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TIE astronomers announce
that Halluy's comet Is approaching
preaching the earth at the rate of a million
miles a day. As Halley's Is the most splen
didly attractive ( otherwise the most alarming ) of all
our regular comets , they add that we need not fear
that It will strike the earth , because It will not come
closer to us than 13,000,000 miles.
This Is the scientific schedule , but that does not
keep any'one who wishes to be Inspired with proper
awe on the approach
of our most remark
able comet , from ask
ing what might take
place If , for any rea
son it leaves the scien
tific schedule , as Biela's comet did
'when ' It did the most remarkable
| thing thus far known In the history
jof the solar system since men have
begun to watch the sky. That is.
'after ' coming back over and over on
ischedule time , until it was supposed
'to ' be as regular as the earth itself , it
isplit in two , underwent final ship-
'wreck ' somewhere in the heavens , and
'according ' to the last supposed to be
( known of it , fell on earth several hun-
Idred miles southeast of El Paso , Tex.
| The probability thqt this was the
ilast of that comet is conceded by
such cautious astronomers as Prof.
Young of Princeton. It is an authen
tic record , valued because'it is about
ias near the history of Biela's comet
'as ' wo will ever got. It is certainly
\ ( lost , and It is thought that we have
the last trace of it on earth now in a lump of nickel-iron which fell In Mexico ,
when supposed fragments of the lost " "
comet ( called "Blelids" after the as
tronomer , Btela , who discovered it ) were being watched for and expected to
fall In a shower somewhere on earth , if they were not burned to vapor by
heat from friction as they were being whirled through the earth's atmosphere
( In falling. Although Halley's comet has been coming back regularly every
7G or 77 years since it is supposed to have appeared with its tall filling the
f COMET
APPEARED I
18SS
SHOMHG C0/ff Of WLLEY& COMET &UF/rtr J909
sky before the fall of Jerusalem , It may end
finally as Biela's comet did , falling in a star
shower on earth , or on some other planet , or
linto the sun , or scattering through space
around the sun In masses perhaps of nickel-
Iron , unseen on earth , unless the earth cap
tures them out of space and sets them blazing
.through the sky as they fall.
I Suppose wo were to capture Halley's comet
nnd It were really to fall , what would become
of the earth or of the comet ?
' That is a fair question for all who wish to
keep a proper scientific awe of our finest reg
ular comet. It may offer something to take
the place of the unscientific awe which used
to send thousands to their knees , remember
ing their sins and praying for pardon as soon
ns Halley's comet began to spread Us magnifi
cent tail ncioss the sky. In other words , it
made them try to think , which was , no doubt ,
the best thing n comet could do for them.
! Another important question is whether Hal-
ley's comet will bring its magnificent toll back
with it , restored to its ancient and awful
splendor. If it does not , the world , learned
nnd unlearned , will be disappointed , for a
comet without a tall is not awful or sublime
enough to bo wotth growing either enthusias
tic or repentant over. Wo cannot tell about
the tail. It may come back with the comet ,
reduced 30 per cent. , or It may finally be lost
altogether or increased back to awful magnifi
cence , streaming across the sky in such a
spectacle us cau bo hoped for on earth only
once in a lifetime.
i If It recovers its tail In Us full historic
splendor , Halley's will be too magnificent a
comet to bo lost , according to our ways of
looking at comets. It is not a third-rate as-
tronomer's comet , like Biela's , but a comet for
everybody , with all mankind interested in it.
It may set all the gongs in Asia beating while
we are watching it through telescopes. Mil
lions who do not know enough to be fright
ened at the Idea of its striking the earth may
find It awful enough to make them try hard
to think , with results which , while they last ,
may seem to them the most awful they ever
felt In their lives.
While all who are intelligently interested
in comets will want Halley's back regularly ,
tail and all , as something to think about , there
Is a chance that It will lose Its tall and also
a chance , very remote now , that It may bo
shipwi eckcd finally and lost In space. It Is a
"chance" only until the law is learned. The
chance Is worth discussing only in the hope
of learning moio of the law. Can a comet
lawfully get out of its regular path and be
pulled down finally by the earth or some other
planet ? That is a question of law and as far
as wo ha\e learned the law the answer is that
it can.
can.We
We do not know much yet about the law.
All wo are beginning to find out dates from
the night In .lanimiy , ISl&Vwhon Prof. Challis
looked through his telescope at the Cambridge
observatory and could not believe his eyes.
The spectacle he saw in the heavens was too
astonishing to believe. It was Hiela's comet
split into two distinct comets. Such a thing
hud never been heard of or Imagined as pos
sible. But in some \\ay it had actually oc
curred. Had the comet exploded by Us own
forces ? Had it come in reach of the attrac
tion of one of the planets and been pulled
apart ? What must become of a comet after
being thus split In pieces ? Could It come
running towards mo from the neighboring houses nnd
tht'v helped mo to quint the horses , which had become
much excited. We wore nfinld of being burned. Wo nil
asked what could jje Hio matter. In n few momenta , when
we had rc-rovered' from our fenr , wo saw the light disap
pear. Bringing lanterns , we found a hole In the ground
nnd In It n ball of light. WP retired to a little distance ,
fearing It would explode and harm UH. Looking up to the
sky. wo saw exhalations or stars which wont out without
noise. We returned after a little and found In the helen
n hot stone wo could barely handle. This , on the next
day , wo saw looked like a piece of lion. All night It
rained stars. Wo saw none fall to the ground , ns they
all seemed to be extinguished while yet high up. "
If this Htone , the only one known to have reached
the earth out of the "rain of stars , " Is
all that Is left of Blolu'B comet , there
Is 10" . pounds loft of It In the slmpo
of n mass of Iron ore , showing such
"pits" from contraction after great
heat as the telescope shows In n
much larger way on the face of the
moon.
As this was considered the most
distinguished visitor that had over
reached the enrth from infinite space ,
It was presented as a mark of his
distinguished consideration by Prof.
Bonilla to William Karl Hidden , as
one of the most distinguished Ameri
can mlneialoglsts , who was also an
authority on meteors and meteoric
minerals. Analysis showed that it
was 91.20 per cent. Iron , 7.84 per
cent nickel , C3-100 per cent , cobalt ,
COM T 30-100 per cent , phosphorus , with
traces of sulphur , carbon and chlorine. Mr.
within range of the earth and bo captured and
pulled down to the surface ? If so , would it
jar the earth In Its orbit or set the planet
on fire ?
All we will ever have In the way of a final
answer to these questions as they belong to
the complete and final loss of Biela's comet
Is given officially now In the records of Mexico
ice in the statement iccorded by Senor Jose
A. y Bonilla , director of the astronomical ob
servatory in the btato of Zacntecns. In No
vember , 1885 , it was supposed that between
the twenty-fourth and twenty-ninth of the
month the earth would pass in space through
or near the fragments left by Blela's comet.
As they wore then called "Blcllds , " It had
been concluded that they were a swarm of
hundreds of thousands or perhaps of mil
lions of small masses of meteoric matter , per
haps weighing from an ounce up to a ton or
more. It was feared that if the earth passed
through them and drew them to the surface In
daylight they would not be seen at all , but
would either burn up In gas or else fall In a
few scattering stones on distant parts of the
earth. This may have occurred in other
places , but on a ranch near Mazapll , In the
state of Zacatecas , one of them ( or a mass of
nickel-Iron belonging to some group of the
same kind ) .was seen to fall and recovered at
once by the owner of the ranch , who made the
deposition taken down In Spanish by Senor
Bonilla and translated by William Earl Hid
den , to clobo the last chapter In the story of
Biela's lost comet :
"It was about 7 o'clock on the night of No
vember 27 (1885) ( ) , " said the ranchman In hlH
deposition , "when I went out to the corral to
feed the horf.es. Suddenly I heard a loud , slz-
/.Ing noise , exactly as though something red
hot was being plunged Into cold water and al
most Instantly there followed a somewhat
loud thud. At once the corral was covered
with a jihosphorcbcent light , while suspended
in the air were small , luminous sparks , as
though from a rocket. I had not recovered
from my surprise before I saw this luminous
air disappear and there lemained on the
ground only such a light as is made when n
tuh Is rnbbod. A number of people came
Hidden wrote its history In the American Jour
nal of Science. In the century Magazine of
August , 1885 , ho answered the question , "Is
it a piece of a comet ? " by summing up the
evidence In connection with the known history
of Blela's lost comet , since It split In 1846 and
returned as two comets in 1852 , to disappear
finally in what were supposed to bo n swarm
of "biellds.1
"At the time of the fall of this moteorlto"
( in Mexico ) , Hidden writes , "It was 10 hours
after the maximum number of meteors was ob
served. The earth was meeting with only the
stragglers of the train. It cannot bo doubted
that the cosmical dust proceeding from the
disintegration of Blela's comet wholly envel
oped the earth and was seen as meteors from
every part of It. Such was the magnificence
of the celestial phenomena In some parts of
the eastern continent that some people be
lieved there would be no moro stars left in
the sky. "
Blela's comet had returned regularly in a
period of a little less than seven yeads until It
underwent complete shipwreck in the heavens.
No one ever expects to sec It again. The end ,
as far as known , is this star shower in the
night the Bonilla blelld was picked up In Ma
zapll , to give UB the best knowledge wo Aavo
of what may be expected when a comet falls.
Blela's lost comet does not compare with
Halley's , which must have billions of stones
or small and large masses of matter , probably
nickel-Iron , in Its magnificent head. If It were
shipwrecked by Jupiter , by the earth or by
any other planet , those. If they were drawn
close enough by the planet to break the hold
the sun has on them , may do a number of
interesting things.
They might revolve around the earth at a
distance , collecting I if such a ring as that of
Saturn , which is supposed to be composed of
an infinite number of such stones , or they
might whirl closer and closer In revolving
around it until finally the largest of them ,
\\hlcli do not burn up In the atmosphere by
friction , must fall as this blelld fell in Mex
ico. The hope of getting a beautiful earth'
ring , such as that of Saturn's , by capturing ,
comets , is very small , If only because comets
have not matter enough in them to make it.
A GOOD COUGH MIXTURE.
Simple Home-Made Remedy That la
Free from Opiates and Harm
ful Drugs.
An effective remedy that will usu
ally break up n cold In twenty-four
hours , is easily made by mixing to
gether In n Inrgo bottle two ounces of
Glycerine , a half-ounce of Virgin Oil
of Pine compound pure nntl eight
ounces of pure Whisky. This mixture -
turo will euro nny cough that Is cur
able , and Is not expensive ns it makes
enough ( o last the average family nn
entire year. Virgin Oil of Pine com
pound pure la prepared only In the
laboratories of the Loach Chemical
Co. , ClncinnaM , O.
Good Work Goes On.
During the year that has passed
slnco the International congress on tu
berculosis met nt Washington , one In
stitution or organization for the treat
ment or prevention of tuberculosis haa
boon established every day , Sundays
nntl holidays Included , according to n
bulletin of the National Association
for the Study and Prevention of Tu
berculosis. Fifteen now beds In hos
pitals or sanltorin have been provided
also for every day of the year.
Onn ttpMloncitw < nn < t ajntrnTatri rniny i rlont
itlM-iiM'H. n In thuniuiilily iuriil lir Dr. I'lenoi
' lets. 'llio favorite tumlljr Uxallvc.
Not to alleviate It wo can all that
needs alleviation.
Nebraska Directory
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Dr. J. T. M.
( Name on request. )
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