Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1893 — Has the Earth a Cometary Tail? [ARTICLE]

Has the Earth a Cometary Tail?

Public Opinion. It is well known that the tails ol comets stream away from the sun and are of very low density. Var ious hypotheses l.ave been propounded to explain their movement awav from the sun, but the most promis ing is that of a Russian physicist, who ascribes it to the repulsion of the solar radiation acting on a mass of extreme tenuity, while, on the other hand, the attraction of gravitation operates between the solar mass and the ini id nucleus of the comet. The same physicist .u-count? for the mysterious terrestrial phe nomenon of the zodiacal light in the same way. He believes that the earth has aIBO a tail of cosmic dust, not luminous of itself but by reflect!ng the sunlight.

Hesiod hated women, and took he pains to conceal the fact. Robespierre was fond of reading poetry aloud to his friends. Confucius, it is said, was passionately fond of watermelon seeds. Themiatoclcs was passionately fond of dancing and flute playing. ~ Nero was fontT df nTusicand attained great proficiency in toe art. Virgil, during the summer season, filled his house with butterflies. Nicano could not listen to the sound of a flute without fainting. Francis I. was known as the most skillful jouster of his country. More’s Utopia was written as an amusement and to divert his friends. Samuel Richardson wrote his novels while attired in a full-dress suit. Charlemagne was said to be the best player at checkers of his century. Cato’s only diversion Avas drinking and he was fond of this diversion. Carday, author of the Argents, in his leisure hours was a florist. Disiderius Erasmus was always thrown into a fever by the smell of fish. Thomas Carlyle’s most congenial recreation was smoking in his garden. □ Gladstone is fond of wood-cutting, and often amuses himself in this way. Balzaz, when not at work on his novels, entertained himself sketching-