Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-09-23
BY PROF. GARRETT p. sERv1ss.

Great Britain Rights Reserved)
Soon after midnight on the morning
OF August 9 great magnetic storm
broke over the earth, setting the
heavens aflame with mysterious flick
cring lights. making telegraph opera
tors nervous by the leaping and snap
ping OF unwonted sparks, and putting
telephone and telegraph lines out OF
| commission for one or two hours at a
stretch. 1t received very little public
attention. probably on account Of the
absorption Of all minds in the war
news. Yet that storm of Embossed solar
energies, strangely raging in the earth
and air, had n possible significance
| with regard to tho great struggle OF
nations which would have awakened
universal and thrilling interest II it
had been generally understood.
That storm struck at the mightiest
that nature has ever suffered man to
take from her arscnal-applied cleo
tricity-and by temporarily paralyzing
1t in some OF its applications showed
that she not only retains control of 1t,
but. In exceptional circumstances. is
ready to exercise her continued control.
Since q magnetic storm of the in
tensity OF that OF August demon
strably has power TO arrest the opera
ton over a whole continent and
| vi Of tala NJ,
telephone lines. and to burn out their
instruments, how much more intense
would similar storm have to be in
order to stop the engines Of proving
submarines and of soaring aeroplanes,
which Is one case directly and in the
other indirectly depend for their func-
tioning on electricity? The source OF
tho disturbance is in the sun. which
exercises It's power Of Interference
from a distance Of 100000 miles
Might not the sun put forth energy
enough to stop a battle. to bring about
the defeat of an army. to send thous-
nnds OF air fighters tumbling to earth
like stricken birds: acting, in short.
as Zeus and his Olymplan minions
used to act when they interviewed with
superterrcstrial weapons In the battles
In these questions lies the new sig
nificance of such n magnetic storm as
that OF August Q, which occurred CO.
incidentally with the existence on the
sun OF r. vast disturbance that broke
up millions of square miles of it's fiery
surface.
| The force of that disturbance. as 1t
reached the earth. perhaps in the form
40, - H.,
Client to be noticed in its effec:, through
the magnetic currents of the earth,
upon delicately balanced energies in
electro magnetic Instruments: but
imagine it magnified ten times or
hundred times. and then what? Sun
spots and their repercussion upon the
earth have only been studied for few
decades. and 1t is but n few years since
we first came into possession of in
strumcnts and engines depending on
electricity for their action, SO that we
have not yet experimental knowledge
Of what the maximum Of this solar cX-
plosive influence upon them may be.
There are various theories concern
ing the precise manner In which the
solar influence is transformed to the
earth. One Of the most probable sup
poses 1t TO be done through shafts OF
invisible radiations. resembling the
kathode rays. which come from the
sun, and. upon meeting the atmosphere.
alter the conductivity of the upper
strata and thus stimulate the circula-
ton of aerial electric currents. The
shafts OF radiation. or OF electrons.
arise from centers of violent disturb
ance on the suns surface.
SO far we have said nothing about
tho question whether 1t would be pos
sible for man 20 play. in any degree.
the part that ,he sun plays In produce
ing magnetic storms or disturbances
affecting the general operation of cleo
trio apparatus. But this is question
which has already been. to some eX-
tent, answered in the Affirmative.
Somewhere near tho beginning OF this
century Nicola Tesla. If am not mis-
taken, during his extraordinary expert
ments on Pixies Peak succeeded In
generating mysterious electric cur
rents which burned out the connections
In generators several miles away.
No satisfactory explanation. as far
as 1 am aware. was ever found for
tho phenomenon. except tho conclusion
that. given sufficient energy, n current
capable of producing physical and me-
chanical effects could be sent long dis
tances without the aid of wires. Was
Ii mimic magnetic storm that Mr..
Tesla produced? Has he found the
beginning of way to play the role
OF the sun when 1t is excited by the
forces that make sun-spots?
The well-known phenomenon of In
reference Of waves by which wireless
messages may he confused, or broken
up. Is another indication that man is
on the verge of a discovery that may
have astonishing applications In the
direction OF a central mastering con-
troll over the operation OF distant cleo
trio apparatus. So. too, Is the steer
Ing. stopping and starting OF electric
driven torpedoes from wireless stations
situated far away on the shore.