e, vol. i, p. 53; Grant, History of Physical Astronomy,
p. 305, etc., etc. For a curious partial anticipation by Hooke, in 1664,
of the great truth announced by Halley in 1682, see Pepy's Diary for
March 1, 1664. For excellent summaries of the whole work of Halley and
Clairaut and their forerunners and associates, see Pingre, Madler, Wolf,
Arago, et al.

(122) In accordance with Halley's prophecy, the comet of 1682 has
returned in 1759 and 1835. See Madler, Guillemin, Watson, Grant,
Delambre, Proctor, article Astronomy in Encycl. Brit., and especially
for details, Wolf, pp. 407-412 and 701-722. For clear statement
regarding Doerfel, see Wolf, p. 411.

It is instructive to note, even after the main battle was lost, a
renewal of the attempt, always seen under like circumstances, to effect
a compromise, to establish a "safe science" on grounds pseudo-scientific
and pseudo-theologic. Luther, with his strong common sense, had
foreshadowed this; Kepler had expressed a willingness to accept it.
It was insisted that comets might be heavenly bodies moving in regular
orbits, and even obedient to law, and yet be sent as "signs in the
heavens." Many good men clung longingly to this phase of the old belief,
and in 1770 Semler, professor at Halle, tried to satisfy both sides. He
insisted that, while from a scientific point of view comets could not
exercise any physical influence upon the world, yet from a religious
point of view they could exercise a moral influence as reminders of the
Just Judge of the Universe.

So hard was it for good men to give up the doctrine of "signs in the
heavens," seemingly based upon Scripture and exercising such a healthful
moral tendency! As is always the case after such a defeat, these
votaries of "sacred science" exerted the greatest ingenuity in devising
statements and arguments to avert the new doctrine. Within our own
century the great Catholic champion, Joseph de Maistre, echoed these in
declaring his belief that comets are special warnings of evil. So, too,
in Protestant England, in 1818, the Gentleman's Magazine stated that
under the malign influence of a recent comet "flies became blind and
died early in the season," and "the wife of a London shoemaker had four
children at a birth." And even as late as 1829 Mr. Forster, an English
physician, published a work to prove that comets produce hot summers,
cold winters, epidemics, earthquakes, clouds of midges and locusts, and
nearly every