SUN-POWER AND GROWTH. 79 



lose in weight instead of gaining, with the progressive rise in 

 temperature in spring and in early summer, and that in fall the 

 opposite relation should obtain. If heat alone were the active 

 medium, the warmth indoors in winter would exert some influ- 

 ence ; this was, however, not the case. Many other observations 

 indicated that local changes of temperature were not the looked- 

 f or cause, as the fluctuations in weight of the inmates of the Royal 

 Asylum corresponded to those of the deaf-mute children, notwith- 

 standing the great difference in the location and surroundings of 

 these two institutions. The force, moreover, seemed not to be in- 

 fluenced by the seasons, but to continue invariable during frost 

 and heat, during sunshine and rain ; its action on the whole was 

 not affected by the warmth of indoors or by the cold without. 



The fluctuations of the increase in weight were more regular 

 than those of temperature ; these fluctuations, with their great 

 variations and their periodicity, seemed to show that organic 

 growth, of both human beings and animals, is affected by some to 

 us as yet unknown cause. ,' This influence is partly mirrored in 

 the local fluctuations of temperature, and these again, of course, 

 are in connection with the sun. 



If the inference should prove correct that increase and decrease 

 in weight vary with the solar radiation, the thermometric regis- 

 tration of places on the Continent, not exposed to sea-winds, would 

 coincide more accurately with the results of the weighings than 

 the local climatic condition of Copenhagen would render possible. 



Mr Malling-Hansen undertook the task of tracing in curves 

 the fluctuations in temperature of different meteorological stations 

 recorded in the Danish Institute of Meteorology. The stations, 

 which are at the following places, permit a broad view, as they 

 are at great distances from one another : Copenhagen, "Vienna, 

 San Fernando, Lucknow, Tragpoor (India), Paramaribo (Guiana), 

 Cordova (Argentine Republic), Port Dover (Canada), and Vioi (on 

 the Congo). 



The more these curves were compared with one another, the 

 more did they show a remarkable analogy between the fluctua- 

 tions of temperature over the whole globe, and the fluctuations 

 in the weight of the children at Copenhagen. And, furthermore, 

 the curious fact was discovered that the fluctuations in tempera- 

 ture in India, as well as in Copenhagen and in North and South 

 America, varied in a similar manner, and were analogous to the 

 fluctuations shown in the weight-increase of the children in ac- 

 cordance with the variations of temperature experienced at the 

 different places. All these fluctuations in the weight of the chil- 

 dren picture the result of an influence emanating from the sun. 



All the growth on the globe, from the most minute to the 

 largest being, from the simplest to the most perfect organism. 



