Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-05-21

nected with that mysterious but abso-
lutte dictator, the sun. Solar energy,
or rather its variability, causes all the
wonderful phenomena describes the
earth swinging IN space is a huge
magnet. and responds submissively to
every exaction of her lord and master,
the sun. He has but to beckon, and
no slave 10 the most arbitrary of mon
archs ever moved SO promptly.
There are times when this celestial
autocrat, emulating mundane rulers,
becomes restless and fretful, then our
poor earth suffers much, responsive to
the whims and inconsistencies of its
sovereign.
Every telegrapher knows how the
wires respond to the action of mag
netic storm on the suns surface, and
how his efforts to transmit messages
are interfercd with. The whole
aerial envelope of the earth is affected,
too, by the magnetic influence of the
sun, and responds to the most deli
cate variability in the intensity of
that mysterious force, as shown in the
almost measureless daily fluctuations
of the barometer, which strangely CO.
incide with the hourly oscillations OF
the compass needle above referred 20.
/ Observations conducted with that
beautiful instrument, mercurial bar
omether, show aperfect coincidence
with the diurnal oscillations of the
needle, and what more confirming
proof is required that both are obey
lug that strange, invisible force, far
away on the great body of the sun,
whose wonderful but sublime secret is
known only to Him who made that
immense source of all lie, and sus-
pended it "high in the heavens" a
living symbol of His own Majesty and
Omnipotcnce?
This same profound mystery, varia-
bility of solar radiation, appears to
the controlling agent in all our terrific
earth-storms, and the weird spirit of
destruction is but a messenger from
the sun. who rides upon the lightning
and pours out desolation in his path.
The awful tornado, as it misses and
sucks up everything in its way,
whether the innocence of childhood
or the murderer drenched with the
gore of his victim; whether brothel
of sin or a temple dedicated to the
Living God, are alike the evidences of
the nervousness of this occult law
and the futiliiy of mans power to
cope with its fury.
Yet this same strange energy, whose
harness is the lightning, and within
certain limits, man does control, can
be generated in a lady's thimble, and
made to perform almost miraculous
deeds by the mere manipulation OF
baby fingers.
That air tornadoes, whose origin is
the sun, are magnetic, is no longer
disputed; that there are positive rela-
tons between the aerial currents of
the earth and terrestrial magnetism,
and that the latter is dependent upon
the activity of solar energy, there is
hardly now a doubt among scientists:
the earthquake, the abnormal tidal
wave, which frequently accompanies
unusual manifestations of sol4r activ-
ity, the dreadful tornado, the gentle
zephyr OF June morning, or the in
significant wind eddy, with just energy
enough to pick up small pieces of
straw and cloud of dust III its pass
age, are alike obeying the law OF va:i-
ability in solar force, and hat the
last stated phenomenon, of daily oc
currence IN our streets, is but the
miniature of its possibilities: for
nature throughout her whole domain,
acts with the infintessimal as she does
with immensely, repeating exactly,
differing in degree only, in the dimin-
utive, what she does in immensely,
because the fundamental laws of both
are the same. Any one may learn
this sublime truth of imnutability in
her laws, by observing the slop- of a
simple prairie ravine, where the ele
ments have been at work, aud then
comparing it with the scarped and
rugged sides of the loftiest mountain |
range; or in more Insignificant and a |
grander scale of comparison, 60 10 the |
margin of some little brook, watch |
two AIR bubbles revolving together
in the water. and then turning to the
celestial vault, contemplate the double
stars, or the entire stellar system, to
learn that the same law controls the |
action of the simple bubbles and the
orbs alike as they whirl
through the regions of aerial space.
The variability of solar energy
brings with ii ret.nue of varied and
ever varying phenomena. Among
these are hurricanes, tidal-waves, cy-
clones, rare electrical displays, abnor-
NAL las to latitude) auroral exhibit
lions, wet seasons, dry seasons, hot
cold summers, drouths,
epidemics and possibly, which
IS gaining credence yearly, as observa-
lions are being multiplied aud results
upon the unitability of So
ar activity depends the very temper
lments of the people of the globe-wc
III know from experience what a
yrumbie killer bright sunshine is, and
low conversely we are afflicted on a