I pass now to the next question.

{p. 82}

CHAPTER III.

COULD A COMET STRIKE THE EARTH?

READER, the evidence I am about to present will satisfy you, not only
that a comet might have struck the earth in the remote past, but,
that the marvel is that the earth escapes collision for a single
century, I had almost said for a single year.

How many comets do you suppose there are within the limits of the
solar system (and remember that the solar system occupies but an
insignificant portion of universal space)?

Half a dozen-fifty-a hundred-you will answer.

Let us put the astronomers on the witness-stand:

Kepler affirmed that "COMETS ARE SCATTERED THROUGH THE HEAVENS WITH
AS MUCH PROFUSION AS FISHES IN THE OCEAN."

Think of that!

"Three or four telescopic comets are now entered upon astronomical
records every year. Lalande had a list of seven hundred comets that
had been observed in his time."