FAKE WEATHER FORECASTS. 5 11 



cycle arch ! But the keystone, the illusory planet Vulcan (which will 

 be discussed later) is even more mysterious. 



The sun and each of the planets were regarded by him as immense 

 magnets with north and south poles, and as the planets moved in their 

 orbits they were exposed alternately to the north and south poles of the 

 great sun magnet, and this alternating exposure aroused not only the 

 planet to greater electrical activity, but influenced the sun himself, as 

 evidenced in the sun spots. But even were this so, what has it to do 

 with the planet's equinoxes? The amount of change to and from the 

 poles of the sun depends, as shown above, solely on the inclination of 

 the planet's orbit to the plane of the sun's equator, as, in the case of 

 the earth, the inclination of the ecliptic to the sun's equator plane, and 

 not of the ecliptic to the equinoctial. 



Now it happens that (at this time) the earth is at its greatest dis- 

 tance south of the plane of the sun's equator, and hence most exposed 

 to the sun's south pole, March 6; and the greatest distance north, 

 and so most exposed to his north pole, September 5. These dates 

 are so near the dates of the earth's equinoxes — March 22 and Sep- 

 tember 21 — Mr. Tice assumes that they agree. And even though 

 this difference, like the equinoxes themselves, is not a constant, further 

 assumes a like coincidence to exist in the case of every planet. With 

 this lame assumption he puts the source of the great electric energy of 

 the sun upon the equinoxes of the planets, and reaches the conclusion 

 that all atmospheric phenomena were produced by planetary equinoxes. 



But with all these assumptions injected into his great meteorolog- 

 ical cycle, it yet refuses to work properly. It was found that there 

 were many phenomena occurring that would not fit into any of his as- 

 sumed cycles, or that were contemporary with the causing planetary 

 positions — that is, of the Ten own planets. Thus it became necessary to 

 find a new planet — one he could have his own way about, and so Vulcan 

 — a planet so near the sun that only Mr. Tice, and two others, neither 

 of whom was a trained astronomer, and using only ordinary telescopes, 

 have ever been able to see it, and they only once each— is harnessed to 

 the electric cycle wagon. 



Lescarbault saw the supposed Vulcan March 26, 1859, Mr. Tice 

 September 25 or 26, 1859, and Mr. Lummis in March, 1862. So this 

 wonderful planet which plays such an important part in our welfare 

 has been seen only these three times, and never since, although astro- 

 nomical observers with the finest telescopes, and located all over the 

 world, have been on the constant search for a planet interior to Mer- 

 cury, and though during every total eclipse of the sun (when his intense 

 light is for a moment shut out), it is the sole duty of some observer in 

 every party to search for such a planet — yet the wily Vulcan eludes 

 them all. 



