278 



upon our affairs, one would think it were more reasonable to 

 look for something direct, as, for instance, when he is in oppo- 

 sition to the sun. He is then, of course, much nearer the 

 earth than when in conjunction, very nearly in the proportion 

 of 10 to 15, or as 1 to 1^. This occurs at intervals of slightly 

 over 13 months. On such a supposition, then, we should have 

 some marked disturbance occurring about a month later every 

 year. But, is it so ? I leave this for statisticians to answer. 



For ray part, I may say that it would require most conclu- 

 sive argument, backed up by a considerable amount of statis- 

 tical evidence, to convince me that Jupiter can have any in- 

 fluence upon us whatever, either direct or indirect ; that is, of 

 course, apart from the question of gravitational perturbation, 

 an astronomical nicety that does not at present concern us. 

 The question of physical changes in the sun (as the increase or 

 diminution of sun-spots, by whatever cause produced) affecting 

 the conditions of life in our planet, stands, I think, on quite 

 another footing. As the great heart of the system, any physi- 

 cal commotion there might Avell be supposed to affect, more or 

 Jess, the whole planetary family. That there is some connec- 

 tion between such solar disturbances and the electrical con- 

 dition of our globe seems to be well established. I think it, 

 therefore, not unreasonable to expect that our mortality curve 

 should be affected from this cause. 



Unfortunately, our statistics do not extend sufficiently far 

 back to either establish or disprove that any relationship exists 

 between tJiem and either sun-spots or Jupiter's position. 

 Moreover, I think that a careful examination of those we 

 have tends rather to discountenance the notion that any such 

 relationship exists. 



In the following tables I take the mortality maxima and 

 minima from Mr. Johnston's columns, and the sun-spot periods 

 from Professor JSTewcombe. 



