"In the Days of the Comet" by H. G. Wells. New York: The Century Co., 1906. First American edition
Comets have a long history as bad omens and unwelcome visitors, but H. G. Wells’ novel “In the Days of the Comet” turns that silly superstition on its head. A comet enters the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrates, turning the nitrogen of the air into a healing gas that brings happiness, peace and generosity to even the most violent of humans.
It is interesting to note that Earth was destined to pass through the tail of Halley’s comet in 1910, just four years after the book’s publication. One of the substances discovered in the comet’s tail by spectroscopic analysis was the toxic gas cyanogen. The astronomer Camille Flammarion claimed that, when Earth passed through the tail, the gas "would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet." His pronouncement led to panicked buying of gas masks and quack "anti-comet pills" and "anti-comet umbrellas" by the public. [Source: Wikipedia]
"In the Days of the Comet" by H. G. Wells. New York: The Century Co., 1906. First American edition
Comets have a long history as bad omens and unwelcome visitors, but H. G. Wells’ novel “In the Days of the Comet” turns that silly superstition on its head. A comet enters the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrates, turning the nitrogen of the air into a healing gas that brings happiness, peace and generosity to even the most violent of humans.
It is interesting to note that Earth was destined to pass through the tail of Halley’s comet in 1910, just four years after the book’s publication. One of the substances discovered in the comet’s tail by spectroscopic analysis was the toxic gas cyanogen. The astronomer Camille Flammarion claimed that, when Earth passed through the tail, the gas "would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet." His pronouncement led to panicked buying of gas masks and quack "anti-comet pills" and "anti-comet umbrellas" by the public. [Source: Wikipedia]