262 Bigelow — Magnetic Theory of the Solar Corona. 



in water solutions also points to the aqueous vapor as the true 

 seat of the phenomenon of ionization rather than the adjacent 

 dry air constituents. 



This argument could be pursued to great length, but it is 

 proper not to draw attention away from the main point of this 

 paper. We have stated that the coronal effects at the sun are 

 explained by a magnetic field in conjunction with an electric 

 discharge radiation acting upon ionized products ; that the earth 

 is immersed in a true external magnetic field, and that the 

 variations on the normal type are explained by the action of 

 the ionization in the atmosphere, the ions being generated by 

 the electromagnetic radiation. Other developments of this 

 subject, which have already been published, merely enforce the 

 theory that the earth is immersed in a magnetic Held whose 

 base is in the sun, and which rotates with it in space. Conse- 

 quently the eleven-year period in the earth's magnetic and 

 meteorological elements are caused by efficient internal solar 

 processes ; the 26'68-day period by the sun's axial rotation ; 

 the semi-annual inversion of the type curve by exposures to the 

 solar lines at the earth in different aspects, such that oppositely 

 directed couples are produced twice annually. It may be 

 stated finally, that the Weather Bureau is completing a rere- 

 duction of its barometric observations of the past 30 years to a 

 homogeneous system, and that from this improved data we 

 expect to obtain further developments along these lines. 



Weather Bureau, Washington, D. C. 



