THE TERRIBLE YEAR-1881.

Southland Times, Issue 3416, 2 June 1879, Page 2

THE TERRIBLE YEAR-1881.

(From the "Weekly Times.) The llecord Union, 7rh 3r|arch says :—Professor Norton, ' of the State Normal School, San Francisco, lectured hefoie the Sacramento County Teachers' Institute last night upon *the very interesting subject of " The Planetary Conjunction of 188).*' The prediction of astronomers that in 1881 wili occur the conrsjunction^of ,neaily all the.^gteatfe.4 planets, brought again to the surface the old prophecy of Mother Shiptou, and a score of pthcr birds of ill-omen, who. backed: Idj .thp" recent appearance of the plague, have predicted the most awful state of "affairs to be inaugurated in 1881, and to coat inne till 1887, during which fearful epidemics shall prevail, crime multiply, the elemeuts continue in constemc and awful perturbation, floods overwhelm, earthquakes destroy, volcanoes burst forth, the earth open and swallow up towns, ioinadoes sweep round the woild,and all waters become poison, and the devil be loosed in reality to work more desolation andruiriiu all the earth. Lately in this State a so-cjijled Professor has issued a book in which he 'has prophesied, from a conjunction Of Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, the Earth,, and Mars,' that there shall occur all the foregoing recited,and a hundred other woes fall upon the earth, and that the deviltry and destruction is to begin in 1881. Professor Norton, however, does not believe these things. an<J liis'lexjtine was intended to show the reasoix for hisJaith. He illustrated his remarks with diagrams thrown upon the wall by means of a magiclantern.

He began by saying that we are nevt r satisfied with things now present. The world is ever looking backward lo the good old time, or forward' to the good time coming. Somehow the forward outlook is never calm aud cloudless. •

It is also natural that men should look to pivotal events in nature,. snch as the completion of astronomical cycles, as being likely to involve great crises in human affairs^ The remarkable planetary apposition of the year ISSI has especially appealed to human superstition and imagination.

The lecturer here read extracts from a recently -published pamphlet entitled *' The Voice of the Stars," which foretold a serif s of terrible disasters as likely to occur between the years 1880 and 1887, including the annihilation of the Chinese race and the death of 15,000,000 Americans from the plague ; terrible storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, famine?, &c. He also gave a brief synopsis of Piazzi Smith's " Pyramid Heligion," and quoted from the oracles •

Mother Shipton, all three substantially agree ing that—

The world to an end shall come " ' In 1.881: ■:'■■ ' -.■••:'■ ■ He said that the prophecy of the old woman seemed to still have vitality, although the publisher of the " Shipton Almanac; " has openly confessed ■ that he added: the" r - lines above quoted in ordertogive the book a large sale. The question before us is, can there be any residual truth behind all this superstition and nousense 1

The lecturer presented Prof. Delarue' theory of the relation of planetary cohjuncg tlons to sun spots ;. showed diagrams illustraing the effect of the attraction of the sun and? moon upon oceanic tides, and the alleged corresponding effects of planetary conjunctions upon the atmosphere of the sun. He then exhibited a diagram, showing the position of the planets, 31st October, 1881 ; all the large planets bnt Saturn and Mercnr; being nearly in a straight line passing through the centre of the ' sun. It is alleged that a similiar aspect of the -planets will not occur for many thousand years'. If it is possible for the massed planets to produce extraordinary tidal effects upon the earth, such effects must soon be manifested. Nevertheless, the planets are enormously distant. Their attrative fovea varies inversely as the square of the distance. It is hardly conceivable that mere gravitation could ever produce any such effect as the foretold disasters.

The only remaining theory is that of a hypothetical electric inter-action between the sun and planets. This is but the ghost of a theory, having hardly a shadow of ascertained fact behind it. The lecturer quoted one or two instances in which there seemed to' be a

coincidence in times between such conjunctions and atmospheric disturbances," where the theory, -of great resulting evils failed utterly, and then read the following letter from Professor Young, of Princeton College, the eminent scientist and astronomer.

" H. B. Norton. — Dear sir — Your note of inquiry is received. I answer briefly, as follows : — First — Your enclosed diagram (of the conjunction) is not essentially correct. Second — It is true that the planets will be somewhat nearer their perihelia than is usual at such heliocentric conjunctions. Third — There is no good reason for expecting remarkable disturbances in the solar or terrestrial atmosphere on account of such planetary position. Professor Delarne thought that he had discovered a relation between them and sun spots, but latest researches fail to substantiate the theory. Scientific astronomers consider the new gospel cf Piazzi Smith and Mother Shipton as being about equivalent to that of Mother Goose. — Yours, very truly, Charles A. Young." ■

Summing up the evidences, Professor Norton said, we are justified in concluding that science has thus far given us no definite reason for expecting the great tribulation. Nevertheless, if public excitement shall cause men to cleanse their sewers and mend their lives, we may be thankful for the ■" voicefrom the tombs" uttered by Piazzi Smith and the woeful forecast attributed to Mother Shipton I '■■ , -'.