New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-07
THE SUN LIKE A MAGNET
THE EARTH A oosM1cAL DYNAMO.
,,ovpsson FRANK H. MGELow's RECENT DIS
covprEs CONNECTING THE SOLAR CORONA
THE AURORA BoREAIIs. AND THE
CURIOUS MOTIONS OF THE
MAGNETIC NEEDLE.

CURIOUS MV1lONS VI
MAGNETIC NEEDLE.
x,xooo.sroSAl. CORRESPONDENT OF THE TkIso NE.
Warrington Sept. "A stir has been oe"so .s.ono
month in scientific circles, espec"uV arnOne 80 pro
80 and meteorologists, by an announcement nos
- vraok H. BigelOw For over year nc
-, rshoriue TO demonstrate what has Deeh su'P 80,
Int never before has been proven, tilat uo ' on
manet or very much like one, IN i's nUuo'- 'r~o
- Heavenly bodies and that the strange phehO"0i'
80 terrestrial magnetism spring ron '"". S
~, ,rorb which was original In method ana eAoeou
- ,n.ricate and difficult has at last reacheo se0
rS,ch exnerts accept success. ms inpoi'"u it,
oove,v pnomises to unlock several h'i'er.o III
,s+eries NJ the universe, to open new neiuS VI
and TO win lasting ana hlsl ieii0 ~
scientist and his country 49, .o wars
Nv attempting to- explain the solar corona SS VI
magnetic origin. This beautiful ana mar .S % Com
tarle is only to be seen wheh une sun "a
nlstelv obscured by the moon In total ecHPo' -
P,Sos ont from the edge of the disc Ike an lrlesu-
- in some places and at certain times exteholhg
distance nearly equal 10 solar diameter, uhe outio
omewbat suggesting several wings, ana "i'oee~ef
.o,rs rouchly starshaped But IL h"0'uaVoS
~ sr,ra and extent greatly. very gener
uv held opinion 10 its nature mas peeh
-. :. WAS gaseous the spectroscope revealing
- hydrogen and various vaporzed metals, be
80 some substances whose composiuOh Is NOT
snown. But as meteorites fan through IL without
r.h ~ any, peroeptibe resistance obviously the
ter .nvelop of the is of very dehcate texture
Another feature of the corona is that IL seems 10 ra
80, an enc streas which not entirely straight put
'st.,v cnrved II is this curvature that is the
,.dation of Professor BigelOw's discovery He con-
ived that the cOrO1al streamerS or rays might COT
.nond 10 what Faraday called the lines OF force" IN
snherica magnet and set out TO see II THIS were true
pv.rv sehoolboy and schoolgirl who has stuoled
al philosophy recalls the pictures OF iron filings on
80, ~ naper grouped like feathery fingeS about
-, onhs ~ a oe-magnet placed below. These
slaments tend to organize into RADIANT hheS' leaVs
oDa Mole Of the magnet and entering the other Inc
Acse direction and shape OF these INES IN spheilcal
nognet have been carefully studied and described by
srcS eminent physicists as Maxwell, Mascart'
Su1- ard TAFT and whether the coronal
- cor,ssnonded TO these, was to be as
to,rad bv an elaborate mathematical method known
as ~analyss BY spherical k1rmonlcS" Inc hrSt tesU
was made with a photograph of the corona taken on
January /, 1859, by the Harvard eclipse party, Inc
hormonv between the of the lines there exhibited
- .bot which theory prescribes so close as to
- hstantial confirmation Of Professor Bgeow's sus-
,o,on This led TO a paper on the subject published
nv the Smithsonian Institution In October, 1882 ana
recommended fol- publication by Professors Cleveland
Abbs and Asaph Hall. Professor Bgelow was as
.ociased VITA the astronomical work of the United
states Scientific Expedition TO West Africa III 1So9-9o
nm, failed TO get at Loando photograph of the Deem
her 1se9 eclipse; but upon his return 10 wash
iugOn a year ago last spring he secured pictures
which Others had taken, of this and other cOronaS
and laboriOusly examined them to see II they 100
bore out his theory which they did His discussion OF
a photograph taken by Professor Asaph Han al La
Jupta COL July %, 1875 published by The
American Journal OF Science" In November leSo. IN
still another article on The Solar Corona" In that
same magazine for last July, he deals with third
coronal photograph, obtained on December - 1852
A, CAYENNE south America by Schaebere and
ba O Inst
Of tie three globes with bent wires inserted to rep
resent the coronaI streamers These grouped
about either pole zone about 10 degrees Wldo'
the centre of the belt being about "a degrees from the
pole and all in hemisphere, curv1ng so mat IL
continued far enough they would enter
the other hemisphere in the corresponding zOne.
The matter composing the corOnal streamers is be-
lieyed to be shot up from the sun by some expelng
tOrce but it ceases be lncandeSceRt and visible az
short distance. 1t is part OF Professor Bigelows
theory that sunspots caused, in part if not wholly.
by the falling of this matter perpendiculary 10 the
SUMS surface, and it ascends from high ATTITUDES
IN rocket-lke curves which bend over toward the
EQUATOR this deposit would of course fall nearer to
the equator the more powerful the original elecuOn
Therefore connects. cause and effect the weaker
cOrOnal development observed at the minimum stage
Of the eIeven-year cycle with the higher latitude in
which spots are then found and the greater coronal
extension at the maximum period with the greater
proximity of the spots To the equator. Some Of the
coronal matter, the lighter part of course, may not
be deposited the sum- he thinks but, being carried
along the lines Of force TO the plane of the equator 1t
may become distributed out In space in that plane
so as TO cause that other mysterious appearance, the
zodiacal Light"
THE SUMS R0TAuoN-PERIoD.
One use which Professor BigeOw has made of this
discovery is TO ascertain in way never before pos
sibe how long certain parts Of the sun were in max
Ing complete revolution. study of spots has
shown that the regions the equator revolve
faster than those near the poles. But spots are sell
dom or never seen in either hemisphere in higher
latitude than AS degrees. Fortunately the centres
about which the coronal belts arranged and which
Professor Bigelow for convenience calls the suns
corona poles" not Identical with the geograph
cal poles, but about IL degrees to side
Hence they will be in different positions, regards
the axis of rotation, at different times Having 10
Gated them, then, in each OF his three photographs
taken III different years, he is enabled to compute
precisely the time required for single revolution
which he finds TO be 27 days. hours, 81 minutes, 81
seconds. lie easily locate the position of
those poles at any future hour or minute.
Professor Bigelow is very careful to avoid calling
the magnet" He merely proves that it Is a
"polarized BODY acting like He takes pains
10 say that the influence exhibited In the corona,
whether it really be magnetism some other cosmca
force Tor form Of force related TO it much as light is 10
heat, it is simply subject To the same mathematical
laws as magnetism. The principle by which
Newton explained the fall OF the apple TO Ihe earth
also shows why the planets stay in their regular
orbits about the sun. instead of flying off into space.
But attraction formed only part of that great phlos-
Upher's system Repulsion IS also inclnded in it.
And many Of the mathematical formulae applicable
In discussing phenomena Of the former class also
suited 70 the latter with merely change Of algcblac
signs from plus to minus. Great mathematical
problems relating to electricity and magnetism are
solved by this method OF function; and Professor
Bgelow merely claims that the polarization Of the SUM-
and the solar control of terrestrial magnetism in-
stances OF the Ncwtonian Potential Function in the
case OF Repulson.n ID
HOW BEST TO OBSERVE THE NORTHERN
LIGHTS"
Inc problem Of the boreais is the next one
winch Professor BlgelOW undertook. The intimate re-