724 THE UNIVERSE. 



most advanced, represent comets in their works under the 

 most grotesque shapes ; a fault of which even Ambrose 

 Pare is guilty. 1 



Kepler himself, though an eminent astronomer, was so 

 subjugated by the superstition of his epoch that he saw in 

 comets a kind of monsters, similar to those produced by the 

 sea, and wandering vaguely in the heavenly regions. 



Although in its progress science has eradicated these ab- 

 surdities, still, on the other hand, it has given rise to some 

 fears. It was dreaded every instant that the shock of one 

 of these wandering stars would shatter the earth into frag- 

 ments. The theory of Buffon and the assertions of Kepler 

 in no way reassured men. The former, it may be remem- 

 bered, had put forth the view that our globe was only a 

 fragment struck off from the sun by the shock of a comet ; 

 and the danger seemed only the more imminent when Kep- 

 ler, in his picturesque language, said that " there are more 



1 In Ambrose Pare we may see to what an extent even the shrewdest men al- 

 lowed themselves to be misled respecting comets. The illustrious surgeon, who 

 was certainly not superstitious, gives in his valuable work most fantastic figures of 

 some of these stars. 



In the chapter entitled " Des Monstres Celestes," Ambrose Pare speaks of 

 bearded and hairy comets, of comets like a shield, a lance, a dragon, or a battle 

 in the clouds. And he there describes and represents, in all its details, a bleed- 

 ing comet which appeared in 1528. " This comet," he says, " was so horrible 

 and frightful, and engendered such terror among the vulgar, that some died of 

 fear, and others fell sick. It appeared to be of excessive length, and was of the 

 color of blood; at its summit was seen the figure of a bent arm holding a large 

 sword in its hand, as if about to strike. At the end of the point were three stars. 

 At both sides of the rays of this comet were seen a great number of axes, knives, 

 and swords of the color of blood, among which were a great number of hideous 

 human faces, with rugged beards and locks," Ambrose Pare, chap, xxxii. 



