308 PHENOMENA MANIFESTED IN TELEGRAPHIC LINES, ETC. 



whose presence is manifest hy the spectroscope. That the spots them- 

 selves are craters of eruptions through which the dark gases issue into 

 the chromosphere, and being reduced in temperature combine, giving rise 

 to intense light on account of the vibrations of the solid or liquid parti- 

 cles produced by this union. The hydrogen, being the lightest of all the 

 gases, will be driven farthest from the center of the sun by its expan- 

 sion, and will appear, as it is seen to do, in the form of the protuber- 

 ances, which are found to consist of this gas in a pure but highly attenu- 

 ated condition. Now, although neither evaporization nor condensation 

 of vapor produces electricity, chemical action does in a high degree; and, 

 therefore, at ev&ry eruption of matter from the lower into the npper 

 stratum of the sun, there must be a great development of positive 

 electricity, the nucleus being negative. Whatever influence this elec- 

 tricity may have on the electricity of the earth and the appearance of 

 the aurora must be manifest at the time of the appearance of spots on 

 the sun, and hence we have an hyi)othetical cause for the (connection of 

 two phenomena which have been established by Woolf and others. 



But the question occurs, how does the variable electrical condition of 

 the sun aftect that of the earth 1 Two answers may be given to this 

 question : First, it may aflect it by induction, or action, at a distance. 

 The redundant electricity of the surface of the sun, acting by repulsion 

 on the electricity of the earth, thus disturbs its equilibrium. But if 

 the nucleus of the sun is electrilied minus to an equal degree as the 

 outer spheres are electrified plus, the two resulting actions would neu- 

 tralize each other, and the effect at the distance of the earth would be 

 nothing. 



M. Faye gives another suggestion as to the means by which the elec- 

 tricity of the sun affects the electrical condition of the earth. He claims 

 to have found a repulsive force in the sun, of which he considers the 

 existence strikingly manifest in the gigantic phenomena of comets. 

 This force, unlike that of attraction, is not proportional to the mass but 

 to the surface of the body repelled ; it is insensible in the case of dense 

 bodies such as the planets, while it exerts very marked effects upon 

 bodies which are greatly raritied, such as the nebulosity of comets and the 

 outer hydrogen of the sun. A small portion of this latter, according to 

 M. Faye, at every eruption is driven off into space, carrying with it its 

 charge of plus electricity, which extends to all the planets, and in unit- 

 ing with the ozone in the higher regions of the atmosphere may be con- 

 verted into the vapor of water, while the electric charge produces the 

 electricity of the higher atmosphere of our earth. The quantity of hy- 

 drogen thus lost by the sun is too minute to be sensible by any of our 

 measurements during the historic period. There is one phenomenon 

 connected with this subject which is not clearly explained by this hypo- 

 thesis, and that is the apparent fact that the appearance of the aurora 

 and the disturbance of the magnetic needle are almost, if not quite, sim- 

 ultaneous with the commotions in the sun. This would indicate an in- 



