12 Generating Economic Cycles 



have pressed on in search of real causes. The pursuit 

 has led into meteorology, astronomy, and solar physics, 

 where I may possibly have gone astray. But whatever 

 uncertainties may be felt with regard to these adven- 

 tures into natural science, they should not weigh against 

 the theory of the origin of economic cycles in natural 

 causes. The linking of astronomic, meteorological, 

 agricultural, and economic causes places the whole 

 discussion upon a rational, rather than upon an em- 

 pirical, basis. There are uncertainties in respect to 

 several links, but with the accumulation of weather 

 data meteorologists are facing with an open mind the 

 problem of periodicities; and with the startling dis- 

 coveries in electricity and magnetism, solar physicists 

 are advancing revolutionary views regarding the 

 Sun's radiation, the interrelations of the planets, and 

 the nature of the interplanetary medium. 



