Book contents
- Frontmatter
- EDITOR'S PREFACE
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS RELATIVE TO COMETS
- CHAPTER II COMETARY ASTRONOMY UP TO THE TIME OF NEWTON
- CHAPTER III THE MOTIONS AND ORBITS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IV PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER VI THE WORLD OF COMETS AND COMETARY SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER VII PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF COMETS
- CHAPTER VIII PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IX MASS AND DENSITY OF COMETS
- CHAPTER X THE LIGHT OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- CHAPTER XII COMETS AND SHOOTING STARS
- CHAPTER XIII COMETS AND THE EARTH
- SECTION I COMETS WHICH HAVE APPROACHED NEAREST TO THE EARTH
- SECTION II COMETS AND THE END OF THE WORLD
- SECTION III MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF A COLLISION WITH A COMET
- SECTION IV CONSEQUENCES OF A COLLISION BETWEEN A COMET AND THE EARTH ACCORDING TO THE MECHANICAL THEORY OF HEAT
- SECTION V THE COMET OF 1680, THE DELUGE, AND THE END OF THE WORLD
- SECTION VI PASSAGE OF THE EARTH THROUGH THE TAIL OF A COMET IN 1861
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XV SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT COMETS
- I ELLIPTIC ELEMENTS OF THE RECOGNISED PERIODICAL COMETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- II GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE ORBITS OF COMETS
- Plate section
SECTION II - COMETS AND THE END OF THE WORLD
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- EDITOR'S PREFACE
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS RELATIVE TO COMETS
- CHAPTER II COMETARY ASTRONOMY UP TO THE TIME OF NEWTON
- CHAPTER III THE MOTIONS AND ORBITS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IV PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER VI THE WORLD OF COMETS AND COMETARY SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER VII PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF COMETS
- CHAPTER VIII PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IX MASS AND DENSITY OF COMETS
- CHAPTER X THE LIGHT OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- CHAPTER XII COMETS AND SHOOTING STARS
- CHAPTER XIII COMETS AND THE EARTH
- SECTION I COMETS WHICH HAVE APPROACHED NEAREST TO THE EARTH
- SECTION II COMETS AND THE END OF THE WORLD
- SECTION III MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF A COLLISION WITH A COMET
- SECTION IV CONSEQUENCES OF A COLLISION BETWEEN A COMET AND THE EARTH ACCORDING TO THE MECHANICAL THEORY OF HEAT
- SECTION V THE COMET OF 1680, THE DELUGE, AND THE END OF THE WORLD
- SECTION VI PASSAGE OF THE EARTH THROUGH THE TAIL OF A COMET IN 1861
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XV SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT COMETS
- I ELLIPTIC ELEMENTS OF THE RECOGNISED PERIODICAL COMETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- II GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE ORBITS OF COMETS
- Plate section
Summary
Prediction of 1816; the end of the world announced for July 18–Article in the Journal des Débuts–The comet of 1832; its rencontre with the orbit of the earth– Notice by Arago in the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes–Probability of a rencontre between a comet and the earth–The end of the world in 1857 and the comet of Charles V
The terrors of the year 1773 create a smile at the present day; but similar fears, it ought not to be forgotten, have been renewed from time to time in our own century; as, for example, in 1816, 1832, and 1857
In 1816 a report was current of the approaching end of the world; July 18 was the date fixed for the fatal event. Some days after there appeared in the Journal dés Debate a satirical article by Hoffmann, in which that critic ridiculed in the following manner the hypothesis of the earth coming into collision with a comet:–
‘A great mathematician (Laplace), to whom we owe the complete exposition of the system of the world, and whose work is law, has been kind enough to reassure us a little concerning the uncivil comets of Lalande ; but that he is far from having banished all cause of alarm we may judge from the following passage, which I will literally transcribe : “ The small probability of such a rencontre may, by accumulating during a long series of years, become very great.”
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- The World of Comets , pp. 460 - 466Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1877