Editing Comet (section)

===Fear of comets===
Fear of comets as [[act of God|acts of God]] and signs of impending doom was highest in Europe from AD 1200 to 1650.{{r|ley196710}} The year after the [[Great Comet of 1618]], for example, [[Gotthard Arthusius]] published a pamphlet stating that it was a sign that the [[Day of Judgment]] was near.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b2600275q |title=Cometa orientalis: Kurtze vnd eygentliche Beschreibung deß newen Cometen, so im November deß abgelauffenen 1618 |via=Gallica.fr |publisher=Sigismund Latomus |location=[[Frankfurt on Main|Franckfurt-am-Mayn]] |first=Gothard |last=Arthusius |author-link=Gotthard Arthusius |date=1619}}</ref> He listed ten pages of comet-related disasters, including "earthquakes, floods, changes in river courses, hail storms, hot and dry weather, poor harvests, epidemics, war and treason and high prices".{{r|ley196710}}

By 1700 most scholars concluded that such events occurred whether a comet was seen or not. Using [[Edmond Halley]]'s records of comet sightings, however, [[William Whiston]] in 1711 wrote that the [[Great Comet of 1680]] had a periodicity of 574 years and was responsible for the [[Genesis flood narrative|worldwide flood in the Book of Genesis]], by pouring water on Earth. His announcement revived for another century fear of comets, now as direct threats to the world instead of signs of disasters.<ref name="ley196710">{{Cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v26n01_1967-10_modified#page/n83/mode/2up |title=The Worst of All the Comets |department=For Your Information |magazine=[[Galaxy Science Fiction]] |last=Ley |first=Willy |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=96–105 |date=October 1967}}</ref> Spectroscopic analysis in 1910 found the toxic gas [[cyanogen]] in the tail of Halley's Comet,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/02/08/archives/comets-poisonous-tail-yerkes-observatory-finds-cyanogen-in-spectrum.html |title=Yerkes Observatory Finds Cyanogen in Spectrum of Halley's Comet |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=8 February 1910 |access-date=8 January 2018}}</ref> causing panicked buying of gas masks and quack "anti-comet pills" and "anti-comet umbrellas" by the public.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.universetoday.com/40778/interesting-facts-about-comets/ |title=Interesting Facts About Comets |work=Universe Today |first=Jerry |last=Coffey |date=20 September 2009 |access-date=8 January 2018}}</ref>