Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-08-22

~
tronomer, to Variations In Output
Of Radiation Prom the Sun-Sun
Spots Mean Four Searching Years.
/ The burning heat now affecting the
whole Of the United States and felt
also on the other side of the Atlantic .
and generally throughout the northern
hemisphere is convincing proof of the
fact that the earth is the satellite of a
variable star, says Garrett P. Serviss,
writing from Ithaca, N. Y, to the New
"
Only Sd The asggmption .4u enc
source or ,errlple neat is Idlrectly in the
sun and due to an extraordinary IN
crease In its effective, radiation ah the
widespread s i5ng ecnrfnued nature
of the present;meteorologic disaster be
Satisfactorily explained. Local causes
are insufficient. The earth itself con-
tains no store of heat capable OF &C
,counting for the outburst, and the sug-
gested explanation that we are passing
through a region Of space where an IN
commonly high temperature prevails IS
invalidated II for no other reason by
the fact thatssimilar periods of excess
i've temperature nave occurred many
times within the limits of recorded his
tory and in a certain cyclical order,
while from what we know of the direc-
tion of motion Of the solar system
through space we can confidently af-
firm that the earth does not pass again
and again through the same region, but
flies always northward along with the
sun.
Accordingly we are driven to he be-
lief that the source Of the trouble is
only in the sun. All astronomers know
tina the face Of b sun Is blanketed
with absorbing vapors, while it's int
rior is much hotter than the glowing
shell that we see. Strip off the vapor-
Gus blanket entirely, and the surface OF
the earth would probably burst into
smoke and flame in the instantaneous
gush Of unbearable heat hat would be
poured upon 1t. Whenever, as occurs
periodically, though no always to the
same extent, the solar vapors are thin
ned the heat from within leaps out
through the weakened shell n strikes
the earth and the other nearby planets
as with a breath Of fire from b sud-
denly opened door Of a blazing furnace.
That Is what has happened this sum-
mer, and the immediate agency that
has flung open the furnace door and
sent forth the destroying blast Is the
mysterious power whose visible mani
festation is the presence OF black sun
spots. But 1t is a mistake to suppose
that the sun spots themselves exercise
any direct influence upon the weather
or that there must be spots on the sun
whenever there Is extraordinary heat
on the earth. The spots are simply in
dicators Of the suns condition, resem-
bling in that respect the eruptions Oh
the face Of a smallpox patient They
tell the story Of the SUMS internal con
Nu1sions and indicate some Of the
places on it's surface where the pent up
forces are bursting out
The sun is subject to strange physic>
al disorder which shakes its system tc
the very center and, like a malarious
disease, recurS in more or less regular
periods, but with varying intensity. II
fact, the similarity to some Of b re
current diseases that afHict humanity
goes so far that there is a kind Of dou
bile period in the sun spot cycle, and we
have just now arrived at the beginning
of the great primary period Of b cy
Gle which is marked by intensifcatioI
of the solar disturbances. Hence thu
fierce blasts Of the destroying SUNSHINE
that have dried and parched the ali
d~issipated its gathering moisture, scat
tered the assembling stormclouds an
out Of a cloudless sky dropped scorch
ing atmospheric sheets upon the corr
fields of the west until the very sol
has seemed on the point of catchin
fire.
There are manifestations Of the opeI
ing of a new sun spot period before tn
spots themselves began to break fort
in any number. Presently they will TO
low, and half way between the equato
and the poles of the sun congeries c
black aureole, with blazing, whit
patches about them, will break fort
and the spectroscope will show shoe
ing upward from these volcanic Gel
tiers Of disturbance immense masses
metallic vapor and cleaning hydroge
leaping hundreds Of thousands Of mile
high and giving an impressive demon
stration of the unimaginable might
the forces that wrench the center OF tt
ola system.
For the next four ear these gigant
%outbursts will increase in fury, and
corresponding series Of terrestrial Sc
sons, marked by great excuses or ter
perature, sudden contrasts and extrao
binary cyclonic disturbances, will fl
low. Nothing can be more certain ths
an increase in the near future in Il
number of auroral displays and ma
netic storms, consequent upon the I
currence of the solar disorders.
DR.. w. J. S. Lockyer has just shov
by an elaborate comparison of da
that there is a great sun spot eye
everything the ordinary II year cy'