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HALLEY’S COMET.THE POSSIBLE HANGERS.The opinion of the well-known E rench ustron omor, M. Com ilk* Klo m-mCL'iuni. that there is possibly consider able danger in tlie approach of the K.alley comet, which may .gravely affect the earth on May 18, is not shared bv all astronomers, although the astronomers are slightly at variance with biologists and physiologists tiiiid chemists. M. Bi gourd an, mem-1)0,1- of tho Academy of Sciences, and one of the directors of the Observatory in Ba.ris, thus answers a question put to him by the Martin: It is possible that the gaseous atmosphere of the co mot will touch up when it passes, but wc shall be no more upset than we were in 1819 and 1861.” M. Baillaud, director of the Observatory, says: Wo shall scarcely perceivethe passage of tlhc earth through the comet’s tail. The gases that form t h o ta i 1 are so r arifi ed, a n d are sp re ad over such great distances, that it is possible that if there bo any shook between the two atmospheres the comet wil'I be the loser.”M. Dasla-ndres; of tlio Men don Observatory, quotes the earlier expert-1 cnces of this kind, and savs t'lua/t, according to cxalt;ct calculations, the earth was touched by the tails of different comets in the eighteenth century. The chroniclers of the time note the p rev ale 110 e of fear. More recently, says M. Deslandrcs, a comet almost touched the surface of Jupiter, but apparently there was no perturbation. Probably there will be seen a shower of shooting stars in the upper regions of the sky,” says M Deal a mires. “It seems that the tails of certain, comets, perhaps when they a.re on the ■decline, break up, and form meteors, which follow their directions and have the same orbit us the original comet.” Oil the other hand, it is pointed’ out that the spectroscope has shown that there is a. largo quantity of cyanogen gas :in tlio atmosphere surrounding the comet, and different chemists, such as M. !)astro, state that, being practically without odour, the presence of tlio gas would not easily be perceived. A mixture of this gas with air would lead to certain poisoning. M. Arniii.nd C.Iauties adds the cheerful in Formation that in the presence of fire or a smalt electric spark a mixture of cyanogem gas and air will explode .HAVE YOU A WEAK THROAT?
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Dannevirke Bush Advocate
Dannevirke, Wanganui, NZ
Wed, Mar 16, 1910
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