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Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 718, 18 January 1910, Page 6

, ' The following i- paragraph '■ appears ... in' the Melbourne "Age":—A recent cable reportsVthe opinifni of Mr. Croinmelin,-of Greenwich,that the earth will pass through' the ' tail ,'of 'the . oomet-.' in May next. Such- a'prophecy arouses'' no' such terror nowadays';as in the past. Brightly as it glows'in .''the 7 sky/ a comet's tail-- is the filmiest of gossamer trains,' consisting : ofmicroscopic'. particles streaming away' into.'space/Owing to repulsion by the sun.-' f The • cause •of this" repulsion (for long , .believed to . .be. .electrical ' iii origin), is now almost universally ascribed to. the actual pressure of light waves on tiny particles. " Whatever "its nature,'the sunis; evidently .the cause, for tlie>' r tail" appears as, the oomet:approaches, the sun, 7 and is- gradually lost'on the journey back into spate.: Had' we: not previous warning of l .this plunge of ours through- the tail of ; Halley!s ' come.t, wo should probably . never: notioe the!: fact. The earth, arid moon/sank '273,000 . miles', deep into the comet of. 1861,' yet nothing was;ex-. perienced'. beyond! some mnpnetic ance and-.'a., yellow, aurora.: Impact with Bailey's .comet can' do lis Jittle harm; its most 1 : condensed, part merely consists of small; particles (varying in size fronv pin' heads';to'■ hundreds,'of . feet apart,,plunged in, a mass of; inconceivably thin' gases.'. Though "spread.'out over millions, of ;mil«s,Ythis;.giant comet, if brought ■ to earth -.' and condensed, could be carri«l 'iri :'a handbag,: while-'tb«t average size 'comet {Would fiardly. fill' a pillbox,. To such contempt: dow the familiarityl of Eoienco. bring us!