July 17, 1896.] 



SCIENCE, 



79 



p. 441 : "As the rate of increase of displace- 

 ment in a non-conducting dielectric is the 

 electric current, so the rate of increase of 

 B 



^TT 



may 



be called the magnetic current. 



Then G=^ -r- = -— . Like electric displace- 



B 



47r 47r 



ment currents, magnetic ciirrents are transient 

 only, i. e., they cannot continue indefinitely in 

 one direction, like an electric conduction cur- 

 rent. Also, like electric currents in a dielec- 

 tric, they are unaccompanied by heat genera- 

 tion. In ether the electric current and magnetic 

 current are of equal significance.'''' Also p. 455: 

 "Imagine the impressed forces to be put on 

 suddenly. We know that a certain definite 

 distribution of magnetic induction is set up, 

 which is steady when the arrangement of mat- 

 ter is fixed. During the transient state there is 

 magnetic current everywhere unless ,« = some- 

 where, which we must believe to be impossible, 

 since /< is very little less than unity for any 

 known substance. Magnetic currents are wholly 

 closed. ' ' The author then goes on to treat of 

 energy, work, mechanical forces and the en- 

 tire correlated system. The sun, if magnetized 

 at all, is not steady ; during the changes mag- 

 netic currents convey the energy to all space, 

 and if to the earth then some of this energy is 

 consumed in the atmosphere and substance of 

 the earth. Among other things I claim that the 

 time order in the eastward drift formation of 

 the North American Highs and Lows seems to 

 be inverted by such solar action, and that these 

 are in part products of this magnetic field. When 

 the sun is steady it impresses a certain C.G.S. 

 upon the earth's lines of force, which are also 

 given in C. G. S. units. The total force ob- 

 served at any moment in an observatory is the 

 combined magnetic H. If Prof. Franklin 

 thinks this is absurd I claim the privilege of 

 my own view. 



My position is simply this, two different sets 

 of force radiations penetrate space surrounding 

 the sun to the distance at least of the earth, 

 because the observations of magnetic instru- 

 ments yield on computation two definite sys- 

 tems of vectors, one from the electro-magnetic 

 or linear field, and the other from the magnetic 

 or curvilinear field, and their existence finds 



a suitable explanation on my hypothesis of two 

 radiations. Even if my view is wrong the 

 vector systems yet remain to be accounted for, 

 because the theory in no wise enters into the 

 computation that afforded them. My expres- 

 sions, flow of energy, lines of force, mean so 

 much as modern science understands of those 

 relations, and nothing more. If the sun is non- 

 homogeneous in its magnetization, and rotates 

 on an axis, if the intensity varies in part or as 

 a whole for any cause, then at the earth there 

 will be corresponding changes in the magnetic 

 elements, and our observations show that this 

 is the case. If the space between the sun and 

 the earth is a vacuum as to electric and mag- 

 netic forces, my words are meaningless; if it is 

 a plenum then, as ' M ' admits, the importance 

 of the results is tremendous. 



5. Going for a moment aside from Prof. Frank- 

 lin's article, in reply also to certain objections 

 or difficulties sometimes raised against this 

 magnetic action of the sun, I may remark as fol- 

 lows : (a). Difficulty : the sun is so hot that it 

 cannot be a magnet, because a steel magnet 

 loses its force at high temperatu.res. Answer : 

 a steel magnet is not the true analogue to the 

 sun, because it is an induced and not a primi- 

 tive magnet ; a more correct analogue is the 

 earth itself which, though very hot in its interior, 

 yet sustains a permanent magnetic field. Con- 

 sequently the primitive masses of planetary 

 matter may be magnetic and at high tempera- 

 tures simultaneously. The sun is a body of the 

 same kind and it should be magnetic. It is 

 important not to confuse energy with heat, 

 which is only a form of energy in molecular 

 relations and does not exclude high temper- 

 ature magnetization as a potential energy, 

 (b). Difficulty: The distance of the sun is so 

 great as to imply an excessive expendi- 

 ture of energy to reach out to the earth. 

 Answer : Laboratory experiments are all con- 

 ducted within the atmosphere, oxygen and 

 nitrogen, which is a powerful damper of mag- 

 netic lines. Artificial observation must there- 

 fore be faulty unless reduced to the pure me- 

 dium ether, which conducts and sustains mag- 

 netic energy without loss by heating. The 

 solar magnetic force at the surface of the earth 

 as measured gives a normal intensity of mag- 



