The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-07-31
THE SUN AND TIE EARTH.
Curious Innuenoe-A Magnetic storm,
From the London Spectator. !


On September /, 1859, shorty before noon,
two ass raroners-. aessrs Hodeson and Car.
T1ngton--6ne at Oxford. the other in London,
were at the same instant scrutinizing large
bright patches Of light appeared infront Of the
cluster. SO brilliant were they that the observ-
ers thought the darkening screens attached to
their Telescopes must have been fractured. But
this was found not to be the case. The bright
spots indicated some process going on upon
tie sums surface process Of such ACTIVITY
that within five minutes the spots travelled
over q space Of nearly thirty.four thousand
miles. Now. at the Kew Observatory there are
se!f.registering magnetic instruments which
idicate the processes of change by which the
subtle Influences OF terrestrial magnetism wax
and wane. At one time the line traced by the
po1S n bs DnT x s a
state or the great terrestrial magnet.. At an
other, we'll marked waves along tn, line ex-
hibt the pul sations OF the magnetic system,
the physicist. And then there is third form
of disturbance, the sharp, sudden jerks Of the
pointer exhibiting the occurrence of those
mystes;oSs pisiiou1ena termed magnetic
storms." When the records Of the Kew OBJ
servatory came to be looked over. it was found
that at the very instant in which the brilliant
spots Of light had appeared to Messrs Hodg-
son and Darlington. the self-reaisterfng in
struments mad been subjected to the third and
netic storm began, in fact, as the light broke
out on the SUITS smtace: But this 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 mysterious
magnetic influence. At tho West Indies. in
South America. in Australia. wherever mag
netlc operations are Systematically made, the
observers had the same story to tell. In the
telegraph stations at Washington and Phila-
delphia the eignalman received strong elect rio
shocks; La Norway telegraphic machinery was
followed by flame. Apd wherever telegraphtc
wires were in action, we'll marked Indications
OF disturbance presented themselves. Ever
this, however, was not all. The great mag
netic storm was not mere instantaneous cleo
trio throe. Hours passed before the disturbed
earth resumed it's ordinary state. Aud thus
it happened that in nearly ali parts Of the
earth night fel while the storm was yet in
progress Dn1ing the night magnihcont an
rorss spread their waving streamers over the
sky. both in the northern and the southern
hemisphere. As, the disturbed needle vibra-
and 1t was only when The magnetic stoxn was
subsiding that the auroral lights faded from
the heavens. Now it is evident that these
phenomena show the most intimate relation
between these peculiar disturbances in the sun
and the magnetic currents Of our own earth.
Directly one OF these. changes takes place up
wards OF ninety millions Of miles away, the
electric condition OF our planet is changed in
boulo mysterious way, OF WHICH our lnStrU-
ments, ard even the condition of our sky, hear
| record. The pens Of all our telegraphic wires
may some day trace in fame hand writing
more oninous Of human destiny than was the
handwriting which during Belshazzars feast,
traced warning on the wall Of the fall a
the Babylonian dynasty. Moreover. note
this, that these changes in the eondition
OF the sun take place at intervals ;pe about
| eleven years. The variable star which swinge
round 1t, as well as supplying us with light
and heat and (appafently) magnetism, clo1ds
| over every eleven yeais these spots, 20 that /,
seems most likely that every eleven years Ger
tain magnetic conditions recur which have no,
occurred in the interval. If 80, perhaps. the
magnetic exciteiRsut of 1059 will recuri and 4
| 1870 And if 1t does. how are we to saw yvha
| may or may not II cur with it2 Fssy
Ever now one such epeca magnetic storm
seems tOb thonght pfceeyYiGar at Dand. Th,
sun has been exhibiting 4atciy the most sur
prising forms OF disturbsnce, and preseatin,
to scientific eyes lAss ''Ax,tyn ns essence .ha:
ever. Spots 80 vast that We must estimat,
their dimensions by millions Of SQUARE mile
I have broken ont from time to time, and hay
presented rapid changes Of figure. iidicatinl
the action OF forces OF inconceivable INTENSITY
Clusters Of smaller spots. extending over Ne
vaster areas, have, exhibited every form of dis
turbance known to the solar {physicIet, an,
every degree ot light, nom the spparent black
aess lin reality only relAtlvel OF the nuclei. {,
the intense bxslliancy OF the faculous ridges
And we now know that these appearances or
mot merely matters for the curious, with whicl,
Garn them aoIvaa III 'tt