Note 103 — PART III. INFLUENCE OF COMETS AND PLANETS UPON ONE ANOTHER.

Unfortunately, however, for the feasability of this method of firing our globe, it has been shewn by Du Sejour, that the Comet of 1680, in receding from the Sun, after having received the requisite supply of heat, can never pass the Earth at a less distance than 9,000,000 of miles. If Whiston had lived to the year 1770, he would have seen, that it is possible for a comet to pass within 750,000 miles of the Earth, without creating a deluge, or setting our world on fire.