134 



ON THE NUMERICAL RELATIONS OF GRAVITY AND MAGNETISM. 



3. At Toronto, " in both elements, when the relative proportions are taken, — in the 

 Deelination of the aggregate values, in the different months, of easterly and of westerly 

 disturbances ; and, in the Vertical Force, of disturbances which decrease and disturbances 

 which increase the force, we find that in both cases the proportions vary from a minimum 

 at the southern solstice to a maximum at the northern solstice, the equinoxes being inter- 

 mediate The relative proportion of the aggregate values of easterly to wes- 

 terly disturbances of the Declination, and of disturbances which decrease the Vertical 

 Force to those which increase it, varies from one solstice to the other, approximately, as 

 three to one, and in both elements nearly alike." (Ibid. p. lxxi.) 



The first of the above inferences is in precise accordance with the theory that the per- 

 manent magnetism of the globe is owing to the gravitation of the thermal currents, which 

 are constantly flowing between the thermal equator and the poles of greatest cold. 



The second inference presents two points of interest, each of which has been specially 

 noticed by General Sabine. The first is the increase of disturbances as the earth approaches 

 the sun; the second, the relation of the disturbances to the sun's declination, which is 

 precisely such as my hypothesis would indicate. For, at the equinoxes, the action of solar 

 attraction being in the plane of the earth's rotation, the disturbance-spheroid is of course 

 a maximum ; while, at the solstices, the planes diverge most widely, and the spheroid is 

 therefore a minimum. 



The third inference is likewise confirmatory of my views, since it shows that in the 

 annual, as well as in the daily perturbations, increasing solar altitude, which increases 

 gravitation-disturbance, also increases magnetic disturbance. The equality of the ratios 

 in the second and third inferences is also noteworthy. 



The various coincidences which I have thus brought together, present, to my mind, new 

 and convincing evidence of that unity of force which was one of the earliest tenets of specu- 

 lative philosophy, but which has only recently been brought within the domain of physical 

 science. The doctrine was taught explicitly by Leucippus and Democritus, and, before 

 their day, by the priests of Isis and Osiris; but its practical demonstration was inaugu- 

 rated by our own countryman, Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, and has been suc- 

 cessfully prosecuted by Carnot, Seguin, Mayer, Colding, Joule, Grove, and the daily in- 

 creasing corps of their collaborators. Through their labors a new impetus has been given 

 to the study of natural philosophy, and we may even be pardoned for indulging the hope, 

 that an increased knowledge of the laws and correlations of force, may lead us to a clearer 

 understanding of the nature of Intelligence, to which all force is subject and subordinate. 



