Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 300, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1919 — WHAT A RELIEF! END OF WORLD NOT IN SIGHT. [ARTICLE]

WHAT A RELIEF! END OF WORLD NOT IN SIGHT.

Camille Flammarion, a noted French astronomer, calls the prediction made by an American scientist that the world will end on December 17 a foolish one, and states his reasons in the following words: “I declare without hesitation that the predictions made in the United States and Argentina that December 17 will mark the end of the world are stupid, and I would take no notice of them were it not for ;;he fact that the Astronomical Society of France has received numerous letters from all parts of the world, including America, inquiring about the plausibility of such a prophecy, which is based upon planetary conjunctions. “As a matter of fact, no conjunction is due. What is happening is that Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are approaching one another in the same part of the firmament as the sun is found. These gatherings of the planets in the same constellation are not rare. No astronomical menace exists. Undoubtedly the earth will die one day, either by old age, sickness or accident, but the present position of the planets will not lead to any catastrophe. So rest peacefully in your beds.”