CH. XXXVL MAGNETIC STORMS. 381 



Edward Sabine to suggest that peril aps the spots on the 

 sun had something to do with magnetic phenomena, since 

 they both went through a regular cycle of changes in about 

 eleven years. 



And now comes a curious proof of the truth of this 

 theory. In September 1859, when a famous sun-gazer, 

 Mr. Carrington, was observing and measuring the spots on 

 the sun, he suddenly noticed a bright spot break out on -the 

 sun's face ; and fortunately another observer, Mr. Hodgson, 

 who was in another part of England, saw this same spot at 

 the same moment. The whole time from the appearance 

 till the disappearance did not exceed five minutes, but when 

 inquiry was made, it was found that the three magnetic 

 needles at Kew, which keep a register of their own move- 

 ments, had all been jerked strongly exactly at this time. 

 Nor was this all : the magnetic storm passing through our 

 atmosphere at that moment set up such strong electric cur- 

 rents in the wires of the telegraphs all over the world that 

 the signalmen at Washington and Philadelphia received 

 severe electric shocks ; a telegraphic apparatus in Norway 

 was set on fire, and a stream of electric light followed the 

 pen of Bain's electric telegraph, which writes down the 

 message on chemically prepared paper. Moreover, beautiful 

 auroras were seen in both hemispheres, and these brilliant 

 lights are believed to be caused by magnetic currents. The 

 magnetic storms on this occasion lasted for several days, 

 and there could no longer be any doubt that the sun at a 

 distance of nearly 92,000,000 miles can produce a complete 

 hurricane of magnetic disturbance on our earth. This con- 

 nection of the storms with the sun-spots seems indeed, 

 as I have said, to suggest that the sun has the power of 

 producing terrestrial magnetism in some more direct way 

 than mcicly through the action of electric currents set 



