W. A. Norton on Molecular Physics. 71 
tions nearer the meridian in which the sun lies. An adequate 
cause for such occasional currents may be found if we conceive 
that they result from the penetration from time to time into the 
earth’s photosphere of bodies of auroral or vaporous matter, ex- 
pelled from the sun, and arriving with absolute velocities, ordi- 
that descends upon the earth from the regions of space. 
One of the most conspicuous facts relative to the disturbances 
under consideration is that the disturbances of the horizontal 
force that diminish its intensity prevail at all hours over those 
which augment it. This fact may be attributed, from our present 
Stand-point, to the circumstance that the descending masses of 
auroral matter, in receiving the velocity of rotation of the pho- 
tosphere of the earth, must generate electric currents, or pro- 
gressive waves, directed toward the west. There is still another 
effect that theoretically should result from the arrival of these 
Cosmical masses. The electrical excitation that should thereby 
be produced in the photosphere will act indirectly, in a greater 
or less degree, upon the earth’s surface, and develop currents 
ered may be in a at degree direct rather than inductive. 
That is, the penetration of the subtile cosmical matter into the 
earth’s photosphere may occasion streams of electricity in the 
su, 
that have been noticed in determining regular variations of the 
