Oct. 6, 1870] 
NATURE 
ASI 
they can easily do more, and so complete the good work 
they have so well commenced. A stranger and more dis- 
heartening reason it would be hard to imagine. Our 
rulers appear to have yet to learn that there is such a 
thing as principle in the application of public money to 
the promotion of the real progress of the nation. We 
look forward to the report of the Science Commissicn to 
define the principles on which these grants should rest ; 
and we trust we may then have a Government both 
capable of understanding what these principles are, and 
of firmness in carrying them out into practice. 
WAP. E- 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for ofinions expressed 
by his Correspondents, No notice is taken of anonymous 
communications. | 
Aurora Borealis 
Tue Aurora Borealis noticed in the 7ies was observed here 
on Saturday the 24th inst. between 9 and 11 P.M. Another was 
observed on Sunday the 25th between 2.30 and 3.15 A.M. ; and 
again another on the same day about $.30 P.M. 
1 did not see the first, but I did see the two Jast, and the 
Aurora of Sunday morning appears to have been the most vivid 
of the three. 
About 2.30 A.M. a strong red glare as of blood appeared above 
a thick bla ck cloud about 40° eastward of north and 30° eleva- 
tion. As this faded, the red glare appeared westward of north 
at the same elevation. The clouds did not extend to the horizon, 
which was pretty clear, and in half an hour they had passed 
away. 
At 3.15 the sky was clear, and vivid yellowish rays extended 
nearly to the polar star. The rays had a gradual motion to the 
eastward. ‘This was well observed by the rays passing in front 
of the stars of the tail of the Great Bear, which were at that time 
nearly parallel to the rays. I ceased observing about 3.30. 
The Aurora observed at 8.30 P.M. appeared to me very faint 
in comparison to that at 3.20 A.M. I would hardly have noticed 
it if a friend had not pointed it out to me. 
This same person had observed the Aurora of the 24th, and 
it was from his observation that I in ferred that the Aurora of the 
morning of the 25th was also much brighter than that of the 
evening of the 24th. N. A. STAPLES 
Louvain, Sept. 30 
Fuel of the Sun 
I AM not mathematician enough to form any opinion on the 
merits of the controversy as to the ‘‘ fuel of the sun ;” that is to 
say, [am not able to decide whether it is consistent with the 
conditions of the equilibrium of the solar system that the sun’s 
heat should have been kept up through the ages of geological 
time by the falling in of meteors. But I wish to state some 
evidence which proves that meteors are constantly falling in, 
though it does net touch the question whether this source is 
sufficient to account for the whole or any large part of the total 
supply of heat radiated away by the sun. 
In the first place, the meteors have been seen. On Sept. 1, 
1859, Mr. Carrington and another observer simultaneously ob- 
served two meteor-like bodies, of such brightness as to be bright 
against the sun’s dise, suddenly appear, move rapidly across the 
sun from west to east, and disappear. 
‘The fact that their motion was from west to east is important. 
If the supply of meteors to the sun is constant and tolerably 
regular, it is scarcely possible to doubt that the meteors, like the 
entire solar system, move reund the sun from west to east, and 
occupy a space of the form of a very oblate spheroid, having its 
equator nearly coincident with the sun’s equator. 
If this is the case, the meteors ought to fall in greater num- 
bers near the sun’s equator than near his poles, making the 
equator hotter than the poles. Such is the fact. Secchi, with- 
out having any theory to support, has ascertained that the sun’s 
equator is sensibly hotter than his poles. The instrument used 
was an electric thermo-multiplier, and the indications show, not 
the ratio, but the difference of the heat from the two sources 
compared. 
It can scarcely be doubted that the meteors must enter the 
sun’s atmosphere with a velocity not much less than that of a 
plaret, revolving at the distance at which they enter. We know 
that the sun’s 1otatory motion is incomparably less than this, 
and consequently the meteors, revolving from west to east, ought 
to make the sun’s atmosphere move round his body in the same 
direction, and with greater velocity in the equatorial regions, 
where most meteors fallin. This is what is observed. Mr. Car- 
rington, also without any theory to support, has shown that the 
motion of the solar spots from west to east is most rapid in the 
latitudes nearest the equator. We cannot compare the motion 
of the spots with that of the sun’s body, as we do not see his 
hody. But the fact that the motion from west to east is most 
rapid in the equatorial latitudes proves that these motions are 
not due to any cause like that which produces trade-winds and 
“ counter-trades” of our planet ; for, supposing the sun or any 
planet to rotate from west to east, im any circulation that could 
be produced in its atmosphere by ungqual heating at different 
latitudes, the relative motions of the atmospheric currents in high 
and low latitudes would be similar to that of the trade-winds 
and ‘Scounter-trades,” and opposite,to that which the motions 
of the spots indicate in the atmosphere of the sun. This will be 
true at all depths in the atmosphere. 
JosEPH JOHN Murruy 
Suggestions for the Improvement of Meteorological 
Investigation 
THE position of Great Britain at the head of a vast empire 
encircling the globe, and soon to be at the centre of a network 
of telegraphs that will feel all the pulses of the world, imposes 
upon British naturalists and the British Goyernment the duty 
of leading the way in the important work of meteorological in- 
vestigation. In the hope of aiding the progress of this work, I 
venture, through your columns, to call public attention to the 
following suggestions :— 
First :—The increase of the number of meteorological stations 
on and near the equator is very desirable. For instance, an 
increase of weather reports from the West Indies and the 
Atlantic States of North America, especially about latitudes 30° 
to 32°, would be highly valuable to the people of Great Britain 
and other portions of Western Europe. 
Second :—In meteorologieal reports, we should recognise both 
the unity of the atmosphere and its division into areas cor- 
responding with the great divisions of the earth’s surface into 
land and water. As storms are generally confined within these 
areas, they may be called storm areas, or sections of the atmo- 
sphere in which disturbances are very closely connected. For 
instance, the area within which the greater storms that visit 
Great Britain begin and end, or circulate with destructive force, 
is bounded by the equator on the south, and the Rocky 
Mountains on the west. The northern and eastern boun- 
daries are not yet determined. On September 7, 18609, 
the first ‘‘Northers” of the season visiled New Orleans; 
on September 8th, storms passed over the Northern States ; and 
betv een September 9th and 23yd, storms passed over Great 
3rit: in and Western Europe. Again, on October 1st, 1869, the 
bar meter at Havana indicated* the approach of bad weather ; 
on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, there were heavy galesand rains 
at New York ; on the night of October 4th, occurred one of the 
most destructive storms that has ever visited Maine and New 
3runswick ; on Oetober 6th, there was a heavy gale in England. 
The destructive gale in England, on October 16th, was preceded 
by a hurricane in New England on October 11th. -These two 
last-mentioned storms appear to have been closely connected not 
only with each other, but also with the extraordinary heat which 
prevailed in England on October 8th, 9th, and 1oth, and in 
France on October 11th. All the storms mentioned, however, 
are only specimens of the many annual disturbances of the same 
kind whose connection with the Atlantic Ocean as a centre has 
been, or may easily betraced. They are referred to here, merely 
to show that about an eighth of the whole atmosphere consti- 
tutes, and may be named, the Atlantic storm area. To make a 
weather report of much practical value in Great Britain and 
Western Europe, it should cover the whole of this area. The 
number of places, however, from which reports are published, 
need not be so large as at present. 
Third :—The records of the atmospheric conditions and changes 
should be arranged with reference to the latitude and longitude 
of each station. At present there is mo system in tabulating 
