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TOTH ¥LA K. CHRISTIANSTED, V. 1. U. S. A., MONDAY. 22np SEPTEMBER 1919, ide 51, CRUIA AV 18 printed and published daily (Sundays and Holidays excepted) by G. Johansen at the Avis Office. TERMS---40 cents monthly in advance, 2 cents per single copy. Entered as second-class matter May 26th 1917 at the Post Office at Caristian- xted, St. Crowx, V. L. of the U. S. A., un- der tive Act of March 3. 1879. : Contribution to this paper will be glad- ly received when the same deals with mat- ters of general interest, and 1s accompa- nied with the author’s name, as a quar- antee of good faith. The editor cannot be responsible for the views of his correspon- dents nor does he necessarily endorse them. AWFUL THINGS NEXT DECEMBER? Numerous readers of the Pathfinder . ave asked whether any credence is to be placed in the widely published pre- dictions that the world is to come to an end toward the close of the present year, or at least that the present planets will then be in such a position that unpre- cedented storms and disasters will take place. We recently reported that Rev. Webb- Peploe. an English preacher, had made a prediction of this sort. Now he writes that he did not make such a prediction himself but that all he did was to repeat what he had heard a man say who had made a study of the Great Pyramid of Egyrt and who ‘‘feltperfectly confident, from the intricate details of that build- ing, "hat a solemn and very remarkable crisis in the world’s history was to be looked for about the close of 1919’’. He adds that his reason for repeating this fearsome prediction was ‘‘toprepare the people for the coming of the Lord.”’ This minister we believe, is acting on very slight and unjustifiable data. when he takes the hearsay of some unnamed and unknown person and draws any such deduction from it: Many ‘people have studied the Great Pyramid and no two of them have reached the same conclusions as to the significance of its position and peculiar construction. It is pretty cer- tain that that wonderful monument was designed with special ref2rence to as- tronomical phenomena and it may be “that it was intended to be a sign and a warning to succeeding generations. But all this is pure conjecture and if the prophets of evil want to frighten people into preparing for the end of the wo-ld they ought o make use of something more plausible. Some of our newspapers ar¢ now pub listiing, in nore detail, a simiiar brophecy by '‘Prof.: Albert F. Porta, no:ed sun- suot torcaster and disey erer of ‘Porta’s weather laws.’ ”g(“"’r(n".” “orta refers to the very unusual position 1n which the planets of our solar system wi'l be gatiered toward the end of next Decem- ber. He says ibat six of the planecs, namely Mercury, I}’,}:lll3. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptugyée, wili all be in con- junction, on the same side of the sun, and be ‘‘grouped together in the greatest league of planets ever known in the an- nals of astronomy.’”” And in addition, the remaining planet, Uranus, will be in opposition, on the other side of rheé sun, and will aggravate the situat:on vy pull- ing in the opposite direction, “Pro(.”” Porta says that even where two planets are in such a position as to cause a united pull on the sun they will produ e moderate-sized sunspots, and that the combination of the seven planets as'it will oceur in December will cause ““the hugest sunspat on record.’”’ This article by the professor’’ declares: ‘““The subspoi will be wvisible to to the naked eye, and since men first began ro make records of events no sun- spoi has been large enough to be seer without the aid of instruments.’’ This statement is false, and it is itself enough to throw ‘‘Pro.”” Porta out of court as a witness who doesn’t know what he is talking abont. It is not at all unorecedented to see sunspots with the naked eye. The Pathfinder doesn’t pretend to antedate recorded history, but it told at the time about a sunspot that was thus seen with the naked eye only as far back as Feb. 4, £905. The only ‘‘instrument’’ needed for ob- serving a big sunspot is a piece of well- smoked glass. The glass doesn’t magni- fy the spot at all—the only purpose of it being to protect your eye from the light of the sun, which would probably ruin your sight if your eye was not thus screened. “‘Prof.”’Porta goes on to say that this gigantic sunspot will cast such a baneful spell on our planet that '‘the disturbance will be without precedent or parallel’’. There will be ‘‘hurricanes, lightning, colossa! rains, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, to say nothing of flonds and fearful cold.’. He tells everybody to ““be warned in advance’’—though we don’t know what they are going to do about it, as the League of nations cove- \ / A 7 - v ‘I : L 1~/ / { CHRISTIA # } (\u } @‘) ANy —~\ L1 e , NA B - ‘ n,, FPORO] ,;,m A S— . (‘ l \S % e : / N ‘@\ / e \\\ IS - <y ; |o No. 217 nantfincludes no ‘‘'mandate’’ over the sun or the other planets. "“Tremendous things are going to hap- pen from Dec. 17 to Dee. 20 and after- wards.’”’ he says. This is a safe predic- tion, as ‘‘tremendous things’’ are always happening. It would be foolish to asserf that there willbe no abnormal conditions i1 the months that are just ahead. Every- one knows that for the last several years cli natie conditions have been visibly be- low par. sutamers have been cold; win- ter betore last was a record- breaker for cold and last winter was a record-breaker for warmth. Just recently various sec- tions of the country have been visited by the heaviest doewn-pours of rain known for a long period of years. It is no sezretthat the sun is abnormal- ly disturbed, and we know that at such times the earth experierces extreme weather conditions, with electrical storms, auroras, earthquakes and other manifestations. Sir William Herschel was the first astronomer to make much ofa study of sunspots. He concluded that they came and went in periods or cycles, and he even went so far as to try to show that periods of great sunspot activity corresponded with high bread prices. His idea was that sunspots pro- duce abnormal weather and that this tends to reduce the crops and thus raise the cost of living. The world is now experiencing the highest living cost ever | nown, and this is alsoa time of sunspot activity. It may possibly be true that the high prices are stimulated partly by the. dis- turbance of the sun. It may even be true that the war itself is an indirect re- sult of this same forze, which irritates the nerves of men and makes then want to do violence.’ The statistics proge that heat waves are accompanied gy crime waves. What causes the sunspots is not known, and there is where ‘‘Prof’’. Porta’s conclusion are unwarranted. It may be that they are produced by the influence of the planets, but that is by no means proved; it is merely a guess. Hence the claim that the earth is to suf- fer any unprecedented disaster next December is not based on science or exact knowledge. If the planets react on the sun it is not yet a proved fact. People who are sincere in wanting to prepare themselves for the end of the world or the coming of the Lord should not wait till such things are predicted but should do the one obvious thing [Continued on 4th page].