Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-12
SPOTS ON THE sun.
Henry c. Maine Talks About His New
Meteorological Theory.
EFFECT OF SOLAR DISTURBANCES,
How They Are Felt in the Atmosphere and
on the Earth.
WHAToAUsED THE PITTsBURe TORNADO
WRITTEN FOR THE D1sPArCH.l

This question has been brought into wild,
prominence and thoughtful discussion dur
ing the past few years, mainly through il
constant presentation by Mr. Henry G
Maine, of Rochester, N. Y. Occupying th,
position of associate editor on daily paper
Mr. Maine has duties to perform that maxi
his life a busy one. Nevertheless he finds
time to keep close watch of the sun, anC
few are the changes in its condition or ap
pearance that escape his notice. he keep
an accurate record of all his observations
together with coincident events in the EARTH
atmosphere and on the earth's surface.
found Mr.. Maine to be thoughtful
looking man, rather reserved in manner
He is of good physique, rather stout in
build, with black mustache and side-whisk
ers, and deep brown eyes which are penetra
tive, student-like and which emit occasional
flashes OF humor. He was willing but moi
anxious to talk. He looked as if he felt like
smiling at my questions
'aThe causes that produce sun spots, he
replied, undoubtedly have an influence up
on meteorological phenomena"
would you object to giving an outline
of your theory on the subject?"
81 do not know that have what can ex-
actly be called theory. am simply an
observer Of facts, and in taking note Of solar
disturbances am forced to the conclusion
that to ignore them as a factor in weather
changes is to be guilty of stubbornness, stu
pidity or thoughtlessness."
''The sun is not frefy," continued Mr..
Maine. 'It is tremendous force in the
economy of the universe. It supplies sub
| stantially all the light and natural heat we
have. Without it this world of ours would
be frozen, lifeless solitude. The energy
which the sun exerts is something so enor-
nous that any attempt to measure it, or ex-
| press it by figures, is simply f1tile. Why
then, should not an augmentation or de-
crease of solar activity be felt wherever the
rays proceed? A fire in stove, in CRATE,
or in a woodman's camp, radlates heat in
proportion as it is kept lively or sluggish;
and common sense teaches that the same is
true of the sun, with its varying conditions.
So much for rough statement of general
principles"
FoRECASTING THE WEATHER.
"It looks reasonable. But how about
forecasting the weather from solar phe-
nomena?"
"Don't go too fast. We haven't got to
the pinnacle of our ediice yet. You must
know, in the first place, that the sun re-
Yolves on its axis once in about 26 of our
days. Here we have basis for periodicity
in calculation and observations. Then
there are two kinds of so-called sun spots
first, the facula, which look like white-hot
wave-crests lifted, high above the other and
less luminous portions of the sun. The fAc-
ula seem to indicate intense combustion or
some other form of. augmented activity.
These faculs probably emit heat, excite
IL asR IN ohoh1
celerate chemical action. They are asso-
ciated with storms, auror@ and earthquakes,
but not so closely as the activities which
produce the black spots. These terrestrial
phenomena have so regularly followed great
sun disturbances that it is impossible to ig-
more a relation betH cen them. The great
mistake of the old meteorologists is in re-
garding the sun as an unvarYing force. 1t
is really force. or aggregation of forces, in
which tremendous changes are, of frequent
occurrence, with consequences as inevitable
as any other relation between cause and eff
feet
81 have spoken of black sun spots. They
are not black at all, but appear so only by
contrast with the intense brightness of the
great body of the sun. OF the character of
the black spots but little is known. Perhaps
they are masses of :vapor; possibly they are
caused by the vaporizing of showers of Gin
ders or metallic substances which have been
thrown from the sun by great eruptions and
condensed into metallic rain. One thing we
know-they are sequels of great sun disturb
ances, possibly the results of an unusual de-
gree of combustion, and, when developing on
the hemisphere turned toward us, they gen.
orally appear few days after the effect is
noticed on the earth. But by the position of
these spots on the visible face of the sum- the
return of the disturbances may be caIcu-
lated, thus affording basis for predicting
possible connections in our own atmos-
phere.
''In cases of continuous turmoil on the
sun, storms on the earth are frequent and
violent. During periods when permanent
disturbances are not apparent, occasional
disturbances are quite regularly followed
by storms or 9th Ter connections on the earth.
Some spots appear to have only brief ex-
lstence. Therefore the counting of spots is
not the best way to determine the maximum
of disturbance. The violence of the dis
turbances as affecting our atmosphere should
rather be considered.
SUN SPOTS AND STORMS.
''It was about 1S years ago that some of
the best scientists in England began to
recognize, in a general way, that sun condi-
tions had an important influence on weather
not able to follow the matter to its legit-
innate conclusion. In 1873 1 began sys-
tematically to take observations with a
small but excellent telescope, and have con-
tinued to do so ever since. I have also
made two telescopes, one of which am
now using. The result as I have init
mated, has not been the formulation OF an
exact science; but I have accumulated
record of facts and condolences so COM
plete, so Yoluminous and of such uniform
tendency, as to constitute data leading to
conclusions from which it is difficult to es-
cape.
zone of the most remarkable and satisfy
ing cases of coincident sun ana weather dis
turbances was the wonderful red sky period
which lasted in this latitude from Novem-
Der q, 1883, to 1886. During all this time j
the sun was in an almost constant state of
violent action, and furious storms were fire.
quent all over the world.
"About the 9th of January, 1889, there
began to be noticed in our atmosphere the |
effect of an unusually powerful and storm
producing solar disturbance. Another sun
conYulsion made itself felt March 10, and !
another appeared April 10, the last men,
toned showing its effect in severe storms on |
the 18th and 14th of May. These convul- |
sions have been periodically traced by solar |
rotation or observation, up to the present |
time, with frequent and surprisingly accu-
rate forecasts of storm action.
"Going back to the 9th and 10th of JAN |
uary of last yearsit will be remem mbered that |
destructive tornadoes passed over Pittsburg,
Reading, Niagara Falls, and Buffalo. |
Fifty-tWo days later, or after two revolu-
tions OF the sun, black spots were seen. |
These spots were again visible on the oath |
of April and the 18th of June-atter two
successive double revolutions of the sun.
At some of the dates when they were due, |
cloudy weather prevented observations. |
But at each revolution, whether the spots !
were visible or not, violent storms occurred, |
showing that when once an active and per- |
sistent sun disturbance is located, its re- |
appearance by rotation may be relied on to |
produce vexed conditions OF our atmosphere. |
TwENTY-sIx-DAY PERIODS.
zone of the 26-dsy periods ended about |
March % or 80. A week Of storms followed |
in New York, Pennsylvania, Dakota, Brit |
ish America. Virginia. Austria Hunrarv |