Evening star., 1937-08-29
SCIENCE SEEKS TOTRACE
WORLD ILLS TO SUNSPOTS
Mysterious Solar Storms May Affect
Weather, Crops, Economics and Wars,
for Earth Ruled by Light.

leS WHICH nave elapsed since JEen.
there have been 20 sunspot cycles, in
cluding the present. The years Of SUM-
spot maXima have been as follows:
1915, 1926, 1889, l649, 1850 1875.
1885, 1893, 1705, 171s, 1927, 1898. !
1850. 1851, 1859, 1778. 1888, 1905,
1916, 1929, 1887, 1848, 1860, 1870,
1888, 1894, 1906, 1917 and 1928. The
intervals between these maxima vary
from to IS years. The average,
however, has been approximately II
years.
Adds Up to Anything.
Anybody who wants to 20 to the
labor of checking up on these dates
in history probably can flnd some ex-
traordinary things If he is not too
particular-in fact. about anything
he is looking for. Offhand, 1928 just
preceded the great depression, in
1917, America entered the World War,
we wouldn't know about 1906 without
looking it up, which is too much
trouble, but the Russo-Japanese War
was about that time-and so on.
Ever since sunspots were discovered,
these maxima have sometimes been
stressed as heralds of disaster. If they
were easily visible to the naked eye
they probably would have become as
unpopular as comets. but their in
visibility has saved them until lately
from becoming objects of any wide
spread popular superstition.
An outstanding objection is that the
sunspots themselves are not primarily
causative. They are results of deeper
forces which, it is quite likely, produce
profound effects on the surface of the
earth and consequently in human his
tory. It can't be proved, but it is
possibility. Some day the actual rela-
tionship may be worked out.
1t might be quite possible to show
that there have been major wars dur
ing each of the 20 years of sunspot
maxima in the last three centuries, or
that such wars shortly preceded or
followed such maxima. 1t must be
remembered, however, that few years
have passed without a major war
somewhere on earth. The same can be
said for panics, tamines, etc. If there
is any relationship it is far too elu-
sive to be discovered at present.
Fewer Weddings in Prospect.
If an incontrovertable relationship
between sunspot cycles and weather
is ever eSta bllshed one might prophesy
many things, for weather enters into
the pattern of almost all human rela-
tlons. We may venture the prediction
right now-it may be awfully cock
eyed, but here it goes-that the num-
Der OF weddings in Washington next
May will be below normal. Why?
This has been rainy Summer, with
not so many clear moonlight nights
Tor young couples to become enrap-
tured and engaged
There is still more elusive possi-
plllty to the new astrology" Some
day very direct relationship might
be established between the electrifica-
ton OF the air We breathe and the
day by day variations in human tenn
permanent. Here again there are only
straWs pointing in the wind. There is,
however, minimum amount of data
TO indicate that states of exultatlon
and dependency depend in part on
the number and kind of ions, of elec-
trif1ed particles, breathed into the
lungs. This, in turn, probably de-
pends very much on the kind Of light
waves that are sent out by the sun
and are getting through the upper at
mosphere to the earths surface. It
Is quite possible that these may vary
considerably during periods of great
solar storms
Seasonal Variation.
There is still another possible ef-
1ect, even more direct. The amount
OF invisible ultraviolet light waves in
sunlight varies a good deal with the
seasons. 1t may also vary with con.
oltlonS on the sun. 1t is at its max,
lmum with the end of Winter, Ma
ture burst forth in the exuberance of
new life and everybody is happy and
ambitious. 1t is at its maximum in
late Summer. Nature begins to die
and all things are melancholy and
tlred. There may be direct fluctua-
tlons IN human rritability-above and
beyond those caused by climate.
The old astrology didn't reckon with
the sun at all. 1t based its predic
tlons on the positions OF the planets.
within the last year or two there have
oeen fairly conclusive demonstrations
that the configurations Of some of the
planets, notably the three nearest the
sun, have considerable effect on the
degree OF sun-spottedness.
The new astrology is still a feeble
ln1ant. 1t may die in its cradle. But
at least 1t has been born.