COMETS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVII, Issue 274, 2 December 1882, Page 4

COMETS.

WELCOME VISITORS. '" How seemingly rich in diversity are the phenomena which the panorama of Nature spreads before our view ! And yet, again, how beautifully all blend- and harmonize, as tho diverse but complementary colors of a solar spectrum, showing that all flow from a few plain, simple lawv." To thje Bditou of 'j'hb i: Bvhnixg Mail." Sir, — -With your kind permission I will now further develop my theory of comets. The comet scare, originated by a few scientists, caused me to resuscitate ideas I have long- held regarding comets, and upon observation I was struck with the comparative insignificance of the size of the comet to the sun when it was near its perihelion, and as a consequence about 'JO to 100 million of miles from us. The diameter appeared to be about the 120 th part of the diameter of the sun, or about 7.500 miles, nearly the size of the earth, and about the 1.500,000 th part of the bulk of the sun. Now, suppose it had dropped into the sun entirely and had been counsumed, it would have been, comparatively speaking, like a piece of coal the size of a pea being thrown into a large parlor, fire, and with no more injury to man. Now, in this case, it would have been observed (had it fallen in) by some of the millions of eyes constantly directed towards it. Thi.* it did not do ; but I believed that it fulfilled its destiny by discharging, as it passed round the sun, its stupendous store of electricity and magnetism collected from space within the sun"s domain, into the polar portions of the sun's photo - sphere, to be gently re-diffused by the sun through the solar system, and re-collected by comets 'of a similar kind and brought back again to the sun, and so on ad tnjinitum. They are the working bees bringing food and fuel to the sun. but they are not the sole workers under infinite and almighty guidance and control. Depend upon it, no mistakes are made by the Creator : drop a seed into the ground, and lo there arises, aided by the grand luminary, a flower upon which a book may be written. But to revert to comets; I believe there are thousands of comets of a different kind, comets that are opaque, as your correspondent "H" says, but comets that neither "H " nor I can see ; meteoric comets in showers or otherwise meteorites that occasionally * pour into the sun, and supply the denser requirements for the sun's interior, producing; sun spots in. their passage thereto, and sensibly increasing- the sun's heat to us. . It does not appear to be natural that comets should collide either against the earth or the sun, and I believe they never will It would be just as fatal to us if the rain clouds were to fall in one mass instead of being distilled through the air as rain or dew, as it would if a comet of large proportion, including its tail of 15,000,000 miles long- 'and 3,500,G00 broad and that tail material, were to fall into the sun. Spectrum analysis has shown that metallic and other fires are raging in Sol's laboratary; just so, and metallic gasses are in' consequence by simple nutural laws diffused through space, and as metallic comets are consumed to form those gasses, bo do most of those gasses re-form in space, and come back to the sun to be consumed. But I believe that there is a diversity in even these phenomena, and that masses of condensed metallic are .consolidated in space too large ±l or fuel for the sun, (Nature's fires are properly attended] to, and bodies or opaque comets of too large a size falling into the sun might cause us to be burnt up), but Jin consequence of their size and density are gravitated towards the belt of Asteroids, and there accumulate until possibly an almighty shall bring them all together and.form a new planet, and I believe it was by some such means this world of ours was built, We have here all the metals which can be discovered by spectrum analysis to exist in the sun, and in fact this earth travelling through space as do Asteriods, small and great, and comets is but an aggregation of the consolidated sun's gasses. Take a piece of wood in your hand, let it be ponderous wood, and then take another piece of "wood, point it, and rub it on the other ; what are you doing ? Exciting electricity as the sun does. Behold it burns. Throw the other piece of wood in ; they are both burnt; what is left? A very small quantity of ashes. Now take a little kerosene, and pour on the ashes, and presently all is gone. Why you have utterly destroyed a portion of the world. What was the wood and kerosene ? Nothing but stored sunlight. And so bit by bit the whole world might be destroyed, aye, even the very atones ; and if so destroyed might be again re-formed from the aggregation of meteorites and sun's gasses. 4i And 3 r et again how beautifully all blend and harmonize." So much for the usefulness of comets without which this world would be unfit for human habitation. What about the glacial period ? A short supply of opaque cometary food for the sun. What about the deluge ? A short supply of translucent or gaseous cometary food for the sun. What about the Aurora ? A superabundant supply of cometary electricity to the sun. What about the electrical and magnetical disturbances frequently occurring? The magnetic belt by which. I believe our earth is surrounded is overcharged from the same cause, the Aurora at night being the visible effect. The magnetism governing the compass is in this belt, and hence the compass disturbances in fogs, and still none of these are other than diversities. I am, however, wandering- from the subject, and will conclude with a remark to my friends "H " and " 8,. Mason." I will begin with the latter (as I begun with the tail of the comet) who has evidently misread my letter. I did not say " I had written for my own satisfaction ," but that " I have been obliged to think the matter out for my own satisfaction. I must, however, say here that I have consulted various text books to check my theory, which is original as far as I know. Neither "H " nor " R.A." has given a reason why comets' tails precede the nucleus in its passage from the Sun ; I have done so. As to the origin of translucent comets, they may be emitted from the sun as soap bubbles are blown from a pipe, and be of a cellular or convenient foini for storing electricity. Whatever they are, they play an important part in the economy of nature, and to my mind instead of being held as a source of terror, should be a source of comfort. To my friend " H " I must say that I cannot now expect to be allotted space, to enable me to follow him to the frigid regions of space where " when the internal fire of the comet is spent " "it changes its poles " and returns to the sun, and I should like to discover some natural law bearing on the subject before giving an opinion. I do not quite understand "H " when he says, " and the sun's rays passing through a small opening" (what opening?) "present a tiny tail" which is shortly stretched out to tens of millions of miles" and this said tail is carried away again, we are told, by others much brighter after leaving the sun. and have consequently deprived the sun of fuel, that is if the tail was real, but I am satisfied that the tail is visionary, Depend upon it, the proper number of comets of all kinds come and depart in some form from the sun, that they all perform a work beneficial to mankind, and that it is a splendid break in the passage of life to have the opportunity of observing something sensational with the comforting assurance that no harm need be apprehended. I am, &c, William Akbbsten. Additional special constables have been sworn in at Salisbury for the protection of the Salvation Army during the winter months. In connection with the wreck of the Tararna the Southland Neks records that for some time past the unowned graves, with others in the same " God's acre," have lost their neglected appearance, and have shown evidence of being attended by loving hands. Flowers have taken the place of weeds, and other means have been adopted to beautify the last resting of ,thos place upon whom the green sod presses. This will be pleasing news to the surviving relatives ; but the most gratifying fact has yet to be told, which is that the work has been done by the children of the Fortrose school, who have for some time past devoted to it their mid-day play hour.