The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-06-01
SUN SPOTS AND PESTILENCE.

Is there anything in the vague foreboding
which looks forward to the years 81 and 'S2
as a period Of disaster and calamity for the
whole human race or are such misgivings an
Inheritance bequeathed by the dying belief in
astrology, and having their origin in the fact
that all event of extreme rarity occurs within
the years mentioned in the almost simultan-
eous perihelia of several Of the larger planets?
What are we to look forward to? Are we
to disregard the astrological barometer indi-
eating "foul weather." and with stndding sails
set pursue the even tenor Of our way in the
plain sailing of everyday life or must we
clear decks, rig out the storm ~slay-sail, and
under close reefs clay to- in hopes of wealth
ering the storm whose mutterings are thought
even now to be audible Such questions as
these have lately received the attention Of a
great number of writers of greater or less
pretensions to scientific attachments, and the
conclusion generally arrived at is far from
asserting It's only an idle notion that
points forward a year or two to an era
of "plague, pestilencc and famine"
OF articles treating of this subject one ap-
pearing in a late number of the International
Reriev is at once bret, void of technicalities
ard easily comprehended. The Reriev
writer, we need scarcely say, does not resort
to astroloSy as the stOre-h0use whence the
materials are drawn for the construction of
all edifiCe of theory. He does not argue that
the influen ce of Saturn is to be "maletic," or
thot H., continuation nf Nf,rS and J,r;tnr !,
to have an effect most baleful on the lives
and fortunes of human beings but neverthe-
less the properties and influences of the
heavenly bodies form the basis upon which
rests the doctrine he advances. Instead of
taking astrolosy as his guide, he chooses
science. The observations of heavenly bodies
accurately made for centuries past, have re-
vealed the existence of celestial phenomena
which have so invariably been accompanied
by peculiar terrestrial phenomena that it is a
a strictly logical induction to decide either
that the latter are caused by the former, or
else that they are the JOINT effects OF some I'M
known cause, and consequently always occur
together. From the doctrine thus established
q deduction more important than agreeable
is made respecting our immediate future.
1t has long been known that sun spots
varying rapidly in size and shape are to be
observed on the suns disc. Further, it is
known that there is a periodicity in the in
crease and diminution of those spots, and
that this variation is accompanied by very
marked terrestrial phenomena, consisting in
UOfahla variations in taTrastria1 marpatiSpl
atmospheric disturbances, rainfall, and in the
precedence of epidemics. Although the cause
producing them is unknown it is established
beyond question that sun spots occur in cy-
Giles, the maximum of spots occurring once
every II 10 years. This periodicity has been
discovered it is possible of course, not only to
calculate the date at which the maNima of
sun spot cycles will occur in the future but
also to reverse the operation and fix by
calculation the date Of occurrence of
those already past. BY fixing the date
OF past cycles, and by examining the
records of the different epidemics, plaques,
etc, that have affected the world in ages gone
by, it is found that the appearance of any such
pestilence is Arrays simultaneous with
the maximum period of a sun spot cy-
Gle. Occurring every eleven Years, of course
every cycle does not have its corresponding
epidemic. There are counteracting agencies
by which the baleful influence of old Soils
freckled face is neutralized, so that one after
another the period of the greatest number OF
spots will pass without any perceptible de-
rangement ofthc terrestrial phenomena. But
on the other hand there are forces which az.
gravate and greatly increase the average de
rangement of terrestrial laws, caused by, OF
accompanying, the maximum of spots. Ont
of the most active Of those forces is for one O
the larger planets tC reach its %perehilion at
time when the sun spots are most numer
ous. Whenever in the course of its eliptica
patti about the sun one of the larger planet
reaches the point Of its orbit where it is near
est the great luminary, then if the sun spo
cycle is at its maximum the accompanyin;
disturbances of terrestrial phenomena ar
aggravated.
Now the l!eXt maximum of sur spots will
occur in about sixteen months from the pres
ent date, at a time when not only one bu
several of the larger planets will be at thei
perihelia. Not for over two thousand wear
have the planets occupied the relative posi-
tions they will hold next year; so if there
anything at all in the connection establishe
r between sun-spots, the perihelia of planet
and the prevalence of epidemics, we hav
reason to entertain forebodlngs respecting til
worlds immediate future.
l Periods of pestilence are always precede
e by climatic disturbances, by unseasonabl
weather; having spring-like months durin
: the winter, or summers prematurely ho1