The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-07-27
The Sun and the EartfH.--CuriOus In
ffuence-..A Magnetic Storm.
From the London Spectator.

| The Sun and the Eartfa.--CuriOus In.
huence--.A Magnetic Storm.
From the London Spectator.
On September /, 1859, shortly before noon,
two astronomers Messrs. Hodgson and Car
rincton-one Mt Oxford, the other in Lon
don-were at the same instant scrutlnlzlng
large group of sun spots. On sudden
two intensely bright patches Of light appear
ed in front of the cluster. SO brilliant were
thew that the observers thought the darken-
ing screens attached to their telescopes must
have become fractured. But this was found
not to be the case. The bright spots indl-
Gated some process going On upon the suns
surface-a process of such activity that
| within five minutes the spots travelled over
space of nearly "a 900 miles. NOW, ut the
Kew Observatory there are sclt-reglsterln@
magnetic instruments, which indicate the
processes of change by which the sub
| tie influence Of terrestrial magnetism wax
and wane. At one time the line traced by
the pointer will be marked by scarcely per-
ceptible undulations, indicating the almost
ouiescent state of the great terrestrial mag
net. At another, we'll marked waves along
the line exhibit the pulsations Of the mag
netic system, influenced in manner as yet
intellicible to the physicist. And then there
is q third form Of disturbance, the sharp,
sudden Jerks of the pointer exhibiting the
occurrence of those mysterious phenomena
termed magnetic storms" When the re-
cords of the Kew Observatory came to be
looked over it was found that at the very
instant in which the brilliant spots OF light
had appeared to Messrs. Hodgson and Car
rington the self-registcring instruments
had been subjected to the third and most
significant form of disturbance-a mag
netic storm began, in fact, as the light
| broke out on the suns surface. But TINS
was not the only evidence of the sympathy
with which the earth responded to the solar
action. 1t was subsequently found that
soon after the spots of light had appeared
the whole frame of the earth had thrilled
under Il mysterious magnetic influence. At
the West Indies, in South America, III Aus
tralia, wherever magnetic observations are
systematically made, the observers had the
same story to tell. In the telegraph sta
tions ut Washington and Philadelphia the
signalmcn received strong electric shocks,
In Norway tclcgraphic machinery was set
on fire. The pen of Bain's telegraph was
followed by a fame and wherever tclegra-
phic wires were in action wcllmarked lndl-
cations of disturbance presented themselves.
Even this, however, was not all. The great
magnetic storm was not q mere instanta-
ncous electric throc. Hours. passed before
the disturbed earth resumed It's ordinary
state. And thus it happened that in nearly
all parts of the earth night Tell while the
storm was yet i'll progress. During the
night magnificent auroras spread their way
ING streamers over the sky, both in the
northern and southern hemisphere. As the
disturbed needle vibrated, the colored
streamers waved responsive, and II was
only when the magnetic storm was sub
siding that the auroral lights faded from
the heavens. Now, it is evident that these
phenomena show the most intimate relations
between these peculiar disturbances IN the
sun and in the magnetic currents OF our own
earth. Directly one of these changes takes
place, upwards of ninety millions Of miles
away, the electric condition Of our planet is
changed in some mysterious way, OF which
our Instruments, and even the condition OF
our sky, bear record. The pens of all our tce-
graphic wires may some day trace IN flame
a handwriting more ominous OF human
destiny than was the handwriting which,
during Belshazzar's feast, traced warning
on the wall of the fall of the Babylonian
DYNASTY. Moreover, note this that these
changes in the condition of the sun take
Mace ut intervals of about eleven years.
The variable star which swings round it, as
we'll as supplying us with light and heat
and apparently magnetism, clouds over
hot :
seems most likely that every eleven years
certain magnetic conditions rccur which
have not occurred in the interval. Ii so,
perhaps the magnetic excitement OF 1859
will recur, and it may be in much greater
force next year-in 1870. And if it does,
how are we to say what may or may not
recur with it E!
Even now one such epoch of magnetic
storm seems to be thought pretty near al
hand. The sun has been lately exhibiting
the most surprising forms of disturbance,
and presenting to scientific eyes less. g fix
ity" of essence than ever. Spots so vast
that we must estimate their dimensions by
millions of square miles have broken out
| from time to time, and have presented rapid
changes of figure, indicating the action OF
forces of inconceivable intensity. Clusters
of smaller spots, extending over yet yaster
areas, have exhibited every form Of dis
turbance known to the solar physicist, and
every degree of light from the apparent
blackness Tin reality only relative) of the
the nuclei to the intense brilliancy Of the
fabulous ridges and we now know that these
appearances are not merely matters for the
curious, with which, as they happen at a
distance of above ninety millions of miles,
practical men need not concern themselves.