238 J. P. Hall— Short Cycle in Weatfa r. 



tain regions on the sun were predisposed to spottedness, 

 although this theory still lacks confirmation. As early as 1883 

 M-e find Henry C. Maine, a journalist and amateur astronomer, 

 trying to connect atmospheric storms with solar disturbances. 

 For nearly ten } 7 ears, in " The Rochester Democrat and Chron- 

 icle," he has been printing paragraphs every few days in 

 illustration of this supposed relation. By or before 1889, how- 

 ever, he had concluded that the influence exerted was elec- 

 trical, and proceeded from the sun's " streamers," but without 

 indicating exactly what he meant by this term.- Mr. Maine, 

 like some other observers, has noticed frequent coincidences 

 between disturbances of the magnetic needle and the outbreak 

 of severe terrestrial storms somewhere on the globe. Dr. M. 

 A. Veeder, of Lyons, N. Y., long a student of auroral phe- 

 nomena, has also been led by his own researches to think that 

 there are certain solar meridians, or permanent sites, that dis- 

 turb the earth's magnetism, and affect our weather. He and 

 Mr. Maine further believe that the excitement, magnetic and 

 meteorological, is produced, chiefly if not exclusively, when 

 the solar storm or more permanently located region of influ- 

 ence is coming into view on the sun's eastern limb by rotation ; 

 the former gentleman confining the effect rather to the first 

 two or three days after such reappearance, while the latter 

 extends the interval at least to a meridian passage. 



These intuitions of American and foreign students contain 

 unquestionably much of value, even if the precise truth has not 

 yet been ascertained. But either in quantity or manner of 

 presentation, or both, the testimony thus far offered to the 

 public has not been adequate to secure general acceptance for 

 these interesting theories by men trained to strict scientific 

 methods ; nor have official bureaus, with all their enterprise 

 and sense of responsibility, felt warranted in utilizing these 

 suspicions for practical forecasting. The International Mete- 

 orological Conference in Munich in 1891, however, advised 

 that all such Government inscitutions give special attention to 

 the relations between meteorology and terrestrial magnetism. 

 Upon his return to Washington, Prof. M. W. Harrington, 

 Chief of the United States Weather Bureau, secured for this 

 purpose the services of Prof. Frank H. Bigelow, whose 

 original and valuable contributions to the study of solar 

 physics and whose exhaustive and ingenious methods of in- 

 vestigation inspired much confidence in his ability to unravel 

 this mystery, if there be one to unravel. Prof. Bigelow's in- 

 quiry is not yet completed ; and the result of his work thus far 

 has not been made- public to any great extent. Yet in a 

 pamphlet from his pen, issued by the Weather Bureau last 



* Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, Aug. 31, 1889. 



