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
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- SECTION I SUPPOSED PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- SECTION II DO COMETS EXERCISE ANY INFLUENCE UPON THE SEASONS?
- SECTION III PENETRATION OF COMETARY MATTER INTO THE TERRESTRIAL ATMOSPHERE
- SECTION IV CHEMICAL 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 III - PENETRATION OF COMETARY MATTER INTO THE TERRESTRIAL ATMOSPHERE
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
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- SECTION I SUPPOSED PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- SECTION II DO COMETS EXERCISE ANY INFLUENCE UPON THE SEASONS?
- SECTION III PENETRATION OF COMETARY MATTER INTO THE TERRESTRIAL ATMOSPHERE
- SECTION IV CHEMICAL 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
Is this penetration physically possible?–Oometary influences, according to Dr. Foxster –Were the dry fogs of 1783,1831, and 1834, due to the tails of comets?–Volcanic phenomena and burning turf-beds; their probable coincidence with fogs–Probable hypothesis of Franklin–Dry fogs, atmospheric duat, and bolides.
We perceive, then, that the influence of comets upon living beings by the action of heat is a hypothesis which, for the present, must be abandoned ; in so far, at least, as the action of heat by radiation from a distance is concerned. We have throughout reserved the questions of a collision between the two bodies, and of the penetration of the earth to the heart of a mass in a state of incandescence.
Apart from the action of calorific radiation, what influence of any other kind could a comet exercise upon the meterological conditions of the earth? We know of absolutely none.
It remains, then, to consider the immediate physical or chemical influence of the cometary substance. It is not forbidden to our globe, as we have seen, to traverse the gigantic trains which form the tails of certain comets, nor to penetrate to a certain depth the vaporous atmosphere of some amongst them. Apart from these rencontres, we may suppose that cometary matter may be introduced into our atmosphere by the power of attraction.
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- The World of Comets , pp. 503 - 507Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1877