Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-05-20
What This Cold Means.

THE science of meteorology is making
at least as remarkable progress as any
other. The wonderfully-verified predic-
lions of the Signal Service have already
become so familiar that they excite no
surprise. Prof Tice, whose very inter
e5ting contributions we have published,
has demonstrated the possibility or pre-
dieting periods of atmospheric disturb
ance months or even years before they
occur And now comes DIR. Hopper, OF
the st. Petersburg Physical Observatory,
pointing to the fact that early in the
summer of 1874 he predicted, after Sc
ries of most comprehensive observa-
tions, taken in various parts of the globe,
that there was every reason to expect In
1875 phenomenally cold year. That his
prediction was not blunder all OF US
are ready to bear testimony; but the the
orv upon which it was based is the more
interesting because 1t seems. in some
sense, to supplement, and on broad
scale TO sustain, the theory OF Prof.
Ticc, that electrical currents control to
great extent the atmospheric phenom-
ena.
1t is not a new idea that certain
changes in the spots of the sun, which
occur periodically, are associated with
periodic maxima in the range OF the mag
netic needle. Prof. LOOMS, in his work
published in 1868, points out the fact
that observations extending back near
ly century indicate a maximum in the
range of the magnetic needle every ten
or twelve years" which corresponds with
the relative frequency of solar spots, and
of auroras, and that these maxima them
selves exhibit further periodicity, with
intervals of fifty-eight TO sixty years, at
which the greatest variations OF the
needle and the most frequent auroras oc-
cur. The first of these periods CORE
spends to our revolution of Jupiter,
and the second to five revolutions of
Jupiter and two of Saturn. Prof. LOOMS
supposes that electric currents around
the sun are affected by the position of
the planets, and in turn affect and dis
turb the electric currents around the
earth. Now, DR.. Hopper finds that in
the mean annual temperatures OF each
zone there are indeed eleven-year pc.
RODS of maximum and minimum; that
under the tropics the maximum heat oc-
ours about year before the maximum
of sun spots, but north of the tropics
about two or three years after the maxi.
mum of spots. Also, he finds that the
period of time between the minimum
and succeeding maximum of spots is
shorter than the period between the
maximum and succeeding minimum, and
that the extremes of heat and cold follow
similar law. This, indeed, is shown by
LOOMS elaborate tables.
The ancients were not so far wrong,
then, in gazing at the stars and trying to
foretcll future events from their motions.
If the periods of Jupiter and Saturn
affect the electric condition of the sun,
and If the suns condition governs the
electric currents of the earth, and thus
produces, according to Dr. Hopper, ex-
tremes Of temperature, and according to
Prof. Tice vast maelstroms of polar air
and violent atmospheric and electric
perturbations, 1t may not be long before
science will snatch their secrets from the
starry heavens and foretell the weather
with the same minuteness and certainty
with which it now predicts eclipses and
the movements of comets.-.St Louis
Democrat