apt to shed some of these stones as they travel along their paths1 for the orbits of the meteors that cause some of our greatest #8star showers' are coincident with the paths of ,comets that have been observed4 ,but it is not only by shedding its loose stones that a ,comet diminishes its bulk2 it loses also through its tail4 ,as the ,comet gets close to the ,sun its head becomes heated1 and throws off concentric envelopes1 much of which consists of matter in an extremely fine station of division40 ,the orbits of ,comets visible to human eyes are all governed by the ,sun4 ,in the words of ,c4 ,l4 ,poor3 8,the attraction of the ,sun is to the ,comet like the flame to the moth4 ,the ,comet flutters for a moment about the ,sun1 and then swings back into outward space4 ,but not unscathed2 like the moth1 the ,comet has been singed4 ,the fierce light of the ,sun has beaten upon it1 and spread out its particles and scattered them along its path40 ,as a comet swings toward and away from the ,sun1 it travels at a tremendous rate of speed--over a million miles an hour4 ,the distance covered from one end of the orbit to the other is #c1cgj1jjj1jjj miles4 ,the great majority of ,comets appear to travel in parabolas1 open curves leading from infinite space to and around the ,sun1 and thence back into infinite space to some other fixed star invisible to us4 ,as a matter of fact1 though1 the parabolic curves of ,comets' orbits through the gravitational attraction of the planets1 whose orbits are crossed by it1 may be changed into hyperbolic curves and ellipses by planetary perturbations4 ,hence the differences in time between the returns of certain ,comets1 like ,halley's1 for instance4 ,illustration3 ,,relative ,,sizes ,,of ,,the ,,earth1 ,,the ,,moon',s ,,orbit ,,and ,,halley',s ,,comet4 ,illustration3 ,,orbit ,,of ,,halley',s ,,comet4 ,,the ,,tail ,,always ,,points ,,away ,,from ,,the ,,sun4 ,in a general way1 it may be said that every ,comet comprises a nucleus1 an envelope 7called the 8coma07 surrounding the nucleus and measuring from #bj1jjj to #a1jjj1jjj miles in diameter1 and a long tail which streams behind the nucleus from sixty to a hundred million miles or more4 ,astronomers have decided that the nucleus is probably a heap of meteorites varying in size from a grain to masses weighing several tons each2 a heap1 moreover1 so easily sundered that its elements are distributed gradually along the orbit4 ,it follows that every ,comet must eventually perish unless it restores its nucleus by collecting stray meteors4 ,that disintegration does occur has been observed time and time again4 ,for example1 ,biela's ,comet1 which was discovered in #ahbf1 burst into two fragments1 which drifted apart a distance of one million miles4 ,thus it became a twin ,comet4 ,eventually it disappeared as a ,comet1 and in its stead we see a shoal of meteors whenever we cross its track every six and a half years4 ,it is possible that the ,comets of #affh1 #ahdc1 #ahhj1 #ahhb and #ahhg1 all travelling in approximately the same path1 are fragments of a single large body which was broken up by the gravitational action of other bodies in the system1 or through violent encounter with the ,sun's surroundings4 ,the luminous tail which streams behind the nucleus1 which ,shakespeare described so beautifully as 8crystal tresses10 is startling1 to say the least4 ,despite a length which may exceed a hundred million miles1 it is so diaphanously light and subtle that it is difficult to compare it with any earthly fabric4 ,the air that we breathe is a dense blanket in comparison4 ,several hundred cubic miles of the matter composing that wonderful luminous plume would not outweigh a jarful of air4 ,by reason of its fairy lightness1 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 movements4 ,no celestial phenomenon has caused more perplexity than the ghostly sheaf of light we call a ,comet's tail4 ,in a day1 in a few hours even1 the form of that wonderful gossamer may change4 ,hence it is that periodic ,comets are identified when they return1 not by the length and arch of their tails1 but by their orbits4 ,these alone are permanent4 ,when a ,comet is first seen in the telescope1 it appears as a diminutive filmy patch1 often unadorned by any tail4 ,as it travels on toward the ,sun1 at a speed compared with which a modern rifle bullet would seem to crawl1 violent eruptions occur in the nucleus4 ,the ejected matter is bent back to form the cloak called the 8coma40 ,with a nearer approach to the sun1 the tail begins to sprout1 increasing in size and brightness as it proceeds4 ,evidently there is some connection between the ,sun and the tail1 something akin to cause and effect4 ,when the ,comet rushes on toward the ,sun1 invariably the tail drifts behind the nucleus like the smoke from a locomotive4 ,but when the ,comet swings around the ,sun and travels away from it1 a startling change takes place4 ,the tail no longer trails behind1 but projects in front as if some mighty solar wind were blowing it in advance of the head4 ,this phenomenon has long been an astronomical riddle4 ,here was a kind of matter that refused to obey the laws of gravitation and yield to the enormous pull of the ,sun4 ,illustration3 ,,october #e4 ,,october #i4 ,,donati',s ,,comet ,,of #aheh4 ,it was thought for a time that the tail was flung away from the ,sun by stupendous repelling electrical forces4 ,that electricity plays its part in the formation of the fairy plume is conceivable1 and even probable2 but recently the physicist has discovered a new source of repellent energy which very plausibly explains the mystery of a ,comet's tail4 ,this new source of energy is nothing less than the pressure or push of the ,sun's light4 ,solar gravitation is a force more powerful than we can realize4 ,if it were possible for us to live on the ,sun1 we would find ourselves pulled down so violently that our body would weigh two tons4 ,our clothing alone would weigh more than one hundred pounds4 ,running would be a very difficult athletic feat4 ,light-pressure must indeed be powerful if it can conquer so relentless a force4 ,because we have never seen objects torn from our hands by the pressure of light1 it may be inferred that this newly discovered force affects only bodies that are invisibly small4 ,with the aid of instruments that feel what our hands can never feel and see what our eyes can never see1 the modern physicist has critically analyzed the radiation that beats upon the earth from the distant ,sun4 ,light really does sway infinitely small particles1 as was first experimentally proved by the ,russian ,lebedev4 ,two ,american astronomers1 ,nichols and ,hull1 improved upon his method4 ,they cast the solar effulgence into mighty mathematical scales and found that the earth sustains a light-load of no less than #ge1jjj tons4 ,most city-bred people are familiar with the so-called 8,sun ,motors0--little mills with black and white wings1 enclosed in airtight vessels1 which spin around in 8perpetual motion0 under the effect of 8,sun ,pressure40 ,it remained for the broad mind of a ,swedish physicist1 ,svante ,arrhenius1 to apply the principle of light-pressure cosmically4 ,he explained1 very simply1 that because a ,comet's tail is composed of a very fine dust it can easily be driven away from the ,sun by radiation pressure4 ,to understand how it is possible for so immaterial a thing as a sunbeam to produce so huge an effect1 we have only to take a very simple example4 ,assume that you have before you a block of wood weighing one pound4 ,the block exposes a certain amount of surface to the ,sun's light4 ,saw the block in half1 and you increase the amount of that surface4 ,divide each half again into half1 and the exposed surface is further augmented4 ,if this process of subdivision is carried on far enough1 the block will be reduced to sawdust4 ,the entire mass of sawdust still weighs one pound2 but its surface has been vastly enlarged4 ,indeed1 the particles of sawdust1 individually considered1 may be said to consist of much surface and very little weight4 ,if it were possible to take each granule of visible sawdust and subdivide it into invisible particles1 a point would be reached where the pressure of light would exactly counterbalance the pull of gravitation1 so that the particles would remain suspended in space1 perfectly balanced in the scale of opposing cosmic forces4 ,finally1 if the subdivision be continued beyond this critical point1 the particles will be wrenched away from the grip of gravitation and hurled out into space by the pressure of light4 ,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 theory4 ,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 soot4 ,illustration3 ,june #bf4 ,illustration3 ,june #bh4 ,illustration3 ,june #cj4 ,illustration3 ,july #a4 ,illustration3 ,july #f4 ,illustration3 ,july #h4 ,,changes ,,in ,,the ,,comet ,,of #ahfc4 ,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 changes4 ,a ,comet may throw out a tail sixty million miles long in two days4 ,is it actually possible for light-pressure to accomplish that astonishing feat8 ,arrhenius has computed that #hfe1jjj miles an hour is the speed of a light-flung particle of one-half the critical diameter4 ,because they are only one-eighteenth as large as this particle of critical diameter1 the dust grains in a ,comet's tail would be propelled over the same #hfe1jjj miles in less than four minutes4 ,it follows that the solar radiation is amply strong enough to toss out a tail of sixty million miles in two days4 ,photography in the hands of ,prof4 ,e4 ,e4 ,barnard1 of the ,yerkes ,observatory1 has revealed some extraordinary changes in ,comets' tails1 changes which are not apparent to the eye and which cannot be explained by light-pressure or by solar electrical forces4 ,he has collected a formidable mass of photographic evidence which seems to show that there are other influences at work besides the ,sun's radiation1 and that these influences manifest themselves in distorting and breaking a ,comet's tail4 ,in some ,comets of recent years1 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 light4 ,in ,morehouse's ,comet of #aijh1 tails were repeatedly formed and discarded to drift bodily out into space and melt away4 ,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 head1 where apparently no supply had reached it4 ,at one time the entire tail of ,morehouse's ,comet was thrown violently forward1 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 itself4 ,if ,halley's ,comet serves no other purpose than to throw light upon this mystery1 its return will more than repay astronomers for all their observatory vigils4 ,from the fact that the matter is ejected from the head to form the tail1 it would follow that1 unless it has the means of rejuvenating itself1 a comet must eventually be disintegrated4 ,instances of this fragmentation and1 eventual disappearance of a ,comet are not wanting in astronomical annals4 ,it has been stated previously that when ,biela's ,comet appeared in #ahdf it became distorted and elongated1 that it eventually split up into two separate bodies1 that in #aheb it again appeared in its double form1 and that it has since disappeared4 ,in a way1 ,comets may be said to bleed to death4 ,at each return of ,halley's ,comet1 future astronomers will find it less brilliant than it was seventy-six or seventy-seven years before4 ,some time there will be no ,halley's ,comet left1 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 century4 ,illustration3 ,,coggia',s ,,comet1 #ahgd3 ,,on ,,july #ac4 ,,the ,,peril ,,of ,,the ,,comet ,it was ,edmund ,halley who first revealed a source of danger from ,comets1 of which even medieval superstition had never dreamed4 ,while he was patiently plotting out the orbit of the ,comet of #afhj1 which had inspired no little dismay among his contemporaries1 ,halley found that the ,earth's orbit had been approached by the ,comet within four thousand miles--half the diameter of the ,earth4 ,if the ,earth had been struck by that fiery wanderer8 ,none had ever thought of the possibility4 ,halley began to do some mathematical figuring1 and decided that1 if a ,comet's mass were comparable with that of the ,earth1 our year would have been changed in length because the ,earth's orbit would have been altered4 ,he also speculated what would happen to the ,earth1 and reached this conclusion3 8,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 chaos40 ,halley even thought it probable that the ,earth had actually been struck by a ,comet at some remote period1 struck obliquely1 moreover1 so that the axis of rotation had been changed4 ,thus he was led to infer that possibly the ,north ,pole had once been at a point near ,hudson's ,bay1 and that the rigour of ,north ,america's climate might thus be accounted for4 ,the seed which was thus sown by ,halley has borne fruit4 ,in ,halley's own time1 learned men were brooding over the ultimate destruction of the ,earth by collision with a ,comet4 ,dr4 ,whiston1 who succeeded ,newton at ,cambridge in the ,lucasian chair of mathematics1 was sure that a ,comet caused the ,deluge1 and went so far as to prophesy that a ,comet1 as it passed us on its outward course from the ,sun1 would ultimately bring about a 8,general ,conflagration10 and thus envelope the ,earth in flames4 ,one century after ,halley1 the ,french astronomer ,laplace1 whose mathematical attainments were surpassed only by those of ,newton1 applied his brilliant mind to the possibility of a collision with a ,comet1 and arrived at this conclusion3 8,the seas would abandon their ancient beds and rush towards the new equator1 drowning in one universal deluge the greater part of the human race4444 ,we see1 then1 in effect1 why the ocean has receded from the high lands upon which we find incontestable marks of its sojourn2 we see how the animals and plants of the south have been able to exist in the climate of the north1 where their remains and imprints have been discovered40 ,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 ,moon1 it would exert such a powerful attraction upon the waters of the globe as to pull up a tidal wave #ac1jjj feet above the ordinary sea-level and inundate the continents ,every ,european mountain would be submerged except ,mt4 ,blanc1 and only the inhabitants of the ,rockies1 the ,andes and the ,himalayas would escape death4 ,since ,lalande's day there has been more than one ,comet 8scare40 ,one of these startled ,europe in #ahcb4 ,on ,october #bith of that year1 ,biela's ,comet crossed the ,earth's orbit4 ,the announcement was received with stupefaction4 ,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 #cj1 at which time the ,comet would be #ej1jjj1jjj miles away1 that the popular excitement subsided4 ,a similar alarm seized the world in #aheg4 ,some prophet declared that on ,june #ac the world would collide with a certain periodic ,comet having a period of revolution of three centuries4 ,it is related that the churches and confessionals were crowded for days4 ,still another prediction1 made in #ahgb by ,plantamour1 the distinguished director of the ,geneva ,observatory1 set ,europe in a ferment4 ,his calculations were based on errors1 which were pointed out by other astronomers1 and the public mind was quieted4 ,although more than two centuries have passed since ,halley was in his prime1 the possibility of a collision with some vagabond star still haunts the mind of the astronomer4 ,that a collision is apt to occur is an admitted astronomic fact4 ,the latest estimate1 made in #aiji by ,prof4 ,william ,h4 ,pickering of ,harvard ,university1 would seem to prove that the core of one ,comet in about #ajj1jjj1jjj ,comets will hit the earth squarely4 ,an encounter with some part of a ,comet's head will happen once in #d1jjj1jjj years4 ,since ,comets' orbit are more thickly distributed near the ecliptic than else where in the celestial sphere1 the collisions will occur according to ,pickering1 perhaps more frequently than this4 ,because ,pickering's figures differ from those other astronomers--,arago and ,babinet1 for instance--it must not be inferred that his predecessors are wrong and that he is right in his calculations4 ,the problem is too complex for that4 ,pickering1 ,arago and ,babinet differ partly because they have assumed different average sizes for their ,comets1 and partly because their definitions of visible ,comets are not in accord4 ,that the possibility is very real1 we shall all have an opportunity of judging on ,may #ah1 #aiaj4 ,on that date the ,earth will be plunged in the tail of ,halley's ,comet1 and the head will be less than #ae1jjj1jjj miles away--a mere hand's breadth in the vastness of the universe4 ,what will happen8 ,nobody knows for certain4 ,by means of the wonderful instrument called the spectroscope1 an instrument which analyzes a distant star as readily as if it were a stone picked up in the road1 it has been discovered that a ,comet's tail is composed of gases called 8hydrocarbons0 7combinations of hydrogen and carbon71 and that it bears a close chemical resemblance to the blue flame of a kitchen gas-stove4 ,illuminating gas1 as we all know1 is poisonous4 ,if a ,comet's tail were dense enough1 it is conceivable1 therefore1 that every human being on this planet might be asphyxiated by breathing the ,comet's poisonous vapour as the ,earth plowed through it4 ,there is also this possibility1 suggested by ,flammarion1 that the gases of a very dense tail might so combine with the nitrogen which constitutes nearly #hj per cent4 of the air we breathe1 that the atmosphere would be converted into the 8laughing gas0 employed by dentists4 ,the world would die in a delirium of joy4 ,at first a delightful serenity would settle upon mankind4 ,then would follow a contagious gaiety1 febrile exaltation1 a paroxysm of delight1 and then madness4 ,flammarion even conceives the world merrily dancing a joyous1 hysterical sarabande in which it perishes laughing4 ,the tail of a ,comet is fraught with still other possible dangers4 ,our atmosphere contains a certain amount of hydrogen1 a marvellously light gas to which balloons owe their buoyancy4 ,besides its lightness1 this gas is characterized by an extreme inflammability4 ,the law of the diffusion of gases teaches us that part of this hydrogen in the air is mechanically mixed with other gases1 and that part of it probably floats in the upper air1 far beyond the reach of any balloon4 ,a ,comet may be regarded as a huge lighted torch whirling through space1 which may be brought dangerously near that upper layer of highly inflammable hydrogen4 ,if the gas shall ever be touched off by this flying torch1 our planet will be ignited4 ,the whole atmosphere will become a seething ocean of flame1 in which forests and cities will burn like straw1 in which oceans will boil away in vast clouds of steam1 and in which all animal life will be snuffed out of existence before it shall realize that the world is on fire4 ,in a word1 the globe will become a planetary funeral pyre4 ,since water results from burning hydrogen in oxygen1 this same fierce and terrible flame must be speedily extinguished by a mighty deluge which will engulf the ,earth4 ,a spectroscope analysis of ,halley's ,comet has furthermore revealed the presence of cyanogen gas in the tail4 ,cyanogen is a compound of nitrogen and carbon1 one of the most poisonous compounds with which the chemist is familiar4 ,prussic acid1 potassium cyanide and many other cyanides1 all of them almost instantaneously fatal if taken into the human system1 are compounds of cyanogen4 ,if that gas is present in large enough quantities1 one flick of a ,comet's tail will end all human and animal existence4 ,so much is certain4 ,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 speed4 ,that a violent heat will be developed1 we have every reason to believe1 from our knowledge of meteors4 ,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 mass4 ,arrest a body in swift motion1 and you must dissipate its energy in some way4 ,as a rule1 the energy is converted into heat4 ,a bullet discharged from a rifle is often melted when suddenly stopped by steel armour4 ,a ,comet travels at a pace compared with which a projectile1 fired from the most powerful twelve-inch gun1 seems only to crawl4 ,what1 then1 must be the frightful effect when it strikes the ,earth8 ,a ,comet rushes through space not at the bullet's rate of thousands of feet an hour1 but of a million miles an hour4 ,the bigger it is1 and the faster it moves1 the greater will be the heat developed by its stoppage4 8,at the first contact with the upper regions of the atmosphere10 writes ,prof4 ,simon ,newcomb1 8the whole heavens would be illuminated with a resplendence beyond that of a thousand ,suns1 the sky radiating a light which would blind every eye that beheld it1 and a heat which would melt the hardest rocks40 ,the same conclusion was reached by ,prof4 ,faye4 ,when the time comes for a collision with a ,comet of formidable size1 the human race will be in the horrible predicament of knowing the exact hour and minute of its doom4 ,the newspapers will print a dispatch from some great observatory1 reading perhaps like this3 8,a telescopic ,comet was discovered by ,caxton in right ascension #g hours #ac minutes #a second1 and declension #ag degrees #bh minutes #ca seconds4 ,moderate motion in a northwest direction40 ,illustration3 8,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 chaos40--,,edmund ,,halley4 ,at first the discovery produces not even a ripple of excitement4 ,telescopic ,comets are discovered too frequently4 ,three days later the discoverer has worked out an ephemeris1 which gives the date when the body will pass around the ,sun1 and which indicates the ,comet's path4 ,he finds that on a certain date and at a certain hour the ,earth and the ,comet must crash together4 ,again and again he repeats his calculations1 hoping that he may have erred4 ,the utmost permissible allowance for accelerations and retardations caused by the outer planets of the solar system fails to change the result4 ,the ,earth and the ,comet must meet4 ,with some hesitation the astronomer sends a telegram to a central observatory1 which acts as a distributor of astronomical news4 ,at first his prediction is discredited and even laughed at4 ,another computation is made at the observatory4 ,again mathematics infallibly indicates the exact time and place of the encounter1 and the last lingering hope is dispelled4 ,telegrams are sent to astronomical societies1 to the leading scientific periodicals and to the newspapers4 ,at first the prediction of the ,earth's doom is received with popular incredulity1 engendered by years of newspaper misrepresentation4 ,the world's end has been too frequently and too frightfully foretold on flamboyant double-page ,sunday editions4 ,when the truth is at last accepted1 after days of insistent repetition of the original announcement1 a wave of terror runs through the world4 ,there is no escape4 ,international committees of astronomers meet daily to mark the approach of the ,comet4 ,bulletins are published announcing the steadily dwindling distance between the world and the huge projectile in the sky4 ,the great tail1 arching the ,heavens as the ,comet approaches1 seems like a mighty1 fiery sword held in an unseen ,titanic hand and relentlessly sweeping down4 ,the temples1 churches and synagogues are thronged with supplicating multitudes on bended knees1 in a catalepsy of terror4 ,the stock exchanges1 banks1 shops and public institutions are deserted4 ,business is at a standstill4 ,the roar of the street is hushed4 ,no wagons rattle over the pavement2 no hucksters call out their wares4 ,as the ,comet draws nearer and nearer1 night changes into an awful1 nocturnal day4 ,even at noon the ,comet outshines the ,sun4 ,there is no twilight4 ,the ,sun sets2 but the ,comet glows in the sky1 another more brilliant luminary1 marvellously yet fearfully arrayed in a fiery plume that overspreads the sky4 ,the ,moon is completely lost1 and the ,stars are drowned out in this dazzling glare4 ,warned by the astronomers1 mankind takes refuge in subterranean retreats to await its fate4 ,long before the actual collision--long before the ,earth is reduced to a maelstrom of lava1 gas1 steam and planetary debris--mankind is annihilated with merciful swiftness by heat and suffocation4 ,a candle flame blown out by a gust of wind is not more quickly extinguished4 ,when the ,comet encounters the upper layers of the atmosphere1 there is a blinding flash1 due to friction between the air and the ,comet4 ,a few seconds later the crash comes4 ,from within1 molten rock and flame1 pent up for geologic ages1 burst forth1 geyser-like4 ,the ,earth is converted into a gigantic volcano1 in the eruption of which oceans are spilled and continents are torn asunder1 to vanish like wax in a furnace4 ,when it is all over1 the ,earth swims through space1 a blackened planetary cinder1--desolate and dead4 ,,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,world ,camille ,flammarion1 the ,french astronomer1 in his story1 8,the ,end of the ,world10 gives this graphic description of the results of a collision between a ,comet and our ,earth3 ,in ,paris1 ,london1 ,rome1 ,berlin1 ,st4 ,petersburg1 ,constantinople1 ,new ,york and ,chicago--in all the great capitals of the world1 in all the cities1 in all the villages--the frightened people wandered out of doors1 as one sees ants run about when their ant-hills are disturbed4 ,all the affairs of every-day life were forgotten4 ,all human projects were at a standstill4 ,people seemed to have lost interest in all their affairs4 ,they were in a state of demoralization--a dejection more abject even than that which is produced by sea-sickness4 ,all places of worship had been crowded on that memorable day when it was seen that a collision with a ,comet had become inevitable4 ,in ,paris the crowds in the churches were so great that people could no longer get near ,notre ,dame1 the ,madeleine and the other churches4 ,within the churches1 vast congregations of worshippers were on their knees praying to ,god on ,high4 ,the churches rang with the sounds of supplication1 but no other sound was heard4 ,the great church organs and the bells in the steeples were hushed4 ,in the streets1 on the avenues1 in the public squares1 there was the same dread silence4 ,nothing was bought or sold4 ,no newspapers were hawked about4 ,the only vehicles seen on the streets were funeral hearses carrying to the cemeteries the bodies of the first victims of the ,comet4 ,of these there were already many4 ,they were people who had died from fright and from heart disease4 ,with what anxiety everyone waited for the night6 ,never1 perhaps1 was there a more beautiful sunset4 ,never a clearer sky4 ,the sun seemed to dip into a sea of red and gold4 ,the huge red ball of the sun sank majestically to the horizon4 ,but the stars did not appear4 ,night did not come4 ,to the solar day succeeded a new day1 the daylight of the ,comet4 ,its intense light resembled that of an ,aurora ,borealis1 but more vivid1 coming from a great incandescent spot1 which had not been visible during the day because it was below the horizon1 but which would certainly have rivalled the splendour of the ,sun4 ,this luminous spot rose in the ,east almost at the same time as the full ,moon4 ,the two luminous bodies rose together1 side by side4 ,as they rose1 the light of the ,moon seemed to pale1 but the head of the ,comet increased in splendour with the disappearance of the ,sun below the western horizon4 ,now1 after nightfall1 the ,comet dominated the world--a scarlet-red ball with jets of yellow and green flame which seemed to flutter like fiery wings4 ,to the terrified people it seemed like a giant of fire taking possession of all ,heaven and ,earth4 ,already the outermost jets of flame had reached the ,moon4 ,from one instant to the next the flaming rays would descend upon the ,earth4 ,all eyes were distended with horror when it was seen that the horizon was lighting up with tiny violet flames as from a vast fire4 ,an instant afterward1 the ,comet diminished in brilliancy4 ,this was apparently because the ,comet1 upon touching the atmosphere of our ,earth1 had come within the penumbra of our planet and had lost part of its reflected light coming from the ,sun4 ,but in reality this apparent extinction was the effect of contrast4 ,when the less dazzled eyes of the awestruck1 human spectators had grown used to this new light1 it appeared almost as intense as at first1 but paler1 more sinister and sepulchral4 ,never before had the ,earth been lit up with so sickly a light4 ,the drouth of the air became intolerable4 ,heat1 as from a huge burning oven1 came from above4 ,a horrible stench of burning sulphur--due1 no doubt1 to electrified ozone--poisoned the atmosphere4 ,all the people then saw that their time had come4 ,many-thousand-throated cries rent the air4 8,the ,world is burning4 ,we are on fire60 they cried4 ,all the horizon1 in fact1 was now lit up with flame1 forming a crown of blue light4 ,it was1 indeed1 as had been foreseen by scientists1 the oxide of carbon igniting in the air and producing anhydrid of carbon4 ,clearly1 too1 hydrogen from the ,comet combined with it4 ,on a sudden1 as the people were gazing terrified1 motionless1 mute1 holding their breath1 and scared out of their wits1 the vault of ,heaven seemed to be rent asunder from the zenith to the horizon4 ,through the gaping breach there seemed to appear the huge red mouth of a dragon1 belching forth sheaves of sputtering green flames4 ,the glare of the atmosphere was so fierce that those who had not already hidden themselves in the cellars of their houses1 now all rushed helter-skelter to the nearest underground openings1 be they subway steps1 cellar doors or sewer manholes4 ,thousands were crushed or maimed during this mad stampede1 while many others1 frantic from fright and stricken with the heat1 fell dead from apoplexy4 ,all reasoning powers seemed to have ceased4 ,among those cowering in dark cellars and subterranean passages below1 there was nothing but silence1 begot by dull resignation and stupor4 ,of all this panic-stricken multitude1 only the astronomers had remained at their posts in the ,observatories1 making unceasing observations of this great astronomic phenomenon4 ,they were the only eye-witnesses of the impending collision4 ,their calculations had been that the terrestrial globe would penetrate into the core of the ,comet1 as a cannon ball might into a cloud4 ,from the first contact of the extreme atmospheric zones of the ,earth and of the ,comet1 they had figured1 the transit would last four hours and a half4 ,it was easy to compute1 since the ,comet1 being about fifty times as large as the ,earth1 was to be pierced1 not in its centre1 but at one-quarter of the distance from the centre1 with a velocity of #agc1jjj kilometers an hour4 ,it was about forty minutes after the first atmospheric impact with the ,comet1 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 life4 ,even the most intrepid of astronomers withdrew into the interior of their glass-domed observatories1 which they could close hermetically as they descended into the deep subterranean vaults4 ,the longest to stay above was a young assistant astronomer1 a girl student from ,california1 whose nerves had been steeled during the ordeal of the ,san ,francisco earthquake4 ,she remained long enough to witness the apparition of a huge1 white-hot meteorite1 precipitating itself southward with the velocity of lightning4 ,but it was beyond human endurance to remain longer above4 ,it was no longer possible to breathe4 ,to the intense heat and atmospheric drouth1 destroying all vital functions1 was added the poisoning of our air by the oxide of carbon4 ,the ears rang as from the tolling of funeral bells1 and all hearts were in a flutter of feverish palpitation4 ,and always1 everywhere1 there was that suffocating stench of sulphur4 ,now a shower of fire fell from the glowing sky4 ,it was raining shooting-stars and white-hot meteorites1 most of which burst like bombs4 ,the fragments of these1 like flying shrapnel1 crashed through the roofs and set fire to the buildings4 ,to the conflagration of the sky were added the flames of fire everywhere on earth4 ,claps of ear-splitting thunder followed each other incessantly1 produced partly by the explosions of the meteors1 and partly by a tremendous electric thunderstorm4 ,rifts of lightning zig-zagged hither and thither4 ,a continuous rumbling1 like that of distant drums1 filled the ears of the cowering people below1 awaiting their fate4 ,this low rumble was interspersed with the deafening detonations of exploding meteors and the high shriek of hurtling aerial fragments4 ,then followed unearthly noises1 like the seething of some immense boiling cauldron1 the wild wailing of winds1 and the quaking of the soil where the earth's crust was giving way4 ,this unearthly tempest became so frightful1 so fraught with agony and mad terror1 that the multitudes grovelling below were overcome with paralysis1 and lay prone4 ,laid low like dumb brutes1 they met their doom4 ,the end of all had come4 ,,colophon ,,post ,,hoc1 ,,non ,,propter ,,hoc3 ,sic veteres de multis rebus opinabantur1 ,eodemque dicto eas jugiter absolvisse ,recte sibi visi sunt1 ,vt puta quaecumque et qualiacumque ,cometarum saeculares reditus sequuntur4 ,,cvr ,,tv ,,itaqve1 forsitan quaeras1 ,haec auditu minime jucunda nobis narrasti1 ,terrae motus1 fluminum inundationes1 annonae defectus1 ,pestes mortiferas1 incendia1 bella1 regumque magnorum excidia8 ,si tibi cordi est1 ,,lector ,,benevolentissime1 rationem nostram didicisse1 eia1 veram accipe3 ,,mvndvs ,,vvlt ,,decipi4 ,,finis4