The hurricane which occurred in the Barbadoes in 1831, was the most remarkable on record. In the actions of the hurricane and the electrical displays, there was abundant evidence of cause and effect.

The lightning for hours played in flashes and forked darts, and moved frightfully between the clouds and the earth, with a most surprising action, and the earth was felt to tremble. The moment this singular alternation of the lightning pa.s.sing to and fro ceased, the hurricane burst forth with a violence which exceeded all that had yet been experienced. The winds blowing with appalling velocity, changed their course frequently and almost instantaneously, occasionally abating but only to return in gusts from S. W.-W. and N. W. with acc.u.mulated fury.

These alternations of wind and violent electrical phenomena, were something more than coincident, more than a casual connection. Here we observe a manifest inter-dependence.

In another hurricane, "the wind blew about twelve hours with the utmost fury from the N. E. and then, in an instant, perfect calm ensued for an hour, then, quick as thought, the hurricane sprang up with tremendous force from the S. W." No other power known can suspend and put in motion, in opposite directions, such marvellous velocities and so instantaneously.

A remarkable phenomenon was exhibited by a hurricane in 1837, and described by CAPT. SEYMOUR of Cork. "For nearly an hour we could not see each other nor anything else, but merely the light, and most astonishing, every one of our finger-nails turned quite black and remained so nearly five weeks afterwards. This fact may be cla.s.sed among other proofs of the agency of electricity in the production of hurricanes."

The following facts are entirely inconsistent with usual methods of explanation of the cause of winds: "The entire atmosphere, to the alt.i.tude of many thousand feet, is constantly traversed by numerous horizontal currents of air, flowing in different directions and at different heights."

The course of a balloonist was altered no less than five times in the s.p.a.ce of fourteen hours. "The aeronaut GREEN, at the height of 14,000 feet, encountered a current that bore him along at the rate of five miles per hour, but upon descending to the alt.i.tude of 12,000 feet he met a contrary wind blowing with a velocity of eighty miles an hour."

The vito-magnetic fluid is capable of becoming ama.s.sed, condensed and rarefied. In the tornado that happened at Natchez, in 1840, the houses _exploded_ whenever the doors and windows were shut, the roofs shooting up into the air, and the walls even of the strongest buildings bursting outward with great force.

On the 18th of June, 1839, a whirlwind fell upon the village of Chatenay, near Paris. In the room of a house over which it pa.s.sed, several articles of needle-work were lying upon a table. The next day some of them were found in a field at a distance from the house, together with a pillow-case taken from another room. They must have been carried up the chimney by the rush of air outwards, as every other means of exit was closed.

It is a fact well-known to miners that during and before violent tempests, strong ascending currents are observed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pl. IV. MANUFACTURED WIND.]

If a metallic rod terminating in a point be attached to the conductor of an electrical machine, electricity escapes in large quant.i.ties from the point. A continuous current is thus kept up and the flame of a taper, if placed in front of the current, is blown in a horizontal direction. Wind is thus _manufactured_ on a small scale. Pl. IV.

At a recent meeting of a Meteorological Society in England, a paper was read by the REV. JOSEPH CROMPTON, M.A., F.M.S. "The author, when walking close to the Cathedral of Norwich, was struck with the unusual fluttering of the flags on the top of the spire, which was 300 feet high. They were streaming with a strained, quivering motion perpendicularly upwards. A heavy cloud was pa.s.sing overhead at the moment and as it pa.s.sed, the flags followed the cloud and then gradually dropped into comparative quietness. The same phenomenon was noticed several times. As the cloud approached, the upper banner began to feel its influence and streamed towards it, _against the direction of the wind_, which still blew as before, steadily on all below. As the cloud came nearer, the vehement quivering and streaming motion of the flags increased; they began to take an upward perpendicular direction into the cloud and seemed almost tearing themselves from the staves to which they were fastened. Again as the cloud pa.s.sed, they followed it as they had previously streamed to meet its approach, and then dropped away as before, one or two actually folding over their staves. All the other flags at the lower elevation did not show the least symptom of disturbance." In this phenomenon we observe the operation of two of the wind-producing causes just mentioned, viz.:--a wind arising from purely local causes, and of limited extent, occurring within the boundaries of a wind produced by the action of more general, and widespread causes--_A wind within a wind._

The above instances plainly carry a suggestion of magnetic origin and power.

_Winds may not arise from Presumed Causes._

If winds are due to such a simple mechanical causation as the production by the sun, of a rarefied atmosphere, the colder air rushing in from all sides into the empty s.p.a.ces, we should hardly expect to find any definite currents bounded by well-defined limits; much less should we look for transverse and opposite currents going like messengers at varying rates of speed, some slow, and others exceedingly swift. Nor may stronger gales suddenly cease, as though stopped by some mighty invisible wall. And in no wise can they, from mere calorific agencies, leap out of perfect calmness into hurricane velocity, or subside into silence as by magic. On no such principle can they shift back upon their own track, going either way with terrific velocity.

_A Great Cosmical System._

We have seen the marks of electrical action in the cases cited, and since we know something of the subtlety of the agent; that it may be "ama.s.sed, condensed and rarefied," that it is not loose and wandering, and the mere plaything of fortuitous forces, as the atmosphere is supposed to be; but, on the contrary, has close and most sympathetic adjustment with the earth-force; and that _it_ is the invisible hand that holds and manages the grosser atmospheric matter; since we know this, we are now brought to the study of a great cosmical system.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] Appendix, p. 105.

CHAPTER X.

SUN-SPOTS.

_Grave Doubts._

HERBERT SPENCER says: "At present none of the interpretations of the sun-spots can be regarded as established."

How numerous and how strange have been the theories promulgated as to the character of the manifestations called sun-spots. The dark spots in the sun have been supposed to be "solid bodies revolving very near its surface," "Smoke of volcanoes;" "Sc.u.m floating upon an ocean of fluid matter;" "Clouds;" "Opaque ma.s.ses floating in the fluid matter of the sun, dipping down occasionally," "Fiery liquid surrounding the sun which, by its ebbing and flowing, the highest parts of it were occasionally uncovered, and appeared under the shape of dark spots, and by the return of the fiery liquid, they were again covered, and in a manner successively a.s.sumed different phases;" "Interruptions of continuity in the bright envelopes immediately surrounding the sun,"

"Cavities" etc.

_Overestimate of the Degree of Spot-shadow._

Public sentiment in regard to the degree of darkness which is disclosed in sun-spots is exceedingly erroneous. It is believed that the spots are really dark. ZoLLNER, however, states that "The black umbra of a spot emits four thousand times as much light as that derived from an equal area of the moon." "The blackest part of the spot is intrinsically bright."

_What They are not, and what They are._

These phenomena may not arise from disruptions taking place on the sun's surface, neither from violent agitations near that surface. The essential and intimate character of the so-called sun-spots may be found in the interruptions of continuity in the fluid occupying the solar cone-s.p.a.ce. This fluid which we call sunlight intercommunicates between the entire opposing surface of sun and earth, unless interrupted by some temporary cause. Any cause which is capable of producing results of such character and magnitude can only act by more or less completely interrupting the development or transmission of this fluid.

The result of such action would be disclosed to us by a decreased brilliancy in the direction of the sun. The so-called sun-spot would be in character, magnitude, form, and shade proportionate to the extent and character of the disturbing force. The permanence or evanescence of the spot would indicate the sun or earth as being the locality of such derangement. The more permanent form being developed at the sun, and the more ephemeral at the earth.

Any forces in operation at the earth which might interfere with the intercommunication of light, would lessen the brilliancy of the light, at the earth-extremity of the cone-s.p.a.ce; and the deficiency thus produced would disclose to an observer at the earth all the appearances of a spot upon the surface of the sun. The so-called spot, thus produced, might therefore not be regarded as a veritable spot upon the sun's disc, but rather as an optical illusion.

_They are Caused by Magnetic Perturbations._

What may be the forces in operation on the part of the sun, and earth alike, which may so interfere with the development or transmission of light through the solar cone-s.p.a.ce?

The condition of the contents contained within the enclosure of the sun-crust and earth-crust, is presumably one of unrest; its actions varying from repose to the most violent agitation, with a tendency to the cyclonic in its motions. Although the earth-core may not be presumed to be an entire moving ma.s.s, yet it is known to be in a measure incandescent, and molten. Magnetic storms occur within our earth-crust which sway the needle without, and almost instantaneously manifest their presence over areas of more than half the globe. The same phenomena are undoubtedly present in increased development at the sun.

We may therefore with reason suppose that perturbations, however produced, occur within those spheres, of such an extent and character as might be a sufficient cause of the interruption of development, or of transmission of that fluid.

_Inconsistency of the Present Accepted Philosophy._

The ephemeral or evanescent character of many of the so-called sun-spots, removes them from the domain of sun-phenomena, otherwise than in appearance.

_Figures that are Deceptive._

Some of these spots even of large dimensions come into the field of view almost instantaneously; and as suddenly disappear. Thus KRONE "observed a spot of no inconsiderable dimensions which sprang into existence in less than a minute of time." DR. WOLLASTON says:--"I once saw with a two-inch reflector a spot which burst in pieces as I was looking at it."

BIELA also notes that "spots disappear sometimes in a single moment."

SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL "turned away his eyes from a group of spots he was observing, and when he looked again the group had vanished."

Of those who attempt to make an estimate of these phenomena by mathematical formulae, we would ask, What velocities must these sudden and apparently widespread outbursts represent, if they take place at the sun?

_Effects of these Wonderful Phenomena._

That this phenomenon is a result of an interruption of the solar current is rational to suppose. It is indisputable that the interruptions which produce these manifestations have an important bearing upon terrestrial phenomena. Winds, storms, vegetation, healthfulness, are manifestly influenced, and in a measure controlled by these perturbations.