Eight-Year Cycle in Relation to Physical Cause 139 



I have noticed its tranquil state either when 

 there are none or few such aspects, or when 

 they are transitory and of short duration.'' 

 The comment by Brewster, who died in 1868, 

 mirrored the view of his contemporaries: 

 "Had Kepler been able to examine these 

 hasty and erroneous deductions by long-con- 

 tinued observation, he would soon have found 

 that the coincidence which he did observe 

 was merely accidental, and he would have 

 cheerfully acknowledged it. Speculations 

 of this kind, however, are from their very 

 nature, less subject to a rigorous scrutinj^; 

 and a long series of observations is necessary 

 either to establish or to overturn them. The 

 industry of modern observers has now sup- 

 plied the defect, and there is no point in 

 science more certain than that the Sun, 

 Moon, and planets do not exercise any in- 

 fluence on the general state of our atmos- 

 phere." ^ 

 (4) At least one competent astronomer has had 

 the courage to enter the field, and in a 

 singular manner his results bear out the 

 thesis of this chapter as to the influence 

 of Venus. 



In July, 1922, a friendly astronomer gave 

 me the following reference, A. Nodon : Essai 

 d'Astrometeorologie, and I received from 

 France a copy of the work in October, 1922. 

 There is a Preface by M. G. Bigourdan, 



^ Sir David Brewster, Martyrs of Science, pp. 241-242. 



