Origin of Eight-Year Generating Cycle 101 



Lowell regarded Dr. Slipher's spectrogram report as 

 confiiinatory of Schiaparelli's conclusion and his own 

 that Venus rotates on its axis in the same time that it 

 revolves around the Sun, turning always the same side 

 to the source of light and heat. 



The bearing of this discovery upon the theory of the 

 effect of Venus upon terrestrial meteorological cycles 

 we shall approach by considering the following quota- 

 tion from Lowell: ''That Venus turns on her axis in the 

 same time that she revolves about the Sun, in conse- 

 quence of which she turns always the same face to him, 

 must cause a state of things of which we can form but 

 faint conception, from any earthly analogy. One face 

 baked for countless aeons, and still baking, backed by 

 one chilled by everlasting night, while both are still 

 surrounded by air, must produce indraughts from the 

 cold to the hot side of tremendous power. A funnel-like 

 rise must take place in the centre of the illuminated 

 hemisphere, and the partial vacuum thus formed would 

 be filled by air drawn from its periphery which, in its 

 turn, would draw from the regions of the night side. 

 Such winds would sweep the surface as they entered, be- 

 coming less superficial as they advanced, and the marks 

 of their inrush might well be discernible even at the dis- 

 tance we are off." ^ 



The last part of this quotation is perhaps hyperbole. 

 I am very far from wishing to suggest that the winds of 

 Venus may be directly responsible for the periodicity 

 in terrestrial weather. Our question is this : is there 



of the planet when the terminator is placed normal to the slit." Annual 

 Report of the Director of Kodaikanal and Madras Observatories for 1920, 

 p. 2. 



1 The Evolution of Worlds, pp. 80-82. 



