500 
NATURE 
[ Oct. 20, 1870 
our frames, is derived from the food we eat. This food does two 
things for us: it gives us energy in the first place, and in the 
second it furnishes our frames with a quantity of delicately or- 
ganised tissue, But food is ultimately derived from the vegetable 
kingdom, and that kingdom derives it from the sun, so that we 
are led to regard our luminary as the ultimate material source not 
only of our energy, but also of our delicacy of construction. 
To come now to our own luminary—very remarkable strides 
have lately been made in our knowledge of its physical con- 
stitution. It is difficult to say when and by whom the existence 
of sun spots was first remarked. Galileo, however, was the first 
to use them as the means of determining the elements of the 
sun’s rotation. Besides these black spots ‘on the sun’s surface, 
equally mysterious forms have been seen to surround the sun on 
the various occasions of a total eclipse—these generally went by 
the name of red flames or red protuberances. Mr, Warren De 
La Rue was the first to prove that these phenomena were at- 
tached to the sun himself, and that the only office of the moon 
during an eclipse was to subdue the general light sufficiently to 
render them visible to the eye. While the red flames thus 
became objects of cosmical interest, Schwabe in Germany and 
Carrington in this country had both done much to increase our 
knowledge of sun spots. Schwabe, by a patient course of forty 
years’ observations, had proyed the existence of a well-marked 
periodical fluctuation in the amount and frequency of sun spots, 
the period of which was about eleven years. Carrington, again, 
had shown that the region of spots was a somewhat limited one, 
extending to about 20° or 30° on either side of the solar equator, 
so that a spot never appears at the sun’s pole, and he had also 
detected a proper motion of spots. Schwabe and Carrington 
had, however, confined themselves to mapping down accurately 
what they saw ; but De La Rue, by the introduction of celestial 
photography, was enabled to obtain autographs of the sun which 
might be studied at leisure with an absolute certainty of their 
being correet. A large number of such pictures has been al- 
ready obtained, and they are in the process of examination by 
Mr. De La Rue, and those associated with him in this research. 
Some of the preliminary results of this examination have al- 
ready been published, and they seem to point to a connection 
between the behaviour and frequency of sun spots and the posi- 
tions of the chief planets of the system. 
Our acquaintance with the red flames has extended as rapidly 
as our knowledge of sun spots. It was discovered independently 
by Janssen and Lockyer, that these strange protuberances yield 
to the spectroscope wnder ordinary conditions of the sun, and 
without the necessity of waiting for a total eclipse. They exist, 
in fact, always round the sun, but their brightness is quenched 
in the diffused light which surrounds the sun’s border. When, 
however, we apply a sufficiently powerful spectroscope, the dif- 
fused light—consisting of ordinary sun light, and therefore con- 
taining a great variety of rays—is drawn out into a long spectral 
ribbon, and has its brightness scattered or diffused over the 
various parts of this ribbon, while on the other hand the light 
from the red flames, consisting only of one or two kinds, appears 
in the spectroscope as one or two bright lines not having their in- 
tensity weakened by the scattering action of the spectroscope. 
They, therefore, stand out in the field of view, while the or- 
dinary light disappears. Lockyer has found, by this means, 
that there is an envelope of incandescent hydrogen surrounding 
the glowing surface of the sun, into which there are frequent 
injections of heated matter from beneath, and in which there are 
violent huricanes often moving at the rate cf 100 miles a second. 
By the laboratory labours of Frankland and Lockyer, taken in 
connection with the solar observations of the latter, there is, 
I think, a probability of our ultimately ascertaining the pressure 
and the temperature as well as the chemical composition of the 
atmosphere of our luminary. 
Descending now from the celestial bodies to our own earth, 
there is some reason to suppose that we are knit to our luminary, 
and possibly through him to the other members of our system 
by some other bond, besides that usually recognised. General 
Sir E. Sabine appears to have proved that disturbances of the 
earth’s magnetism take place most frequently in those years in 
which there are most sun spots. This is confirmed by the 
experience of the present year, during which we have had a 
great number of sun spots, and frequent and large disturbances 
of the earth’s magnetism. 
T have already alluded to a possible connection between the 
behaviour of sun spots, and the positions of the planets ; to 
which we may add, that Schwabe and other observers imagine 
that they have discovered traces of a periodical variation in the 
appearance of the planet Jupiter. All thess observations would 
appear to indicate the existence of some unknown bond between 
the different members of the solar system. 
But that department of cosmical physics which is of most 
immediate interest to ourselves, is undoubtedly the meteorology 
of our globe ; and here it is of great importance, to know whether 
the earth’s climate and atmosphere are influenced in any way by 
the changes taking place in the atmosphere of the sun. Sucha 
connection has not yet been traced, but it has hardly yet been 
sought for in a proper manner. Recent observations discussed 
by Baxendell, Jead us to think there may be some connection 
between the daily changes in the earth’s magnetism and the 
daily motions of the air. Coupling this with the fact that the 
frequency of terrestrial magnetic disturbances would appear to 
be connected with that of sun spots, we are led to contemplate 
at least the possibility of some connection between meteorology 
and sun spots. 
If these remarks are of any value, they tend to indicate the 
probable union of the various branches of observational inquiry 
into one great cosmical research, and point to the wisdom of a 
very close union between the workers in the cognate fields of 
meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, and celestial physics. 
At the present moment the prospects of meteorology are more 
hopeless than those of the other two branches. Our knowledge 
of the motions of the various components of the earth’s atmo- 
sphere is extremely limited, and yet without this knowledge it is 
impossible to connect meteorology with the other branches of 
cosmical inquiry. If we endeavour to analyse the causes of 
this backward state of meteorological research, the first and 
most apparent is the magnitude of the problem. 
We are too intimately associated with the earth and its atmo- 
sphere to be easily able to tell its motions. Strange to say, the 
meteorology of the sun is more easily studied than that of the 
earth, and we know already as much about tle strength of solar 
storms as we do about that of terrestrial hurricanes. 
But another cause of the backward state of Physical Meteoro- 
logy arises from the -fact that there are two branches of science, 
each of which may be furthered by meteorological observations, 
There is first the physiological branch of meteorology, the 
object of which is to trace the influence of climate upon animal 
and vegetable life; and there is next the physical branch, the 
object of which is to study the physics of the earth’s surface, 
and more especially the motions of its atmosphere. 
It is now high time that a separation should be made in 
the mind of the observer between these two branches of re- 
search. If he would rather pursue the physiological inquiry, 
let him say so definitely, but if he wish to pursue physical 
meteorology, let him clearly keep before his mind the object of 
all his labours. He should ask himself the question, what is the 
best system of observation, and what is the best method of re- 
duction, to advance the great object of physical meteorology— 
a knowledge of the motions of the earth’s atmosphere, and of 
the causes thereof? He should not fix upon a system of observa= 
tions and a method of reduction that may possibly, but upon one 
that must necessarily, further this great object. 
I have thus endeavoured in a few words to bring before you 
the recent advances in cosmical physics. Besides this, there are two 
other no less important branches of physical inquiry. We have the 
physics of organised beings, and we have also molecular physics. 
But there is this difference between these two branches and that of 
which I have now spoken :—To forward physiology or mole- 
cular physics we chiefly require experiment, but to forward cos- 
mical physics we chiefly require observation. You are all aware 
that at the present moment a Royal Commission is inquiring as 
to the relation between Science and the State; and perhaps, 
therefore, you will permit me the opportunity of stating my 
views as to the manner in which this very necessary assistance 
may best be given. I think that those branches of science 
which demand for their extension experiments not requiring 
very great time may be furthered with much advantage 
in institutions such as Owens College. I believe it to be advan- 
tageous to bring the highest class of physical teaching into 
contact with research. If Government be disposed to grant 
pecuniary aid to such researches, an extension of the allowance 
made annually to the Government Grant Committee of the Royal 
Society would appear to be a very legitimate way of accomplish- 
ing this object. 
The scientific professors. of a college would thus have to state 
the aim of their research to a committee of the Royal Society 
entrusted with the disposal of Government means, and the requi- 
site funds would be forthcoming. No one, I think, can doubt 
