The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-13

Look for the buff wrapper aud yeIIeSO
label, none genuine totthoUt them.
PONDS EXTRACT Co, 70 Fifth Ave-, New York.
made a drawing Of typical" sun spot,
which Will well repay study. Sometimes
there are feathery sweeps and delicate
bridges" or dazzling lines of light gently
creeping or fias hing across the stupendous
depths of the umbra; and even the
creeping must be at "A rate of speed
compared with which the widest cyclon,
OF earth would be but the gentle breath
ing of an infant
Once, two observers miles apart. han.
pening to be studying the sun at the same
moment, saw an outburst at the edge Of
great spot, and two objects shaped like
new moons" about 5000 by 1000 miles
Tar brighter than the surrounding sur
face, moved away from the spot for few
minutes, traversing in that time upwards
OF 5000 miles. Nor was the spot appar-
emily changed In structure by this curious
incident Two photographs of a spo.
taken half hour apart, often show
narked changes, indicative of tremendous
activity.
There are years when spots are album
dant, and years when few are visible; in
deed, there are months when none are to
be seen, even upon the closest scrutiny.
~N'''a - - AAoW wei Established Ihat the
spots nave period" Of about eleven
years. That is to say, commencing with
maximum period-when the spots are
very numerOus-it will be about eleven
years until another maximum, and during
the interim the spots will have decreased
10 minimum" The last maximum
was reached in 1898, and during that year
there were times of superb definition. when
hundreds of spots, tiny and Titanic were
seen EnFtnl<lp1 ha 1f-fz u
noteworthy feature that the period" from
maximum TO minimum is longer than that
from minimum to maximum t. e., the
activity" Increases more rapidly than it
dies away, and, as there Is a certain steady
variation In the period, it is believed that
thcre Is larger period of fifty years to
which the 1l-year period Is subsidiary.
The best attention of trained astrono-
mical minds has been given to the solution
OF the question of the cause of this period.
but thus far without avail There Is no
day when the sun shines, even for mo-
ment, that some patient observer does not
point telescope at the disc and carefully
count the spots as a basis of an accurate
determination of the period, in the hone
that some corresponding period in
celestial affairs will throw light on the
vexed question. 1t has been conjectured
that the influence of the planets, when in
certain positions, is at the bottom of the
mystery, or that meteor streams explain
it, but every hypothesis works too well;
|. e., 1t sometimes works when it ought
not and fails to work when 1t ought.
Calico said that the spots are clouds
foating In the solar atmosphere. Some
later observers have considered them to
be eruptions from solar volcanoes. That
they are clouds, many believe, but they
cannot be above the solar atmosphere,
for we have seen that they are far be-
low the solar surface, perhaps many hun
dreds of miles in some instances. Some
have maintained that they are noun
tain tops in fiery sea, while Herschel, the
elder, firmly believed the sun to be a
habitable body, having two cloud COW
erings, the nearer one dark, yet light-re-
fecting the outer one the 'photosphere'
which we see; while the spots, in his
opinion, were openings in the clouds, the
umbrae being the portions of the dark
sun globe exposed to view, and the pen
umbrae the inner cloud referred to.
Nearly thirty years ago Faye and Sec
chi explained the spots as openings in the
photosphere caused by the explosion of
internal gases, but they afterwards re-
pudiated the theory. A little later Zoll-
ner conceived the sun to be liquid, with
scaria or Stag floating upon the surface.
Faye, remembering that few spots are
found a the equator and none at the
tor revolves faster than that nearer the
poles, considers that there is a drift,
which gives rise to "whirlpools" In
other words, the origin of the spots is
"cyclonic."
Again. Secohi presents the theory that
the spots are formed by the settling
down of matter thrown out by an erup-
ton in their neighborhood. Perhaps we
shall do well for the present, in the light
of spectroscopic observations of the suns
constitution. If, with our own Young,
we rest IN the supposition that the spots
are sinks" filed with metallic vapors,
which have been cooled comparatively
in the upper regions. However. it is in
teresting to know that the blacklist spots
are more brilliant than the calcium light,
being dark only by contrast with the
vivid surface all around them.
There seems to be no doubt that there
is a close connection between sun-spot
activity and the magnetism of the earth
The proofs are numerous and clear, as
in the case of auroras and disturbances
in electrical mechanism, but as to any
other influence upon our planet little can
be said. We are not even sure that we
receive less heat from the sun at a time
Of maximum spottedness than when the
sun is free from spots, although it Is
claimed by some that such is the case.
There are even those who maintain that
II is hottest when not spotted.
Some students OF solar phenomena think
that the spots have much to do with the
winds and the rainfall, but a generation
more Of observation will help materially
in reaching conclusions. As yet the sclen-
tihc world is hardly prepared TO accept
the conclusion of an eminent observer
that the more numerous the sun spots
the greater the price OF corn (simply be-
cause The thought that the fewer the
spots the more favorable were the sun
beams 10 rs growth.
Some very interesting, although not un-
usually large. groups are now ION exit
billion"