Show CAUSE OF TORRID HEAT garrett P serviss explanation of the great outburst r i f i i f CAUSES ot hot ware directly trecca ble say the A tro nomer 0 o an ot from the sanana mean font beam the barn ang heat now afflicting the whole of abo united states and felt also on the other side of abo atlantic bud generally throughout the northern hemisphere Is convincing proof of the fact that the earth Is the satellite of a variable tar says garrett P 1 writing from ithaca It haci N Y to the keai york journal only on the assumption that the source of heat ts in the sun and due to an increase in its effective radiation can the widespread and long continued nature of the present satisfactorily explained local causes arc the earth itself con kalns no store of heat capable ofa count lg aror abo dubb birst we are passing through a 0 space where uncommonly high temperature invalidated it for no other reason by he fact that similar periods of excessive temperature have occurred many times within the limits of recorded history and in a certain cyclical order alon of motion of alio solar system through space wo cap confidently af larm that the earth does not pass again and again through the samer eglon but flies always northward along with the sun accordingly we arc driven to the belief that the source 0 the trouble Is only in the aun all astronomers know that the face 0 thy sun Is blanketed with absorbing vapors while its interior Is much hotter than the glowing shell that we ee strip off the vaporous blanket entirely and the surface of the earth would probably burst into smoke aad floro in tho instantaneous gush of unbearable heat that would bo poured upon it whenever as occurs periodically though not always to the same extent abo solar vapors arc thinned the heat from within leaps out through the weakened shell and strikes the earth and the other nearby planets as with a breath of fire from the suddenly opened door of a blazing furnace that Is what has happened this summer and the agency that hns flung open the furnace door and sent forth the destroying blast Is tho mysterious power choso whoso visible manifestation fe Is alio presence of black sun spots but it Is a mastake to suppose that the sun spots themselves any direct influence upon the weather or that there roust bo spots on the sun whenever there la extraordinary heat on the eurth the spots are simply indicators dica tors of alie buns condition resembling jn that respect th eruptions on the face of a smallpox patient they tell the story of the suns internal convulsions and indicate some of the places on Us surface chero tho pent up forces are bursting out the sun Is subject to strange physic nl disorder which shakes its system to the very nud allie a disease in or less regular periods but altu varying intensity ID fact the similarity to some of lie ro current diseases bat afflict humanity goes BO far that there Is a kind of double period in the ann spot cycle and we haro just bow the beginning of the greot primary period of the cycle which Is unarmed by of the disturbances hence tin fierce of the destroying BUnsh lne that have dried and parched alio aar dissipated its gathering moisture s cat the out of a cloudless cd scorch ing upon the corn r rf t w t has seemed on the point of catching thero are manifestations of the openings of anew sun spot period before the spots themselves began to break forth in any number presently they will follow and halt way between the equator and the poles of the sun congeries con geries of black aureola with blazing white patches about them will break forth and the spectroscope will show shooting upward from these volcanic centera of disturbance immense masses of metallic vapor and gleaming hydrogen leaping hundreds of thousands of miles high and giving an impressive demonstration of the unimaginable might of the forces that wrench the center of the solar system for the next foury cars these gigantic outbursts will increase in fury and a corresponding herlea of terrestrial seasons marked by great excesses of temperature pera ture sudden contrasts and extraordinary cyclonic disturbances will follow nothing can bo more certain than an increase in the near future in the number ot displays and magnetic storms consequent upon the recurrence of the solar disorders dr W J S has just shown by an elaborate comparison of data that there Is a great sun spot cycle overlying the ordinary 11 year cycle once in 35 years and that we are now at the beginning of this great cycle its culmination will coincide with that of 1870 a cycle that was famous for its intensity professor edward bruckner has demonstrated that once in 35 years there Is A periodical variation of climate over tho whole earth and this variation falls in exactly with the greater sun spot cycle just described the cycle Is especially marked by hot dry summers and electric storms thus it will be seen that there Is good scientific ground for the assertion that the present disastrous visitation Is directly traceable to the variations in the output of radiation from our great variable star the sun but this time the energies concerned seem to be uncommonly nery and intense in their display of power and there Is some reason to think that the activity of the sun Is increasing rather than diminishing as time goes on so that in the more or less remote future the consequences of its periodical outbursts may be even t orela P W Is a matter in which we are yet per factly helpless we cannot govern the furnace of the sun nor reach nor influx nce its sto krs we must face and endure it as we find it without the pos of intervening tor our own com fort or safety a act that will become nore and more a source of impatience aa our knowledge ot the cause of these variations and the nature of their e acts upon the earth increases to be the plaything and victim of a variable star without knowing the source of ones discomfort Is surely endurable than to know without being able to interfere yet who on that account would throw away the knowledge of these things that haa been acquired knowledge lias never yet failed to justify the adage that it la power aud increased knowledge may save the cornfields and stock markets 0 o the future even from tho fiercest sun ik ji |