Ragnarok : the age of fire and gravel

THE CONSEQUENCES TO THE EARTH. 105

ets burned with substantially the same spectrum as that emitted by burning carbon. The inference is irresistible that these comets were wrapped in great masses of carbon in a state of combustion. This is the conclusion reached by Dr. Schellen.

Padre Secchi, the great Roman astronomer, examined Dr. Winnecke’s comet on the 21st of June, 1868, and con-

Solar Spectrum

Fob r Lo LT] | i 1333 II02 1200 1500 I4v0 150 TLO3 aj ¥U ov . A : 5 t A : = T n T T o { i 1 i i

Winnecke’s Comet II. 18638.

co nN &

Brorsen’s Comet I, 18

cluded that the light from the self-luminous part was produced by carbureted hydrogen.

We shall see that the legends of the different races speak of the poison that accompanied the comet, and by

which great multitudes were slain ; the very-waters that