The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-12-05
SUN SPOTS.
"A suggestion That the Orb of Day Is At
fected with Measles.

suggestion That the Orb of Day Is AZ
fected with Measles.
A fresh spot has appeared on the face
OF the sun, very large one, humanity
speaking. 1t measures about twenty
Thousand geographical miles by seven
Thousand. Perhaps the sun does not
thlnk 1t excessive, having such very
broad face, and being able to accom-
MEDIATE great number of pimples of
the same size. But the extent sounds
considerable, all the same. Besides,
there are ever so many smaller ones
ABOUT the size OF the earth, and, taking
all together, we shall hardly be exag-
gerating the situation if we say there is
"quite rash" For much less we
should call the doctor in. Indeed, we
terrestrial atoms could not rise to the
dignity of such an eruption, not even if
we put all our faces together and went
shares IN the same spot. We talk of
having 'the measles" nobody thinks
of counting them or asking "How
many" But they are mere pin points,
dots, Specks. 1t is very different, how
ever, with the orb that rules the
day" Astronomers keep a regis
ter of its eruptions, and book
each new ''measle" as it comes.
They diagnose the phenomenon, and
conjecture as to its causes and
results, just as the doctors do over the
bsby's red-speckled body; and, like
dtetQcs. they can not stop the process.
II 1hhustran its course, they say. Some
day, perhaps, they will prescribe for
the sun. If they already know its
weight, AID its temperature and con-
stitution, Why should they not find all
about its DIGESTION and habits? Is it
temperate md addicted to regular
life? Their is good deal to be said
on both sid6. In a general way it is
irreproachalle, a model luminary, and
a pattern to everybody else, doing per-
ennial work tonscientiously and regu-
larry. Morally, too, no fault can be
found with a body which is all things
to all men-aBwers the negro accord
ing to his blacMess, and never throws
pearls before swine. Early to bed and
early to rise, it ought to be healthy,
wealthy and wise. But is it? There
is another side TO the sun. When it
has got out of our sight, and beyond
the scrutinizing vision of civilization, it
conducts itself imoderately. An excess
sive warmth characterizes its conduct.
1t blazes out, gets fWiously hot over
nothing. People beg the sun to keep
cool, to calm itself. But this only seems
to make it get al. the hotter and be all
the more intolerable. From other quar-
tiers, again, we have very different re-
ports. There, they tell us, and the evil
dence is trustworthy, it will not show
itself sometimes for weeks together.
They know it is there, or thereabouts,
from the reflections cast on the sky.
But, as for melting 4 glacier or liquefy-
ing an iceberg, no such effects or forth
coming. This gratities polar bears, no
doubt but can not be styled impartial
behavior. After all. the EsQuimaux are
human beings, which even the best of
bears are not. Still, as the homely
saying goes, we should talk of men
only rs we know. Report is liable to be
biased in the transit or unreliable at the
source. So, for ourselves, we ought to
speak well of the great orb. That it
does not, as q rule. take much notice of
us and that when, as an exception, it
does, we grumble, is neither here nor
there. Our temperature is the finest in
the world, our climate second to none,
and the security of our country from
plague, pestilence and famine, from
drouth and flood. earthquake and hur-
ricanes is the envy of all the inhabited
earth And for all this we have to
thank the sun. London Telegraph.