174 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



This simple comparison leads us to suspect that the concordances 

 noted in the plots for the various planets may be due to causes within 

 the sun. There are two possible reasons for the inequalities in the 

 plots : 



(a) Any given zone relative to the planet can remain invisible from 

 the earth for months. 



(6) The epoch when a particular planetary zone may be favor- 

 ably seen by a terrestrial observer may fall sometimes in the spot 

 maximum phase, sometimes in the minimum phase. 



The second perturbing effect is graver than the first. The period of 

 36 years embraced by the Greenwich data is not sufficiently long to 

 assure us that these two sources of error are eliminated. The method 

 should not be abandoned, but we must get more observations. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



It would be presumptions to say that we have unveiled the mode 

 in which the planets may react upon the sun, but we feel persuaded 

 that some reaction exists and that it will not always elude us. The 

 sun may have within itself the reason for its period, but it does not 

 keep to itself its rythmic action. If it has not sufficient store of 

 energy in the mutual attraction of its parts, in its rotation or in the 

 active force of the plants, there remains a resource in the cosmic dust. 

 Perhaps it is not the matter condensed into the shining stars but that 

 which is scattered in impalpable particles throughout space which 

 contributes more to the stability of the universe. 



It seems to me that these views suggested by the study of the 

 heavens help to keep us even in every-day life from discouragement 

 and indifference. The historian, whose attention is focused on salient 

 events, may believe that the human race exists only for a few marked 

 men. The naturalist, accustomed to note the annihilation of the 

 weak, cries willingly with the poet, " Le vent n'ecoute pas gemir la 

 feuille morte " (The wind hears not the sigh of the lifeless leaf). 

 But that is only apparently true. The dead leaf, in its manner and 

 measure, reacts on the wind. Already religious moralists warn us that 

 every act, no matter how small and weak, has a sovereign value when 

 it is done in conformity with the eternal order. And this conclusion 

 will not surprise the geometrician, who is constrained to weigh all 

 in an impartial balance and recognizes in the smallest corner of the 

 universe an unlimited influence with regard to space and the future. 



