i66 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



%k 



principal features of the spot are here represented, but the reader will 

 be able to get a better general idea of the changes that occurred from 

 such a picture than he could from one filled with minor details. The 

 central and lower portions of the figure are especially worthy of atten- 

 tion because of the indications they give of an eddying motion corre- 

 sponding with what should always be seen in a sun-spot according to 

 Faye's cyclonic theory, but which, in fact, is rarely visible. It was 

 also in these parts of the spot that the principal changes occurred, as 

 will be seen by reference to the figures. It is very interesting to note 

 that in Carrington's drawings of the remarkable sun-spot which ac- 

 companied the great magnetic storm of September, 1859 a disturb- 

 ance whose effects strikingly resembled those produced by the storm 

 of last November similar indications of a whirling motion can be 

 detected. Another exceedingly interesting fact is that in England, 

 on the 16th of November last, luminous points were seen rapidly 

 crossing the great spot. This forcibly recalls the similar phenomenon 

 of flying points of light, seen by Carrington and Hodgson, darting 

 across the spot of 1859, and which seemed to be a signal for the 

 outbreak of the magnetic storm that followed. 



In Fig. 2, which represents 

 the spot as it appeared on the 

 18th, the day after the great 

 magnetic storm, evidences of 

 cyclonic motion are still, per- 

 haps, visible, though they are 

 rather suggested by a compari- 

 son of the appearance of the spot 

 with that shown in the previous 

 figure than by any clear indica- 

 tions in the figure itself uncon- 

 nected with the other one. The 

 roundish, nuclear mass near the 

 center suggests by its form a 

 whirlpool-like motion, but it is 

 difficult on that hypothesis to 

 account for the long, straight 

 channel connecting it with the 

 oblong figure on the right. The 

 peculiar crooked figure seen in the lower part of the first picture has, it 

 will be perceived, apparently broken up into several fragments, but this 

 by itself is not inconsistent with the theory of an eddying motion. 



Fig. 3 represents the appearance of the spot on November 19th, 

 auroras and magnetic disturbances having in the mean time continued. 

 Still further changes, it will be seen, have taken place, and the lower 

 portion of the spot shows a tendency to separate from the larger mass 

 above a phenomenon that is of not unfrequent occurrence. 



Fio. 



