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HAU,EY S COMET IN CHINA. xliiioffices, no modern schools. At the present time allthese things were so many arms wielded by the wellwishers of China.In the first place, peace has been preserved throughout China. The Changsha riots are well known to havehad nothing to do with the comet. Correspondentsreported that when the comet did appear, everybodywas more or less prepared for it. Even the knowledgethat on May 19 China, along with the rest of the world,was to pass through its tail, produced even less effectupon the Chinese than it did upon some people inRussia and the Western States of America. They believed the foreigner when he said the passage throughthe tail would be harmless, for had not the foreigner toldthem of the comet months before they could see it ?A second result, then, is a greater respect for theforeigner s knowledge. In Kansu the Chinese from longwaiting began to have their doubts, but in due time theforeigner was triumphant, and if he knows so well theheavenly bodies perhaps he is an expert also in heavenlydoctrine. Again, without doubt superstition of everysort has received a staggering blow. The comet tractpointed out that the heavenly bodies generally have noinfluence for weal or for woe on mankind, and astrology,geomancy, and horoscopy have been sensibly weakened.For this every foreigner, syndicate company and merchant, should be forever grateful to the missionary body,and this because these superstitions are their mostformidable enemies in China. To multitudes of Chinesehave come their first ideas of the solar system andits great creator, and new and striking attention hasbeen called to Christianity in China. The Chinaman ishappy because he knows the comet will not return foranother 75 years.