The experts take the floor
Faced with mounting fear, French authorities askedCamille Flammarion, a trustworthy and popular astronomer, to speak to the public. Flammarion considered the possibility that life on Earth might be extinguished should there be a celestial collision with Halleys comet. Should a sufficient quantity of hydrogen in the comets tail be combined with atmospheric oxygen, all animal life could suffocate in just a few moments.
Flammarion considers the event unlikely due to the scarcity of gas in comet tails a fact that would be confirmed later but he admits uncertainty.
We can admit that we ignore what fate has in store for next May. [] The human race would perish in a paroxysm of universal joy, delirium and madness, probably very enchanted with its fate.
Flammarion, as a respectable scientist, recountsall the known elements in his possession: the facts, arguments, and causes, all accompanied by probability. However, the press echoed the most extraordinary part of his words the possible suffocation of all of humanity and passed over its low probability and its supposedly hilarious effect. Thus informed, the general public became understandably terrified of the potentially lethal effects of the comets passage.
When the comet approached in February of that year, spectroscopic observations at theYerkes observatoryin the United States confirmed thepresence of cyanogen in the tail. Scientists detailed what would happen if the Earths orbit and the tails orbit cross paths: the cyanogen will decompose in the upper atmosphere, eliminating any danger of suffocation. Yet their reassuring conclusions went largely unnoticed by the press and the general public.
Following the dissemination of the information of an imminent danger, the reactions were diverse. Some people began to sell all their worldly possessions to take advantage of the short time remaining. Others risked death by alcohol overdose rather than gas intoxication. Others in the United States caulked their windows in a fruitless attempt to prevent the poisonous gas from entering their homes. In France and Italy, others took refuge in churches, the doors of which remained open during that famous night in May 1910. Several tens of thousands of believers gathered to pray in St. Peters Square. A Hungarianpreferred to commit suiciderather than risk being suffocated.
In this context, charlatans seized the opportunity to sell anti-comet pills, based on sugar and quinine, and even an anti-Halleys comet elixir
Of course, not everyone panicked: Flammarion and other astronomers were invited by Gustave Eiffel to the eponymous tower to observe the comet, and many Parisians took the opportunity tofeast and dance all night. To the surprise of some and the disappointment of others, only a small and faint nucleus was visible, if it was visible at all as we now know, Halleys comet is rarely bright when it passes.
See the article here:
Halley's Comet, Covid-19, and the history of 'miracle' anti-comet rem - Astronomy Magazine