Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-03-13

The Results OF Some Years Of Obserya-
tionS---The Increase and Diminution
Of Solar Energy.
New York Sun.

During the last half century there has
been observed, formulated and verified
by accurate prediction one of those uni
formities Of change, called laws, that
may deserve to rank in human interest
next after those two most obvious and
momentous changes that men know,
VIZ: the rotation of the earth apparent
IN the recurrence Of light and dark and
the revolution of the earth apparent in
the unceasing succession Of the stars.
An obscure German astronomer
Hofrath Schwabe of Dessau-began in
1926, at first with his naked eyes to
count, measure, and record the spots
upon the sun, if any, every day it's face
could be seen, SO as, perchance, to dis
Germ any ebb or flow at the fountain of
all terrestrial energy. g went out like
SAUL" he afterward said, "to seek my
fathers asses, and lo I found king
DOM" For twelve years, daily, Herr
SchWabe was on hand to confront the
rising orb, and then for three times
twelve years more Herr Schwabe daily
rose to put bis finger, slowly stiffening
with age, upon the very pulse Of solar
energy. In twelve years he had discov-
cred a high tide and low tide in the
solar spots, and suspected their period
lefty. In tWenty-One years more he
had completed the observation of three
eleven-year cycles of spot frequency.
But now the astronomers Of the world.
some physicists Of England, Germany,
and the United States, and one eminent
statistician Of India, gathering to his
support with an induction from widely
separated but converting series Of facts,
have transformed the suspicion Of an
eleven years cycle, common to the
phenomena Of the earth and the sun.
into demonstrated fact. The years Of
maximum sun spots are the years of
maximum magnetic storms, and tele-
graphic enterprise must make account
Of them. The temperatures of the
globe are probably higher in the years
Of minimum sun spots, and some day
agriculture may we'll arrange itself to
suit the event. The hurricanes of the
West Indies, the cyclones of the Indian
ocean. and the wind disturbances on all
sides of the globe rise with the increas-
ing and fall with the decreasing sun
spots; and Lloyd's record of marine
casualties shows that 5he percentage Of
losses Oh the total during the common
eleven years cycle was Is per cent.
greater during the maximum years of
the common cycle than during the two
minimum ones. The insurance of the
commerce Of ali nations will reckon
hereafter with the sun spots, as with
winter and summer. Coincident with
the cycle Of maximum sun spots is the
maximum flow of water in the great
rivers Of the globe, and probably in the
fluctuations Of the great Laurentian
lakes.
Along with the cycle Of marine casu-
alties runs step by step the cycle Of
tropical RAINFALL which has itself por-
tentuous coincidence with the cycle Of
Indian famine, SO that the speculations
of obscure Herr SchWabe and the sta
tistics OF Mr.. ". w. Hunter have been
the prime causes Of that success with
which Lord Lytton, the viceroy Of In
dia, measured and mitigated the appall
ing calamities of the last famine. So
that hereafter the cyclic character of
the tropical rainfall will be regarded
duly in the greatest problem Of Indian
adninistratiOn-the outstanding and
distributing Of the water. supply, so as
to insure a continuous food supply for
the people of that crowded peninsula.
These are but a few slight indications
of consequences already visible from
the discovery Of this new law, yet they
are of wide reach and deep moment.
It is probable that still vaster conse-
quences to the happiness Of mankind
will attend upon the further unfolding
of these concurrent phenomena in earth
and sun, this eleven-year rhythm in the
outpour of solar force