48 EXTENT AND EFFECTS OF SOLAR SPOTS. 



sun, at times, are openings that disclose the dark 

 portions of the globe beneath ; which constitute 

 "spots on the sun." These openings are con- 

 stantly varying with a rapidity that only the quick 

 movements of the electric ether will explain. 

 "There are instances in which solar spots of fifty 

 thousand miles diameter are formed in a single 

 day; and others, where they disappear as sud- 

 denly. The brightest parts are not stationary, but 

 fluctuate like electric flashes." It is also found 

 that "the appearance of solar spots is attended 

 with extraordinary perturbations of compass nee- 

 dles all over the earth." This fact shows the 

 direct relationship and electro-magnetic connec- 

 tion between the solar excitation and the electric 

 currents continually circulating about the earth, 

 which control the movements of all compass 

 needles. 



Modern observers have noticed electrical dis- 

 turbances, similar to those of the aurora borealis, 

 above the great planets Jupiter and Saturn, in 

 duced by their rotations opposite to their numer- 

 ous moons. Mr. Bond, of Cambridge, describes 

 them as "self-luminous appearances," disclosing 

 dark openings that reveal the body of the planet, 

 somewhat corresponding with the spots on the 

 sun. 



That the apparent diameter of the disc of the 

 sun does not show the true magnitude of the solid 

 globe beneath its exterior luminous photosphere, 



