552 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



appears to totter on his throne. William appears to have 

 reassured his courtiers, who were also anxious, by saying 

 that such a comet only appeared when a kingdom wanted 

 a king! 



In 1456 Europe was in a state of great excitement. Con- 

 stantinople had recently fallen into the hands of the Turks, who 

 were now besieging Belgrade under Mahomet II., and it was 

 feared that if it fell nothing would resist their victorious march. 

 To quote an article by Mr. E. V. Heward : " The two opposing 

 armies in open sight are resting from their conflict, for the 

 dark shades of night are falling on the earth. . . . Suddenly 

 the peaceful meditations of the sentinel are disturbed ; he is 

 startled and perplexed, for in the western sky a comet appears, 

 with a long dragon-like tail, which spreads over two celestial 

 signs, and is apparently advancing towards the moon. His 

 fears are heightened as a dark shadow steals over the moon's 

 face, and hides its light." 



Pontanus continues the narrative : " Some persons, seeing 

 the darkness of the eclipse, and perceiving the comet in the 

 form of a long sword advancing from the west, and approaching 

 the moon, thought that it presaged that the Christian inhabitants 

 of the West would come to an agreement to march against the 

 Turks, and would gain the victory. And the Turks, on their 

 part, taking into consideration the state of affairs, fell into no 

 small fears, and entered into serious arguments as to the will 

 of Allah." 



A large number of astronomical text-books contain a state- 

 ment that Pope Calixtus III. cursed and excommunicated this 

 comet, and ordered prayers to be said to ward off the evil 

 influences of "the Devil, the Turks, and the Comet." Father 

 Gerard, in a recent article in The Month, has shown that this 

 is a pure legend, the only shadow of authority for it being in 

 one writer, Platina, who says that the most learned men of the 

 day predicted that the comet would produce pestilence. This 

 was in full accord with the ideas of that time, it being supposed 

 that comets were deleterious vapours in the upper air. Platina 

 then says that the Pope, on hearing these opinions (without 

 himself endorsing them), said that, if such evils w r ere indeed 

 threatened, it would be well to pray that the Christian army 

 might be spared from them. The whole story of Platina, how- 

 ever, carries very little weight, since he does not give any 



