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This announcement of Trissontin’s to Philaminte, who begins the parody on the fears caused by the appearance of comets, would not have been a parody four or five centuries ago.  These tailed bodies, which suddenly come to light up the heavens, were for long regarded with terror, like so many warning signs of divine wrath.  Men have always thought themselves much more important than they really are in the universal order; they have had the vanity to pretend that the whole creation was made for them, whilst in reality the whole creation does not suspect their existence.  The Earth we inhabit is only one of the smallest worlds; and therefore it can scarcely be for it alone that all the wonders of the heavens, of which the immense majority remains hidden from it, were created.  In this disposition of man to see in himself the centre and the end of everything, it was easy indeed to consider the steps of nature as unfolded in his favor; and if some unusual phenomenon presented itself, it was considered to be without doubt a warning from Heaven.  If these illusions had had no other result than the amelioration of the more timorous of the community one would regret these ages of ignorance; but not only were these fancied warnings of no use, seeing that once the danger passed, man returned to his former state; but they also kept up among people imaginary terrors, and revived the fatal resolutions caused by the fear of the end of the world.

When one fancies the world is about to end,—­and this has been believed for more than a thousand years,—­no solicitude is felt in the work of improving this world; and, by the indifference or disdain into which one falls, periods of famine and general misery are induced which at certain times have overtaken our community.  Why use the wealth of a world which is going to perish?  Why work, be instructed, or rise in the progress of the sciences or arts?  Much better to forget the world, and absorb one’s self in the barren contemplation of an unknown life.  It is thus that ages of ignorance weigh on man, and thrust him further and further into darkness, while Science makes known by its influence on the whole community, its great value, and the magnitude of its aim.

The history of a comet would be an instructive episode of the great history of the heavens.  In it could be brought together the description of the progressive movement of human thought, as well as the astronomical theory of these extraordinary bodies.  Let us take, for example, one of the most memorable and best-known comets, and give an outline of its successive passages near the Earth.  Like the planetary worlds, Comets belong to the solar system, and are subject to the rule of the Star King.  It is the universal law of gravitation which guides their path; solar attraction governs them, as it governs the movement of the planets and the small satellites.  The chief point of difference between them and the planets is, that their