482 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



he says, an unavoidable one) " that the changes, and what we now 

 call the uncertainties of climate, are connected with the constant fluc- 

 tuations which we know to he perpetually occurring in the sun itself." 

 I may proceed, indeed, in this place, to quote the following words, in 

 which Colonel Strange enunciates the theory itself which I am about 

 to discuss, and its consequences : " The bearing of climatic changes 

 on a vast array of problems connected with navigation, agriculture, 

 and health, need but be mentioned to show the importance of seeking 

 in the sun, where they doubtless reside, for the causes which govern 

 these changes. It is indeed my conviction that, of all the fields now 

 open for scientific cultivation, there is not one which, quite apart from 

 its transcendent philosophical interest, promises results of such high 

 utilitarian value as the exhaustive systematic study of the sun." 



It cannot be doubted, I think, that, if any thing like what is here 

 promised could be hoped for from the study of the sun, it would be a 

 matter of more than national importance to undertake the task indi- 

 cated by Colonel Strange. The expense of new observatories for this 

 special subject of study would, in that case, be very fully repaid. It 

 would be worth while to employ the most skilful astronomers at sala- 

 ries comparable with those which are paid to our Government minis- 

 ters ; it would be well to secure, on corresponding terms, the advice 

 of those most- competent to decide on the instrumental requirements 

 of the case ; and, in fact, the value of the work which is at present ac- 

 complished at Greenwich, great though that value is, would sink into 

 utter insignificance, in my judgment, compared with the results flow- 

 ing in the supposed case from the proposed " exhaustive and systematic 

 study " of the great central luminary of the planetary system. 



The subject we are to discuss is manifestly, therefore, of the utmost 

 importance, and cannot be too carefully dealt with. It would be a 

 misfortune on the one hand to be led by careless reasoning to under- 

 estimate the chances in favor of the proposed scheme, while, on the 

 other, it would be most mischievous to entertain unfounded expecta- 

 tions where the necessary experiments must be of a costly nature, and 

 where science would be grievously discredited, should it be proved 

 that the whole scheme was illusory. 



We note, first, that, besides being " the great dominating force " to 

 which all natural phenomena connected with climate are due, the sun 

 has special influence on all the most noteworthy variations of weather. 

 The seasons are due to solar influence ; and here we have an instance 

 of a power of prediction derived from solar study, though belonging 

 to a date so remote that we are apt to forget the fact. It seems so ob- 

 vious that summer will be on the whole warmer than winter, that 

 we overlook the circumstance that, at some epoch or other, this fact, 

 at least in its relation to the apparent motions of the sun, must have 

 been recognized as a discovery. Men must at one time have learned, 

 or perhaps we should rather say each race of men must at one time 



