Eenen _jongeling houd_ A _younker holds_ his
zynon _hoed_ op zyne _hat_ (_hood_) _upon_
_knieën_, zonder het his _knees_, but
binnenste te _laeten without _letting_ you
zien_, Eene _jonge _see_ the inside (het
dogter_ houd insgelyks binnenste.) A _young
_haere_ tassche _op girl_ (daughter)
haere knieen_. _holds_ in like manner
_her_ bag on her
_knees_.
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COMETS.--No. 1.
Most of our readers must have heard of the comet of Biela, which appears
in the present year, and has caused no small alarm among those who are
entirely ignorant of the nature of comets in general, and of the track
of this particular one. We have met with an amusing little book on this
comet of 1832, by Littrow, professor of astronomy at Vienna, from which
we shall give the substance of a few extracts, that may not be
uninteresting.
There are only four comets whose orbits are yet accurately known. That
which appears in the present year is called Biela’s comet, from its
having been discovered by an Austrian officer of that name in Bohemia in
1826. Its period of revolution round the sun is six years and two
hundred and seventy days. Though it had been seen before in 1772 and
1805, it was not known to be a comet of so short a period. In the
present year, 1832, we shall have its fourth visit. On the 27th of next
November the comet will be nearest to the sun, but even then about
seventy-two millions of geographical miles distant from that body: and
on the 22d of this month (October) it will be nearest to the earth, and
at the distance of about forty-four millions of miles from us.
The number of comets must be very great, for the appearance of near five
hundred has been recorded; and if we consider how many must have passed
unnoticed in the early history of the world for want of persons to
observe them, we may form some idea of the prodigious quantity of these
bodies. From 1769 to 1807 no comet appeared that attracted any attention
from people in general, though astronomers during this period observed
no fewer than thirty-six. There being then so many of these wanderers
whose course is unknown, it may be supposed a possible thing that one of
them should run foul of the earth; and supposing it to be a body of any
considerable magnitude and density, such a shock would entirely put an
end to the present order of existence. Setting aside however, the
question as to the magnitude and real nature of comets, let us consider
what chance there is of our knocking against the comet of the present
year, which, from the position of its orbit, looks much more threatening
than any other that is known.
On the 29th of the present month this comet of Biela will be distant
from a certain point in the earth’s _orbit_ only about 2⅓ of the earth’s
diameters, or about twenty thousand miles in round numbers. If the earth
were at this very point of its annual track on the same 29th of October,
it _might_ happen that we should feel such effects from the comet, or
from the enormous mass of vapour composing it (computed to be more than
one hundred and fifty times greater than the mass of our earth,) as to
destroy all animal and vegetable life. But as the earth will not be at
this dangerous point till the 30th of November, or thirty-two days
_later_ than the comet, we shall have nothing to fear from it this time.
For the earth moving in its orbit at the rate of about 67,680
geographical miles in one hour, it will be 51,978,240 miles distant from
the comet on the 29th of this month, and in no danger at all of being
affected by it in any way that we can estimate.
Perhaps few people will trouble themselves about this comet any more,
when they learn that they are quite safe for the present. But how, it
may be asked, are we sure that on some future occasion we may not
approach too near? If the comet should be in its nearest point to the
sun on the 28th of December, instead of the 27th of November, then we
should really approach it within the short distance above-mentioned. But
this near approach cannot take place, unless the comet should be in its
nearest point to the sun in the latter part of December; and this again
will not take place till the year 1933, when the comet will be in its
perihelion (i. e. nearest point to the sun) on the 31st of December, and
again in the year 2115, on the 26th of the same month. But, should the
comet’s period of six years and two hundred and seventy days be somewhat
changed in the course of the next century, from the action of Jupiter
and other planets, (which is far from improbable,) this would diminish
still further the chance of any unpleasant proximity in the years 1933
or 2115. This we hope will console those who regard this visitor with
more feelings of fear than curiosity.
It may be added that this comet is a very small one, and, though its
vapour occupies so enormous a space, the real kernel or bright part of
the comet is not more than sixty or eighty miles in diameter; and hence
it is conjectured that if it really is a _body_ properly so called, it
must be very small indeed, and that, even in a near approach to the
earth, any injury that it might do by its attraction would be hardly
felt. Again, says Littrow--“as to the tail and its deadly vapours,
which, as they say, threaten us with such dreadful consequences, we
really have nothing at all to fear from _them_: and for the following
plain, but quite satisfactory reason--the comet has no tail.”
The following conclusion will, we hope, remove whatever apprehension may
still lurk in the minds of the most timid, as to the danger which they
have to fear from this comet in the years 1933, 2115, and in subsequent
years--should their lives be so far prolonged.
“We have already stated that Biela’s comet can only come near the earth
when it is at its least distance from the sun, in the latter part of
December. But since this proximity of the comet to the sun may just as
well happen on _every other_ day of the year as in December, and since
its period is six years two hundred and seventy days, or about two
thousand five hundred days, in round numbers,--after a lapse of two
thousand five hundred years, a near _approach_ (not an actual collision)
to the comet is _probable_. I say merely _probable_, from which it must
not be concluded that such an event actually will take place in two
thousand five hundred years. This result merely means that a man might
bet two thousand five hundred to ten, or to one hundred, that the comet
will not come _near_ the earth for the next ten or one hundred years. At
the end of two thousand five hundred years there will be an equal chance
that the comet will make this near approach, or that it will not. And
after two thousand five hundred years the chance of its approaching the
earth will go on increasing, but at so slow a rate that many thousands
of years must elapse before the event can be _really_ expected.”
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