, 1873-03-23
ASTRONOMICAL ETIDLOGY,
Influence Upon the Earth of
Planetary Attraction.

l. VIII AeceHlAJ. III Ills lSBue OF laat OCTOBER, tt
= New York Medical journal contains u long art
It clio from Dr.. Knapp, Of Texas, which esssyed
, prove connection between the pcrihe1ion pa
!. sases OF the planets and the leading pestilenti:
: epocts in the history Of humanity Then th
i Chicago journal continued long article, i
s which gentleman from Rock Island c1air1ed
: similar connection between these perth clio
: passages aud our earthquakes and, NOR
, recently, DR.. Trail, in the Philadelphi
Star, announces that we arc approaching th
; climax Of a pestl]ential period, because, from
! 1880 to 1885, the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Urau
u.s. and Neptune will approach the earth nearc
than they have been for | 800 years past Thcs
articles have been widely copied aud commented
upon, and no small degree Of anxiety excited i,
the popular mind in relation thereto.
Wishing to know how much of importance i
due these announcements the editor Of the Chi
cago Medical Investigator recently requested Mr
E. Colbert, Of this city to give his views, Us al
expert in astronomical lore. His answer is al
once interesting and conclusive. After giving
the mathematical formula applicable to the poin1
at issue, and defining tho limi:a within which
any appreciablo influence could be e1erted the
writer says:
Tho moons attractive force is 124,0o0 times
|
circumstances. Now, the height Of the berone-
ter, and the changes OF the weather for many
years, have been critically compared with tho
variations Of the moon, both in illumination
| and distance; and only insignificant correspon-
] dencies could be detected. Scientific obserya-
tlon ahows that the moon does not influence
| our meteorological conditions to a noteworthy
extent; much less Jupiter, who is 124 ,0I0 times
| less powerful than the moon; still much less
any OF the other planets, whose attractions are
| email al compared with that Of Jupiter.
But, says your correspondent, Possibly
gfavltatlon may merge into electric or chemi-
] cal force" Even if We concede this, wo must
also concede that the effect must be COM
! mensurato with the cause. II the grayilatiye
!nuuences OF the moon and Jupiter could
be thus changed in expression, then tho electric
or actlnlc forces would be, in round numbers
as l24 600 to l. for any point eituatcd 900 miles
distant from the earth's centre; and the relative
influence Of Jupiter would be even less than that
on any particle Of matter ct tue earthH surface.
Our study Of the spectrum analysis leads, al
most irresstiby, to tho conclusion that the i'm
ponderables, heat, Light, electricity, magnetism,
one and the same force. but with different cooici-
ents-hence with differing points Of maximum
and mnimum-as exhibited ia the solar epec-
trum with regard TO the first, second, and last
named But these forces all require q measur-
nble time for their transmission from the body
acting to the one acted upon; whereas
the force OF gfavitation operates instan-
taneou5ly. II the nearest fixed star
could be- suddenly changed in color, or utterly
extlngunhcd, We should not be awaao Of the fact
til 80 years afterwards but an increase or de-
crease Of its mass would cause "A instant change
IN the motion Of our sun. Since the force OF
graTtation differs 80 radcalEy in this important
respect it is difficult to understand how thai
forco can be merged or changed into either of
tho forces usually understood when We speak OF
the - impondc:ab!es.'
stated in mr. former article, that the sun
gives us 3o0o quo 900 times as us much light as
Jupiter aud Saturn together, when at their |
brightest and that sre have no reason to believe
that they furnish us with heat, orchemical force,
IN any greater ratio than tue very small fraction
Of the solar energy. will now add that their ac-
t!nic or electric influence must be very much less
than that ratio; # they possess any power other
than that OF rejecting to US the SUMS light.
With regard to heat the point is admitted, as tho
planets are known to be relatively cool bodies.
It Is true that Jupiter WIS probably hot enough
to act as a sun to his four moons, not many mil
lions Of years ago; but ho is much below. that
po1nt oi temperature now, and 80 are all the
other planets The conclusion with regard to
relative actlnic power necessarily followss; when
We conslder that the actlnic rays arc only given
ont at the highest temperatures. II we heat
oar OF IRON to VI degrees it gives forth red rays