The Project Gutenberg EBook of New and Original Theories of the Great
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Title: New and Original Theories of the Great Physical Forces
Author: Henry Raymond Rogers
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CONTRIBUTIONS
TO
SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS.
"In knowledge, that man only is to be contemned and despised who
is not in a state of transition."
"--nor is there anything more adverse to accuracy than fixity of
opinion."--FARADAY.
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irresistible as the motion of the tides, or the flowing of the
Gulf Stream."--TYNDALL.
"The cry of science is still onward, and its goal of yesterday
will ever be its starting-point to-morrow."--DAWSON.
*.* May be procured through all booksellers. It will be sent by mail,
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Per C. K. ABEL & SON, BOOKSELLERS,
Dunkirk, N. Y.
NEW AND ORIGINAL
THEORIES
OF THE
GREAT PHYSICAL FORCES.
BY
HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS, M.D.
"Every time
Serves for the matter then born in it."
SHAKSPERE.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
MDCCCLXXVIII.
COPYRIGHT, 1878.
BY HENRY RAYMOND ROGERS.
TROW'S
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING CO.,
_205-213 East 12th St._,
NEW YORK.
PREFACE.
"Show me a man who makes no mistakes, and I will show you a
man who has done nothing."--LIEBIG.
In this little volume the author gives but his own personal opinions
upon the subjects discussed, and although the sentiments are expressed
with an assurance born of conviction, yet he claims not infallibility.
He has ever been unable to accept the usual explanations of the great
physical forces; and the inadequacies of mooted theories have impelled
him to efforts for more philosophical interpretations. If in his
investigations he has been forced to strange and unusual conclusions, he
has been actuated only by an honest desire to promote the advancement of
science.
He is not insensible to the responsibility of the position which he thus
voluntarily assumes, in asserting his opinions upon problems so vast and
momentous.
It is no enviable position to occupy, that of antagonism to so large a
proportion of the scientific world and, too, upon subjects of strictly
scientific import. That he does thus find himself placed in such
relations at the present time, has not been a matter of his own seeking.
No other consideration than the profoundest sense of duty and
responsibility could have influenced him in the course pursued. Perhaps
some apology is yet due for so boldly trespassing upon hypotheses which
were very generally thought to be well established, and certainly secure
from such treatment.
The attempt, in a measure, to develop so extended a field of research,
in so few pages, has led to much crudeness in the presentation. For this
a reasonable indulgence may be claimed.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE SUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
CHAPTER II.
WHAT IS PROPOSED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The great problem.
CHAPTER III.
INTIMATE NATURE OF THE FORCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Sunlight and sun-heat--The great law of conservation--How the spheres
are constructed--The great earth-core and its functions--The grand
magnetic circuit.
CHAPTER IV.
SUNLIGHT, ITS SOURCE AND NATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Its limits--The solar cone--The sun not incandescent--New hypothesis--No
borrowed light--The sun dependent--Light as a substance--Velocity of
Light.
CHAPTER V.
SUN-HEAT, ITS SOURCE AND LIMITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Tendencies to unsettle in science--Present theories--True
source--Earth's part in the process--Sun's part--New philosophy--Old
phenomena and new interpretations--Auroræ--Well understood processes in
confirmation--The ordinary battery--The Great Sun Battery--Heat without
combustion--Inter-currents--Solution of the problem.
CHAPTER VI.
THE SEASONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Why their varying temperature?--A new philosophy.
CHAPTER VII.
GRAVITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Its essential nature and its source.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ATMOSPHERE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
A veritable ocean--How constituted--The vito-magnetic principle, its
extent and character--Its functions--The air not yet comprehended--Have
we been mistaken?--New light--Electrical induction--Its mode of action
and illustrations--The character and virtue of the vito-magnetic
element.
CHAPTER IX.
WINDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Entertained theories erroneous--Their true character--What gives rise to
the currents--Purely vito-magnetic phenomena--Philosophical
considerations drawn from observation--Whirlwinds, waterspouts, and
tornadoes--The Barbadoes--Manufactured wind--Wind within a wind--Winds
may not arise from presumed causes--A great cosmical system.
CHAPTER X.
SUN-SPOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Old theories--Degrees of spot-shadow overestimated--What spots
are not, and what they are--They are caused by magnetic
perturbations--Inconsistency of accepted theories--Figures that are
deceptive--Effects of these wonderful phenomena--Mistaken
conceptions--May not be tabulated--Unbiassed estimate of their character
and location.
CHAPTER XI.
SOUNDS, AND THEIR TRANSMISSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Essential character and mode of progression--Waves have no act or part
in their conveyance.
CHAPTER XII.
SOME OF THE RESULTS OF THE FOREGOING THEORIES . . . . . . . . . . 79
Extent and character of their influence--Old channels obliterated, and
new ones developed--Sentiments changed--Nebular hypothesis--The sun
cool, luminous, and habitable--Celestial spectroscopy--Undulatory
theories ignored--Light instantaneously transmitted--Telephone--No light
nor heat wasted--Extent of the atmosphere of the spheres--The sun's
power overestimated.
CHAPTER XIII.
INFLUENCE OF THE FORCES AS CAUSATION OF DISEASE . . . . . . . . . 84
Meteorological influence--Higher appreciation of the source of disease,
and increased efficiency in its treatment.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF LIGHT, HEAT, AND POWER, AND THEIR
UTILIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
CHAPTER XV.
WHY WAS NOT THIS DISCOVERY SOONER MADE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Its consummation nearly perfected by many others--Its successful
accomplishment plainly foretold by Faraday.
APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
I.--THE SOLAR CONE, OR CONE-SPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
II.--THE SEASONS. SUMMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
III.-- " " WINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
IV.--MANUFACTURED WIND. (From DESCHANEL'S Natural Philosophy) . . 66
"If we suppose the sun and fixed stars to be gigantic
fountains of magnetic influence, acting upon our globe and
its atmosphere, and likewise upon all the other planets, the
phenomena of the universe would then become susceptible of
the grandest and simplest interpretations."--CROSSLAND.
"Are not the sun and fixed stars great earths vehemently
hot?"--NEWTON.
"Herschel's fixed idea was that the darkness of a spot upon
the sun was an indication of a cool and habitable
globe."--HUMBOLDT.
"The sun as the main source of light and heat must be able
to call forth and animate magnetic forces on our
planet."--_Ibid._
THE
GREAT PHYSICAL FORCES.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
_The Sun._
The sun's position in the great field of energy is daily becoming more
exalted in the estimation of philosophic minds. His labors are being
revealed to us with a distinctness never before conceived. He it is that
stored the coal in the bosom of the earth, and piled up the polar ice.
He it is that aids the chemist, drives the engine, ripens the harvest,
dispenses life and health.
The study of the sun and solar physics, therefore, must be essential to
the right understanding of whatever we observe to take place at the
earth. Sun and earth are united in indissoluble bonds. In philosophic
minds the conviction of a most perfect _inter-dependence_ is rapidly
gaining ground.
All this has been known and appreciated to a degree, yet this great
source of universal operations is shrouded in mystery. Still, our
curiosity has been kindled, and men are eagerly looking for further
developments.
Natural Science, in all her branches, is fully awake, and is on her
watch-tower of observation. Ignorance of the sun, of its character, and
of the methods by which its functions are performed, must be confessed;
notwithstanding all the more recent unfoldings and imaginings of
scientists, regarding the great orb. But yet we are very hopeful of vast
increase in our solar knowledge; not alone, or chiefly, by new
observations, or discoveries, but quite as much by new interpretations
of old, long observed phenomena. The ground of hopefulness lies in the
belief that a _grand unity_ underlies, and binds together in one, all
Physical Forces, as well in earth and sun.
While regarding the sun as all, and more than all that has ever been
claimed for it, still we are impressed most strongly that the sun has
_social relations_ with his planets, which have never been duly
considered by the masters in science. The sun _acts_, but it must also
be that the earth and planets _react_. The sun gives and dispenses
favors, but science has too much overlooked the great fact that the sun
receives and sympathizes.
Let our philosophy but accept the idea that _the sun rouses the earth
into action through their mutual relationships; that the two interchange
good offices and essential services, rather than that the sun is wholly
independent, and simply gives outright, as philosophy has hitherto
conceived_, and we think that the dawn of a better day has come.
The new philosophy, in our opinion, will teach that the sun gives in
such a way that he will not be impoverished; that though bountiful, he
is not wasteful; that though he freely gives, yet that he also as freely
receives in return.
The new philosophy will be true to correlation, and it will be true to
conservation as well.
CHAPTER II.
WHAT IS PROPOSED.
In the following pages I shall endeavor to set forth, in a simple and
orderly manner, certain of my own theories of the Great Physical Forces.
In these theories will be comprised the identity of those forces, the
intimate and essential nature of sunlight, sun-heat, gravity, sun-spots,
winds and sounds, also the intimate nature of the atmosphere.
In treating these subjects my opinions will not be found in accord with
those which receive universal assent at the present time, and I may thus
unintentionally offend. I shall therefore claim exceeding indulgence.
If I differ from high authority, I have not a thought of detraction.
None can venerate the NESTORS in science who have enriched its annals,
more than I, and though we reverse their judgments, their errors are
confessedly our indispensable helps and guides.
_The Great Problem._
The problem of the great physical forces has engaged the profoundest
attention of mankind from the earliest historic period down to the
present time, yet it remains practically unsolved.
Before the Christian era the opinion was entertained that all of the
phenomena of nature might be reduced to one principle of explanation;
that there was more than a connection between the imponderable
agents--more than a relationship even,--that there was an actual
identity.
No substantial progress was thereafter made in the direction of
verifying this theory until along into the present century, when the
development of electrical science presented a tangible basis for
successful investigation.
The correlation of nearly all of those forces is now assured, leaving
little to be added besides gravity to complete the unity. Yet
notwithstanding the satisfactory progress which has been made in solving
the grand problem of their correlation, little has been learned of their
intimate nature, and the method of their operation. This is due, in the
highest degree, to certain theories which were developed, and which
made their way, _pari passu_, with the advancements of electrical and
electro-magnetic science. These theories, specious, inconsistent,
illogical, yet withal plausible, and even fascinating, served to blind
the mental vision so that mankind might not appreciate the truth.[1]
The hypothesis promulgated by BRUNO, KANT and LAPLACE, of the nebular
origin of the spheres, and the deductions consequent thereupon, in
regard to the progressive stages through which the earth in its
developments has passed, was pernicious in its influence in diverting
the minds of investigators from other and truer channels. To the blind
confidence with which that hypothesis has been universally accepted and
perpetuated, and to the fallacious theories thus directly and indirectly
engendered, we owe our false position at the present day.
The present theories of the transmission of light and sound; of the
production of winds, and sun-spots, and of the method of development and
dissemination of heat, are in point of fact, unphilosophical and
incomprehensible.
It is quite remarkable that in the present century, excelling as it does
any period in the world's history in exact and reliable scientific
knowledge, such unsatisfactory opinions should obtain. The failure is
still more inexplicable when we reflect that these subjects are in
importance the highest which can engage our attention as scientists.
We have at the present time sufficient reliable data whereon to found
satisfactory hypotheses. We have but to utilize the means which the true
scientists of the century have so wonderfully developed, and with which
they have so prodigally surrounded us, in order to complete the
consummation of the great and crowning achievement in physical science.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Appendix, p. 97.
CHAPTER III.
THE GREAT FORCES, THEIR CHARACTER AND OPERATIONS.
I now ask, What is the intimate and inherent nature of those forces? Do
they, or either of them, belong to the domain of the supernatural? Are
they the products of some supreme force, or forces, heretofore
unappreciated? The reply is clear and unquestionable. The supernatural
must necessarily be a part of the Divine Essence, and consequently
intangible. Not so the subjects of our inquiry. They are _natural
products_, therefore, and _the result of the operation of some power
commensurate with the stupendousness of their manifestations_.
_Sunlight and Sun-heat._
In the forces, light, and heat, what immensity of power is represented!
Strangely enough we have ever imagined these forces to be the unaided
work of the sun, as though that luminary could be capable of sending
forth in undiminished exuberance, such marvels of force, during all the
ages, and remain itself unexhausted!
_The Great Law of Conservation of Force._
But how speaks the law of conservation, that law most enduring, and most
inexorable? According to the decrees of that law, whatever is received
by the earth from the sun, an equivalent for the same must again be
returned from the earth to the sun, to the uttermost fraction.[2] Such
being the conditions, how may this retro-acting process that all analogy
and the profoundest scientific axiom prove to be in constant
operation--how, I ask, may this retro-acting process be explained? What
equivalent may the earth give back as compensation for such enormous
benefits, for such stupendous powers? The laws of conservation may not
be violated: _the earth will respond_.
_How are the Spheres constructed?_
The constitution of these two retro-acting spheres, and consequently of
all the others of the heavenly host,[3] at this point demands our
attention. How are the spheres made up? How speaks the earth? The earth
with which we are familiar--our sample--is formed of a slight crust, a
core, to a greater or less extent and degree incandescent, and measuring
250,000 millions of cubic miles in dimensions, also an envelope which we
call the atmosphere.
Now, from the presence of the vast mass of incandescent material within
the enclosure of each sphere-crust, it may reasonably be inferred, nay
the very nature of human reason _compels_ the decision, that _they are
placed there for some specific purpose_, and that _their operations are
commensurate with their immensity_.
We may not neglect to make account of so vast an element, and so vital
and preponderating, in all globes.[A]
We are thus compelled to answer the question, What part in the economy
of nature is this great central core particularly fitted to perform?
What its function among the great forces?
The great problem of the age, which scientists are intently engaged in
solving, is the correlation of the leading forces already adverted to.
Thus far light, heat, electricity, magnetism, chemical action, vital
action, cohesion, etc., have been proved to be parts of one great whole.
Now, since the especial characteristic of the great earth-core is heat,
it comes directly into relationship with the forces mentioned. How then
are its forces expended? Through what channels do they manifest their
presence? The philosophical mind would most naturally associate with it
the idea of stupendous magnetic power. We may well suppose such a power
extending its influence through and beyond the earth-crust, reaching out
towards the moon, and retro-acting with that body in preserving their
mutual relations.
Does not this mighty influence reach out toward the sun also, and act
conjointly with that great central orb in producing results, which to
us, have ever been great mysteries.[4]
_The Grand Magnetic Circuit._
In the retro-acting influence in operation between these great bodies,
may be found _A Grand Magnetic Circuit_. In this grand magnetic circuit
is found the _key_ to the whole subject of the correlation and identity
of all the forces.
And now, as preparatory to using this _key_ that we may enter in and
consider the intimate nature of the physical forces, we would be
impressed with the clear and full idea of this mighty _current_, which
bears upon its tide, _as one_, all manner of forces with which we have
to do.
It remains for us to tell what this great current _is_, and what it
_does_. To the child, to the savage, and to the civilized man alike, it
comes first and pre-eminently as light.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Appendix, p. 98.
[3] Appendix, p. 99.
[4] Appendix, p. 99.
[A] The earth's core constitutes nearly 98/100 of its entire mass.
CHAPTER IV.
SUNLIGHT.
_Its Source and Nature._
Sunlight is one of the products of that grand retro-action which is
incessantly in operation between sun and earth, and is, in its intimate
and essential nature, a vito-magnetic _fluid_[B] (or so-called
magnetic). Subtle, and apparently intangible, manifesting itself rather
as a presence than a real substance, it fills all the space between the
sun and earth--which space may, with sufficient accuracy, be termed the
solar cone or cone-space.
_Its Limits._
Beyond the boundaries of the solar cone, _no light is_.
[Illustration: Pl. I. SOLAR CONE.]
_The Sun not Incandescent._
The apparent brightness of the sun is owing to the aggregation of the
93,000,000 of miles of this fluid which is present between the sun and
earth, or to our presence in the great current of activity of the
vito-magnetic force. It is therefore not due to a condition of
incandescence _at_ or _near_ that body. It is cool and habitable, and
emits no light. The brightness of the intervening fluid intercepts the
view, and thus no one may behold its body. Dark spots upon its face
disclose its true character.[5]
If, therefore, the sun be truly dark, the brightness of its satellites
cannot be caused by light projected from its surface or surroundings.
How, then, may we account for the light of the moon and planets, which
do not possess a light _sui generis_? A new hypothesis is requisite. To
frame this hypothesis is not difficult.
_The New Hypothesis._
Analogy teaches us that the earth is seen from the moon and planets,
even as they are seen from the earth. Yet there is nothing upon the face
of the whole earth which is capable of reflecting the slightest amount
of the sun's rays to those spheres. The fields, forests, rocks, and
seas, only absorb light, they do not reflect it. In this phenomenon,
therefore, there is no element of specular reflection. It consists
rather of the lighting up of the static vito-magnetic fluid of our
atmosphere, by the great solar current. The atmosphere, thus vivified,
discloses our presence to those orbs, and in like manner, their presence
to the inhabitants of the earth.
_No Borrowed Light._
The light of the planets is therefore in no sense a borrowed light,
since the action which generates and transmits it, is purely
co-operative. Otherwise there could be no light at the earth, or
planets.
_The Sun Dependent for His own Supply._
And, indeed, the sun possesses within himself alone no element of supply
of his own needed light and heat; and in his immensity and power is even
_dependent_ upon the circling orbs, for the quantity of each which is
indispensable to a condition of habitation.
The bodies of the planets are in like manner invisible; we behold but
the illumined atmosphere of each sphere. Thus the moon and planets, to
be visible, must possess atmospheres.
_Light as a Substance._
That the thunderbolt is a substance may not be questioned. That the
aurora borealis, or polaris, another form of vito-magnetic fluid, is a
substance is not questioned. The so-called heat-lightning, though
apparently intangible, must therefore be regarded as a substance. Yet
further in the remove we find the zodiacal light. Sunlight is but the
same, in form of extreme tenuity. The thunderbolt passes from earth to
cloud, and instantaneously changes its _substantial_ form to one as
tenuous as light; yet, in the transformation, this fluid has not lost
its identity. Though unseen, it continues to exist as matter.
_Velocity of Light._
While ever present, light is being incessantly replenished; its action
being instantaneous. The calculations of ROËMER, founded upon
observations made through spaces of 382 and 568 millions of miles of
distance, should not be too confidently accepted, especially as the
results of such conclusions are so vitally important. When we consider
that with our best telescopes directed towards the moon, less than a
quarter of a million of miles distant, nothing really satisfactory may
be discerned, what value, therefore, may be attached to statements
founded upon such thoroughly unreliable data?
BRADLEY'S estimate of the velocity of light, founded upon his study of
"the aberration of light," is even less worthy of consideration.
Any effort to measure such an inconceivable velocity as that claimed for
light, by any means or appliances which may be devised by human
ingenuity, must be regarded as futile. DESCARTES says: "Light reaches us
_instantaneously_ from the sun, and would do so, even if the intervening
distance were greater than that between the earth and heaven."
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Appendix, p. 99.
[B] This term is employed as being most exact and comprehensive, as this
fluid is now known to be the source of all life and all attractions.
CHAPTER V.
SUN-HEAT.
_Its Source and Limits._
Sun-heat is another product of the same retro-action between the sun and
earth; consequently it has the same range and the same boundaries as
when it is viewed as light.
_Tendencies to unsettle in Science._
The scientists of to-day may well look after the soundness of their
favorite theories of the great physical forces; for the uncertain tenure
of old theories, by reason of recent discoveries, is becoming but too
manifest. New phenomena are now observed which require solutions not met
by present hypotheses. The nebular hypothesis which has so long
possessed the scientific mind has, by the discovery of the moons of
Mars, become a thing of the past. According to M. MAICHE, water is found
to be no longer the old-fashioned conventional oxygen and hydrogen, but
essentially a new element must be considered in estimating its
composition.[6] Light is ascertained to be as veritable a substance as
water. The sun is recognized to be dark, cool, and habitable. Messages
go through the air from kite to kite ten miles apart without visible
agency. Telephonic sounds leap from wire to wire through quite ten feet
of space.
_Present theories of Supply of Sun-heat._
The present theories of the production and dissemination of sun-heat,
are simply accepted for want of better, and not because they account
satisfactorily for the phenomena.
The first and most prominent is the combustion theory, which, though
bearing the seal of ages, is obnoxious both to common and philosophic
reasoning. This theory presupposes a consumption of material beyond all
conception, and the supply of which has been no small tax upon the
scientific imagination. The source of this supply has been claimed to be
the subsidence of useless worlds, and of asteroids, and meteors,
showered down upon its surface. Estimates have been carefully made, and
we are gravely informed of the probable amount of combustive material
required to supply the sun's demands for given periods. It is said that
the coal-fields of Pennsylvania, which would supply the world's
consumption for centuries, would keep the sun's rate of emission for
considerably less than 1/1,000 part of a second. POUILLET estimated the
quantity of heat emitted by the sun per hour to be equal to the supply
of a layer of anthracite coal ten feet thick, spread over the whole
surface of the sun.
The theory advocated by HELMHOLTZ, and by many other scientists, of "the
gradual contraction of the solar orb," and that of SECCHI, "the
dissociation of compound bodies in the sun's substance," are attempts
after a more consistent philosophy.
The foregoing theories pre-suppose the sun to be a glowing fiery mass,
from which, in all directions, issue radiations of heat and light into
space. Of this enormous quantity of radiated heat, the earth is supposed
to receive but 1/2,000,000,000 part.
MEYER observes: "_A general law of nature which knows no exception_ is
the following: _In order to obtain heat, something must be expended._"
This combustion theory therefore calls for an enormous expenditure of
material for generating heat and light, together with a still further
expenditure of force for projecting these into all space, at all
distances. All these theories are therefore inconsistent with the
immutable law of the Conservation of Force.
_The true Source of Supply._
In seeking the source of supply of heat and light, we are compelled to
look for a philosophy more consistent than any hitherto advanced.
Controlled too much by the literal evidence of the senses and the
superficial appearance of things, we have ever regarded the sun as ALL
ALONE in developing and exercising these great forces.
The law of conservation compels us to look to the _earth_, a heretofore
neglected factor in this problem. This factor being introduced we shall
find the problem to be wonderfully simplified.
All space may rationally be regarded as complete vacuum, thus presenting
no resistance nor obstacles to the free progress of the retro-acting
elements. Distance is then virtually annihilated, and Mercury,
37,000,000 of miles from the sun, and Neptune, 2,800,000,000 of miles,
stand alike in their relations with the great central orb.
_The Earth's part in the Process._
The earth may no longer be regarded as having a merely passive part to
play. The forces in operation as between the earth and sun, are purely
co-operative, and the one precisely counterbalances the other. The
earth, therefore, must have a _vis viva_ within itself, capable of
reciprocating in the organic functions of the great vito-magnetic
circuit. We certainly know that it possesses a marvellous wealth of
resources. The following are the most important of its sources of _vis
viva_.
1st. The great reservoir of vito-magnetic fluid, the vast incandescent
earth-core. The presence and activity therein of mighty force,--of heat,
and motion, in the highest degree, are abundantly shown by various
terrestrial phenomena. These phenomena, while perfectly familiar to
observers, seem never to have received any fitting interpretation.
2d. Motions and frictions of every kind;[C] the motions of the waters of
the earth, the great oceans, with their rolling tides sweeping the whole
circumference of the earth twice in twenty-four hours, at a speed of one
thousand miles per hour; with its frictions upon itself, the bottom, and
the shores; its great storms lashing it into fury, and its gentler
motions from lesser winds; also the motions of all seas, rivers, and
rain-falls.
3d. So all motions of the air, in form of hurricanes, lesser winds, or
zephyrs; tearing their way through forests, and hills, and through
space; or causing gentlest flutter of leaflet. We have witnessed their
goings forth, but have neglected to calculate their mission.
4th. All chemical actions.
5th. All combustions.
6th. All evaporations.
The _earth_ is thus elaborating in all her gigantic processes, the
materials and forces, which _she_ furnishes in the great interchange.
How strangely have these great sources of _vis viva_ remained
practically unheeded until the present time.
_The Sun's part in the Process._
The part performed by the sun may but feebly be conceived.[7] Within its
vast proportions (being 1,000 times as large as all the planets
combined) may be found every element suited to all requirements.
_We seek a new Philosophy._
The construction of a true philosophy of the physical forces must depend
now upon our rightly understanding the _modus operandi_ of the
conveyance, and utilization, of these sun-elements, and the workings of
this sun-power.
The presence of a veritable flood of light, heat, and magnetic force, as
in motion from the sun to the earth, has ever been recognized. _The line
of greatest intensity of this solar, or vito-magnetic current, is found
along the line of greatest diameters of those bodies._ The centre of
this current reaches the earth at, or near the equator.
It is a well-established fact that from the equator to the poles a
continuous magnetic flood is ever in motion.[8]
In thus tracing the course of the magnetic current from the sun to the
equator, and thence to the poles, a physical necessity, made imperative
by the inexorable law of conservation, indicates that a _retro_-current
from the earth back to the sun, must now have part in the process.
Should such be the case, as all reason and philosophy affirm, we have a
completed _"Grand Magnetic Circuit," in and through which all physical
phenomena have their origin_. But aside from the logical necessity, we
hold that there are terrestrial phenomena, which, rightly interpreted,
point to just such a retro-acting inter-communication.
_Old Phenomena, and new Interpretations._
The phenomenon, the aurora borealis, or polaris, has never been
satisfactorily explained. It is acknowledged as purely magnetic in
character, and to be due to the passage of currents upward from the
earth. It has received the regard due to a mere negative though
brilliant exhibition, whereas the character, extent, and significance of
its manifestations should have caused it to be greeted, and studied, as
the index of the operation of very positive cosmical functions.
HUMBOLDT regarded this process as "the restoration of a disturbed
equilibrium;" and so indeed it is, but it is an equilibrium, not simply
as between the earth, and atmosphere. Various observers have estimated
the altitude to which the aurora sometimes reaches, at from 80 to 265
miles. The fact that the _bulk_ of the atmosphere reaches but _three
miles_ above the earth's surface, forbids it to be regarded as purely a
terrestro-atmospheric phenomenon.
While viewing the more striking and brilliant exhibitions of the aurora,
the more undemonstrative and by far the most important and vital
operations have been disregarded. The former may not be observed, except
occasionally, and fitfully, _can_ only be present when favoring
meteorological conditions admit of its disclosure. The latter, more
unobtrusive and even invisible to the naked eye, are incessantly, and at
all seasons, in action, by day as well as by night.[9] May not this
auroral display then be regarded in a measure as confirmatory of what
the law of conservation had already suggested to us; the existence of a
_retro_-current?
_Well understood Processes in Confirmation._
The suggestion of a simple, adequate, and perfect theory is given us by
an ordinary electro-magnetic battery. Let the conducting wire from such
a battery extend half around the circumference of this globe. It is
apparently as quiet and dormant as is our earth; yet in those cold
plates, solutions, and wire, there lie the hidden elements of heat,
light, and power. At the distant extremity of the wire, when not
connected with the earth, we may have none of the manifestations of
heat, light, or attraction--even though the plates are put into the
solution. But let us now make the connection between the extremity of
the wire and the earth, _then_ the circuit is complete, and heat, light,
and attraction are disclosed in highest degree.
Now from the _Great Sun Battery_,[10] in which we locate the one _Great
Universal Force: Newton's "Higher and Still Unknown Force,"_ every
one recognizes a current constantly present, setting towards the earth.
That current is recognized as bringing us our light and heat. But
without a _retro_-current, should we have a circuit complete? Should we
have any of these phenomena?
_Heat without Combustion._
Neither _in_ the battery nor _near_ the battery do the phenomena
manifest themselves. Though the developer of light, heat, and power, the
battery itself is neither luminous, hot, nor magnetic. "To explain the
effects of the sun, therefore, there is not the least reason to infer
that it is itself luminous, or even warm. Potential action generated in
a dark, cold body, may produce great heat and light, at a distance from
the seat of activity; and _what is thus wrought artificially in a small
way may surely be done naturally in a tremendous fashion by the grand
forces of the sun_."
_Inter-currents._
It is now well known that a number of currents may pass in each
direction, at the same time, over one and the same telegraph wire; and
in like manner, great solar currents may pass to and fro without
interference.
_Solution of the Problem._
Sun-heat, therefore, like sunlight and gravity, is a veritable
production, yet it is not due to the process of combustion. It is not
dependent for its creation upon the destruction of fabulous quantities
of substantial materials. _The rather does it originate in, and is it
disseminated through the vast energies of spheres retro-acting upon
spheres throughout the whole universe of matter._
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Appendix, p. 99.
[7] Appendix, p. 100.
[8] Appendix, p. 100.
[9] Appendix, p. 101.
[10] Appendix, p. 102.
[C] In the motions of the spheres through space, unlike all other forms
of motion, there is no element of resistance. This form of motion is
therefore incapable of developing _vis viva_.
CHAPTER VI.
THE SEASONS.
_Why their varying Temperature?_
The usual explanation of these phenomena, _i. e._, the influence of
direct and oblique sun-rays, has ever seemed insufficient and
unsatisfactory; especially in view of the _fact_ that the heat comes not
from the sun by continuity after the manner of progression as from a
heated body.
A philosophy more exact and consistent may be found in the development
of the theory already advanced, and which is illustrated in the
following plates.
_The maximum of heat at the surface of the earth bears a very constant
and intimate relation to the line of greatest diameters of the sun and
earth._--Pl. II. a.
Through this line the heat-producing functions of these great spheres
are in operation in the highest degree.
[Illustration: Pl. II. SEASONS.--SUMMER.]
This line of magnetic, or heat activity, consequently varies with the
earth's movements. On the 20th of June the flood of summer heat
overspreads the northern portions of the earth; the sun thence
apparently turns southward, and with its departure the relations of the
line of heat activity change. The city of New York, which on the 20th of
June is found nearest the centre of the solar current (Plate II. b), is,
on the 21st of December, located at its greatest distance from the line
of magnetic or heat intensity (Plate III. b), where the heat-producing
forces are in operation in but low degree.
[Illustration: Pl. III. SEASONS.--WINTER.]
CHAPTER VII.
GRAVITY.
_Its Essential Nature, and its Source._
Gravity is not a separable entity, not a power _per se_. It is but a
production, and an operation, of the same retro-action between sun-core,
and earth-core. This retro-action gives rise to a stupendous magnetic
circuit, as described, in which both sun and earth become the
embodiments of magnetic force, or, in other words, great magnets.[11]
The power thus developed is exercised in preserving the relative
positions of the two bodies, and, on the part of the earth, as we know,
in drawing unto itself all objects within its influence.
The same current, therefore, which lights up our earth, and which gives
to it its requisite supply of heat, at the same time indues it with the
power of attraction.
_Thus is engendered that power known as gravity, which has ever been
acknowledged a profound mystery beyond the comprehension of man._
FOOTNOTES:
[11] Appendix, p. 102.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ATMOSPHERE.
_A Veritable Ocean._
The great aërial ocean which we call the atmosphere (at the bottom of
which we live, and move, and have our being), is even more vitally
important than has ever been dreamed of in human philosophy.
_How Constituted._
Its tangible constituents, such as clouds, vapors, gases, are well
understood; as well as the modifying influence of those atmospheric
elements upon what we call sunlight, and sun-heat. But the intangible
and vital principle, or basis of the atmosphere, has in a measure
escaped recognition. This principle is vito-magnetic in its character,
and may be designated as _static_,[12] from its habit when in
equilibrium, and also in contradistinction from that vast flood of
_active_ fluid which fills the solar cone-space.
_Extent and Character of this Influence._
The whole globe and its surrounding atmosphere are vast reservoirs of
this static fluid. These, interacting freely through continuity,
virtually become one in their operations. As a constituent of the
atmosphere this fluid is nearly uniform in its proportions. Its varying
conditions, as positive, negative, and neutral, form a marked
peculiarity. Changes from one to another of these conditions, over
larger or smaller areas, are affected with marvellous rapidity, and with
varying and sometimes with striking results.
In the extremes of atmospheric temperature, this fluid is found to exist
in the extremes of its positive and negative conditions. The contrast is
by some supposed to exist in the seasons of winter and summer, in
proportions as 13 to 1, (heretofore regarded as quantitive).
_Note the Functions of this Ocean._
This fluid is indeed _the vital principle_, upon which _all life_,
animate and inanimate, depends. The necessity for frequent respirations
is occasioned by the imperative demands of the system for this agent. As
before intimated, the mild and steady light which illumines the earth in
its day-season is owing to the action of the _active_ fluid of the
cone-space upon the _static_ fluid of the atmosphere. The untempered
force of the former might not be endured. The pale and steady light of
the moon and planets is due to a like reaction through the same
agencies.
The relations which the present known constituents of the atmosphere
sustain to this fluid may not at the present time be estimated.
_Not yet fully Comprehended._
"Air," said SIR LYON PLAYFAIR, "is the most familiar of substances; the
first with which an infant becomes acquainted on entrance into the
world, and in death, the last to be given up; yet, strange to say, its
nature and constitution have only become partially understood within the
past century, and even now scientific knowledge can only be regarded as
on the threshold of the subject."
The novelty and the assurance of the concluding lines of the above
quotation would, at a comparatively recent date, have excited in the
reader a great astonishment. We had supposed that the constituents, and
the functions of our atmosphere were very well understood, that little,
if anything, could be learned by further investigation. Yet the
revelations which are now being made show the assertion of SIR LYON
PLAYFAIR to be almost prophetic.
The vito-magnetic, the most important ingredient, has scarcely been
referred to in any formula of its constitution. This constituent as
previously stated, forms the bulk of the atmosphere, and upon _it_
depends the principal performance of its varied functions. More vital
than oxygen, without it life could not be sustained for an hour.
_Have we been Mistaken?_
The experiments of M. PASTEUR have demonstrated that oxygen and light
are not essentials of life, as he developed life in the dark, in an
atmosphere of carbonic acid.
_New Light._
More recent discoveries verify the presence of this comparatively
unappreciated constituent.
The process of induction has ever been a great mystery in electrical
science. Magnetic currents are known to act upon bodies in close
proximity without the intervention of a spark, and to indue such bodies
with magnetic force. This action, called induction, has been supposed to
be limited to short distances. This we believe to be erroneous. In order
that the inductive process take place, it is only necessary to suppose
some impulse to be superinduced upon some pervading medium. This medium
we recognize in the static vito-magnetic constituent of the atmosphere.
Magnetic or electrical induction is therefore nature's effort towards an
equilibrium. Newly-discovered phenomena show that this process is
carried on even at considerable distances. To Prof. LOOMIS of New Haven,
Conn., we are indebted for experiments which illustrate this fact. These
experiments show that magnetic communications may be made through ten
miles of space without the intervention of visible means of conduction.
The employment of wires is rendered unnecessary by reason of the
presence of the vito-magnetic fluid which operates in restoring the
disturbed equilibrium. Magnetic _currents_ are therefore not essential
to this phenomenon.
A wonderful exhibition of this power was recently observed at Rochester,
N. Y. In a telephonic exhibition in this city, the musicians were
located in Buffalo, sixty-eight miles distant. While PROF. JOHNSON was
engaged in preparatory practice during the afternoon, the notes from
Buffalo were distinctly heard at the same time, in a city business
office, at some distance from the hall of exhibition. Yet the wire used
by the Professor, and that employed in the private telephone, were at no
point less than ten feet apart. The same phenomenon was observed during
the progress of the exhibition in another locality, the two lines still
being no nearer than ten feet to each other.
_The Character and Virtue of this Element may not be Mistaken._
It is this vito-magnetic element, and not some other ingredient, that
renders the atmosphere so sympathetic, and responsive, to the governing
Force resident in the sun, and in the earth-core. The atmosphere thus
not only furnishes the field of operation for the manifold Force,
co-operating between the sun and earth, but is itself the medium and
instrument of the operations.
The vito-magnetic power under its Protean forms, styled "Vital Forces,"
and "The Physical Forces," works in the atmosphere and is the source of
nearly all its phenomena. It causes and directs movements in every
province of nature. Nothing else has so intimate relations with animal
and vegetable life and growth. It may be considered as constituting the
inherent _virtue_ of the atmosphere.
Among the varying manifestations in which this agent is disclosed to us,
within and beyond the atmosphere, may be enumerated the following, viz.:
1, Linear lightning; 2, Ball lightning; 3, The flash with
reverberations; 4, Heat lightning; 5, Aurora; 6, Frictional or
mechanical; 7, Magnetic; 8, Vital; 9, St. Elmo's Fires; 10, The
exaggerated wave which bears destruction in its pathway; 11, That
disclosed by rain, hail, snow, and fog; 12, Sunlight, and sun-heat; 13,
Static, or atmospheric; 14, Zodiacal light; 15, Corona, etc., etc.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Appendix, p. 104.
CHAPTER IX.
WINDS.
_Entertained theories Erroneous._
The mere mechanical theory which regards the atmosphere as a loose
mixture of gaseous materials, and the winds as mere mechanical
disturbances within it, misses its real intimate nature and is
insufficient. But once conceive the atmosphere as arranged like a
perfectly adjusted instrument for the meeting-place and co-operation of
sun-force, and earth-force, where are elaborated all the benefits
designed for our mundane creation, and we begin to look for better
explanations.
_Their true Character._
What we call the wind is mediately the air moving but causatively, and
immediately, and more profoundly, it is the action of the vito-magnetic
fluid. _It is therefore a purely magnetic phenomenon. In the interplay
of that subtle, all-pervasive fluid, is found the key to the theory of
the winds._ Hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, zephyrs, etc., are
manifestations of its operations. These phenomena imply the existence of
a force at times stupendous, and at times so gentle as simply to move a
leaflet.
This power in full magnitude may spring instantaneously into action; and
it may, too, as instantaneously cease. It may suddenly drive a body of
air at the rate of one hundred miles per hour, and as suddenly arrest
its progress. The air having no inherent propulsive powers, that
originate and control its directions, velocities, and varied forms of
movement, is yet subject to definite laws. What these laws are has never
been divulged.--"The wind bloweth where it listeth." Yet in viewing
earth and atmosphere as vast reservoirs of vito-magnetic fluid, shifting
back and forth to maintain an equilibrium, we believe we see the
workings of the very force which moves and sways the atmosphere; which
causes its currents, both general and special; and which gives rise to
all its more extraordinary and unaccountable phenomena.
_What gives rise to the Currents._
The changes in the magnetism of the earth and atmosphere give rise to
these currents. They are developed in various forms. The following may
be mentioned as the most important.
1st. The general and widespread perturbations, occurring within the body
of the earth, and implicating immense areas, even whole continents.
2d. The interruptions of continuity of the _solar currents_ as in the
phenomena called sun-spots. These changes, to whatever cause due, are
capable of disturbing the terrestrial magnetic equilibrium over varying
areas, and of working instantaneously.
3d. The effects of the interruptions of the sun's rays through the
medium of clouds.
4th. Purely local vito-magnetic, or electrical, actions occupying
smaller or larger areas.[13]
That the origination, suspension, and continuation of these movements,
in all their forms are due to purely vito-magnetic force, we think
demonstrable. Thus, no other can act so instantaneously, none with such
varied exhibitions of power, and none so widespread in their
development.
In the movement of a body of air, the space previously occupied by that
body must be resupplied by another of equal volume. This resupply may
not necessarily be derived from the circumambient atmosphere as
heretofore supposed. In some instances the resupply is derived _in but
slight degree_ from that source, but rather from that great reservoir,
the earth; as in the instances of whirlwinds and tornadoes.
_Philosophical Considerations drawn from Observation._
FLAMMARIAN says:--"We know that a whirlwind is a column of air which
turns upon its own axis, and which advances comparatively slowly, for,
as a rule, a person can keep up with it at a walking pace. This whirling
column of air is both caused and set in motion by electricity."
If whirlwinds are caused and set in motion by electricity, why may not
all other forms of wind be productions of the same force? PELTIER has
established both by numerous facts and by a series of ingenious
experiments, that the waterspouts of the land and sea are electrical
phenomena.
This had been suspected by BECCARIA a hundred years before.
The hurricane which occurred in the Barbadoes in 1831, was the most
remarkable on record. In the actions of the hurricane and the electrical
displays, there was abundant evidence of cause and effect.
The lightning for hours played in flashes and forked darts, and moved
frightfully between the clouds and the earth, with a most surprising
action, and the earth was felt to tremble. The moment this singular
alternation of the lightning passing to and fro ceased, the hurricane
burst forth with a violence which exceeded all that had yet been
experienced. The winds blowing with appalling velocity, changed their
course frequently and almost instantaneously, occasionally abating but
only to return in gusts from S. W.-W. and N. W. with accumulated fury.
These alternations of wind and violent electrical phenomena, were
something more than coincident, more than a casual connection. Here we
observe a manifest inter-dependence.
In another hurricane, "the wind blew about twelve hours with the utmost
fury from the N. E. and then, in an instant, perfect calm ensued for an
hour, then, quick as thought, the hurricane sprang up with tremendous
force from the S. W." No other power known can suspend and put in
motion, in opposite directions, such marvellous velocities and so
instantaneously.
A remarkable phenomenon was exhibited by a hurricane in 1837, and
described by CAPT. SEYMOUR of Cork. "For nearly an hour we could not see
each other nor anything else, but merely the light, and most
astonishing, every one of our finger-nails turned quite black and
remained so nearly five weeks afterwards. This fact may be classed among
other proofs of the agency of electricity in the production of
hurricanes."
The following facts are entirely inconsistent with usual methods of
explanation of the cause of winds: "The entire atmosphere, to the
altitude of many thousand feet, is constantly traversed by numerous
horizontal currents of air, flowing in different directions and at
different heights."
The course of a balloonist was altered no less than five times in the
space of fourteen hours. "The aëronaut GREEN, at the height of 14,000
feet, encountered a current that bore him along at the rate of five
miles per hour, but upon descending to the altitude of 12,000 feet he
met a contrary wind blowing with a velocity of eighty miles an hour."
The vito-magnetic fluid is capable of becoming amassed, condensed and
rarefied. In the tornado that happened at Natchez, in 1840, the houses
_exploded_ whenever the doors and windows were shut, the roofs shooting
up into the air, and the walls even of the strongest buildings bursting
outward with great force.
On the 18th of June, 1839, a whirlwind fell upon the village of
Chatenay, near Paris. In the room of a house over which it passed,
several articles of needle-work were lying upon a table. The next day
some of them were found in a field at a distance from the house,
together with a pillow-case taken from another room. They must have been
carried up the chimney by the rush of air outwards, as every other means
of exit was closed.
It is a fact well-known to miners that during and before violent
tempests, strong ascending currents are observed.
[Illustration: Pl. IV. MANUFACTURED WIND.]
If a metallic rod terminating in a point be attached to the conductor of
an electrical machine, electricity escapes in large quantities from the
point. A continuous current is thus kept up and the flame of a taper, if
placed in front of the current, is blown in a horizontal direction. Wind
is thus _manufactured_ on a small scale. Pl. IV.
At a recent meeting of a Meteorological Society in England, a paper was
read by the REV. JOSEPH CROMPTON, M.A., F.M.S. "The author, when walking
close to the Cathedral of Norwich, was struck with the unusual
fluttering of the flags on the top of the spire, which was 300 feet
high. They were streaming with a strained, quivering motion
perpendicularly upwards. A heavy cloud was passing overhead at the
moment and as it passed, the flags followed the cloud and then gradually
dropped into comparative quietness. The same phenomenon was noticed
several times. As the cloud approached, the upper banner began to feel
its influence and streamed towards it, _against the direction of the
wind_, which still blew as before, steadily on all below. As the cloud
came nearer, the vehement quivering and streaming motion of the flags
increased; they began to take an upward perpendicular direction into the
cloud and seemed almost tearing themselves from the staves to which they
were fastened. Again as the cloud passed, they followed it as they had
previously streamed to meet its approach, and then dropped away as
before, one or two actually folding over their staves. All the other
flags at the lower elevation did not show the least symptom of
disturbance." In this phenomenon we observe the operation of two of the
wind-producing causes just mentioned, viz.:--a wind arising from purely
local causes, and of limited extent, occurring within the boundaries of
a wind produced by the action of more general, and widespread causes--_A
wind within a wind._
The above instances plainly carry a suggestion of magnetic origin and
power.
_Winds may not arise from Presumed Causes._
If winds are due to such a simple mechanical causation as the production
by the sun, of a rarefied atmosphere, the colder air rushing in from all
sides into the empty spaces, we should hardly expect to find any
definite currents bounded by well-defined limits; much less should we
look for transverse and opposite currents going like messengers at
varying rates of speed, some slow, and others exceedingly swift. Nor may
stronger gales suddenly cease, as though stopped by some mighty
invisible wall. And in no wise can they, from mere calorific agencies,
leap out of perfect calmness into hurricane velocity, or subside into
silence as by magic. On no such principle can they shift back upon their
own track, going either way with terrific velocity.
_A Great Cosmical System._
We have seen the marks of electrical action in the cases cited, and
since we know something of the subtlety of the agent; that it may be
"amassed, condensed and rarefied," that it is not loose and wandering,
and the mere plaything of fortuitous forces, as the atmosphere is
supposed to be; but, on the contrary, has close and most sympathetic
adjustment with the earth-force; and that _it_ is the invisible hand
that holds and manages the grosser atmospheric matter; since we know
this, we are now brought to the study of a great cosmical system.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] Appendix, p. 105.
CHAPTER X.
SUN-SPOTS.
_Grave Doubts._
HERBERT SPENCER says: "At present none of the interpretations of the
sun-spots can be regarded as established."
How numerous and how strange have been the theories promulgated as to
the character of the manifestations called sun-spots. The dark spots in
the sun have been supposed to be "solid bodies revolving very near its
surface," "Smoke of volcanoes;" "Scum floating upon an ocean of fluid
matter;" "Clouds;" "Opaque masses floating in the fluid matter of the
sun, dipping down occasionally," "Fiery liquid surrounding the sun
which, by its ebbing and flowing, the highest parts of it were
occasionally uncovered, and appeared under the shape of dark spots, and
by the return of the fiery liquid, they were again covered, and in a
manner successively assumed different phases;" "Interruptions of
continuity in the bright envelopes immediately surrounding the sun,"
"Cavities" etc.
_Overestimate of the Degree of Spot-shadow._
Public sentiment in regard to the degree of darkness which is disclosed
in sun-spots is exceedingly erroneous. It is believed that the spots are
really dark. ZÖLLNER, however, states that "The black umbra of a spot
emits four thousand times as much light as that derived from an equal
area of the moon." "The blackest part of the spot is intrinsically
bright."
_What They are not, and what They are._
These phenomena may not arise from disruptions taking place on the sun's
surface, neither from violent agitations near that surface. The
essential and intimate character of the so-called sun-spots may be found
in the interruptions of continuity in the fluid occupying the solar
cone-space. This fluid which we call sunlight intercommunicates between
the entire opposing surface of sun and earth, unless interrupted by some
temporary cause. Any cause which is capable of producing results of
such character and magnitude can only act by more or less completely
interrupting the development or transmission of this fluid.
The result of such action would be disclosed to us by a decreased
brilliancy in the direction of the sun. The so-called sun-spot would be
in character, magnitude, form, and shade proportionate to the extent and
character of the disturbing force. The permanence or evanescence of the
spot would indicate the sun or earth as being the locality of such
derangement. The more permanent form being developed at the sun, and the
more ephemeral at the earth.
Any forces in operation at the earth which might interfere with the
intercommunication of light, would lessen the brilliancy of the light,
at the earth-extremity of the cone-space; and the deficiency thus
produced would disclose to an observer at the earth all the appearances
of a spot upon the surface of the sun. The so-called spot, thus
produced, might therefore not be regarded as a veritable spot upon the
sun's disc, but rather as an optical illusion.
_They are Caused by Magnetic Perturbations._
What may be the forces in operation on the part of the sun, and earth
alike, which may so interfere with the development or transmission of
light through the solar cone-space?
The condition of the contents contained within the enclosure of the
sun-crust and earth-crust, is presumably one of unrest; its actions
varying from repose to the most violent agitation, with a tendency to
the cyclonic in its motions. Although the earth-core may not be presumed
to be an entire moving mass, yet it is known to be in a measure
incandescent, and molten. Magnetic storms occur within our earth-crust
which sway the needle without, and almost instantaneously manifest their
presence over areas of more than half the globe. The same phenomena are
undoubtedly present in increased development at the sun.
We may therefore with reason suppose that perturbations, however
produced, occur within those spheres, of such an extent and character as
might be a sufficient cause of the interruption of development, or of
transmission of that fluid.
_Inconsistency of the Present Accepted Philosophy._
The ephemeral or evanescent character of many of the so-called
sun-spots, removes them from the domain of sun-phenomena, otherwise than
in appearance.
_Figures that are Deceptive._
Some of these spots even of large dimensions come into the field of view
almost instantaneously; and as suddenly disappear. Thus KRONE "observed
a spot of no inconsiderable dimensions which sprang into existence in
less than a minute of time." DR. WOLLASTON says:--"I once saw with a
two-inch reflector a spot which burst in pieces as I was looking at it."
BIELA also notes that "spots disappear sometimes in a single moment."
SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL "turned away his eyes from a group of spots he was
observing, and when he looked again the group had vanished."
Of those who attempt to make an estimate of these phenomena by
mathematical formulæ, we would ask, What velocities must these sudden
and apparently widespread outbursts represent, if they take place at the
sun?
_Effects of these Wonderful Phenomena._
That this phenomenon is a result of an interruption of the solar current
is rational to suppose. It is indisputable that the interruptions which
produce these manifestations have an important bearing upon terrestrial
phenomena. Winds, storms, vegetation, healthfulness, are manifestly
influenced, and in a measure controlled by these perturbations.
_Mistaken Conceptions._
The claim of many scientists that spot periods may be calculated, and
classified, possesses no element even of probability, much less of fact,
to sustain the supposition. The evanescent character of many of these
spots places them beyond the sphere of statistical calculation.
_May not be Tabulated._
Not even concerted and systematic investigation can insure reliable
conclusions, for persons separated by even inconsiderable distances
would not always observe precisely the same spot manifestations.
Moreover, the spots appear and vanish so quickly that no correct
estimate can be made at any single locality. As well attempt to map and
chart the aurora borealis.
_Unbiassed Estimate of their Character and Location._
SCHEINER was one of the first who ever observed these spots through a
telescope, and was therefore uncontrolled by theories in his estimate of
their character and location. He held it "impossible that they could be
on the sun itself," and imagined some of them to be "as far from the
sun, as the moon, Venus, or Mercury."
CHAPTER XI.
SOUND.
_Essential Character and Medium of Transmission._
Sounds are products of vito-magnetic conditions and changes. They result
from action or force expended upon the vito-magnetic element of the
atmosphere. If such action or force be directly expended upon the air,
or, more accurately, upon this vito-magnetic constituent of the air, it
is propagated in accordance with the laws that govern the transmission
of the vito-magnetic or electrical fluid through the air. If it be
expended upon a lengthened wire, then, as sound, it is transmitted
according to the laws of magnetic transmission through wire.
The recent experiments in connection with the telephone have
demonstrated the fact that sound may be communicated through hundreds of
miles of space without occupying any appreciable length of time--in this
respect being precisely like the ordinary action of the magnetic
current. It is most philosophical therefore to conclude that it is the
same element that is concerned in both instances. If we were to
distinguish between the actions of the telephonic wire and the
telegraphic wire we should say that there is no difference in the medium
of communication, which is in either case the vito-magnetic fluid; but
that in the former the normal fluid is affected simply, while in the
latter an artificial and extraordinary amount of fluid is induced so as
to produce strong magnetic effects. In the telephone wire we have an
_affection_ of the fluid; in the telegraphic wire a _pulsation_, so to
speak.
In the production of sound, _vibrations_ (erroneously called _waves_),
have an important agency, but _they have no act or part in its
conveyance_.
The varying intensities of sound, and the distance to which it reaches,
are in direct ratio with the kind of force applied in its production,
the character of the resistance offered and the medium of communication
employed.
CHAPTER XII.
SOME OF THE RESULTS OF THE FOREGOING THEORIES.
The theories thus asserted may be regarded as exceedingly radical in
their character. Their influence may not be fully estimated. Marvellous
in extent are the ramifications which proceed from these sources, and
few are the subjects of human thought and investigation which will not
be, to a greater or less degree, affected by their influence.
New channels of thought and investigation will be opened, and old
theories which now have the confidence of great minds and great numbers,
will quietly sink into oblivion.
The blank astonishment and incredulity with which these theories will be
received, will soon be followed by acceptance, and the world will wonder
why these things have been so long delayed.
If these theories be true, among the foremost and withal the most
mischievous of the old theories which will fall, will be that figment
of the imagination--the _Nebular Hypothesis_.[14] How strangely, and how
strongly, has that hypothesis maintained its ground, _even after
nebulous masses have been resolved into clusters of stars_. If gravity
be the result of retro-acting forces, there could be no element of
attraction in the flimsy gaseous particles whereby they might be drawn
together. If gravity be the result of retro-acting forces, then must
those forces have their existence somewhere. But where could there be
found in flimsy gases any such special centres of force--any
nuclei--from which attraction might proceed in its work of forming the
spheres? A starting-point is lacking.
If these theories be true, the sun is formed like unto the earth, and is
cool, non-luminous, and habitable. Incandescence not being the condition
of the sun or its surroundings; exhausted worlds, worn out asteroids,
and stray comets and meteors are not required to keep up external fires.
If, therefore, incandescence be _not_ a condition of the sun's
surroundings, then surely there may be _no_ glowing metallic vapors,
_no_ hydrogen, _no_ iron, _no_ sodium, _no_ magnesium, _no_ oxygen;
those constituents of the sun envelope, so graphically described by the
spectroscopists of the present day.
The origin of _celestial_ spectroscopy was as vague and unphilosophical
as was that of the nebular hypothesis. FRAUENHOFER and KIRCHHOFF
_imagined_ certain things, and straightway a great theory sprang into
existence.[15]
Verily the "Scientific use of the Imagination" too often leads men into
the grossest errors.
If these theories be true, we may hereafter ignore all undulatory
processes. Time may no longer be estimated in noting the transmission of
light and heat, since, like gravity, each acts instantaneously. _If the
most distant fixed star which is visible could be annihilated to-night,
its light would be seen no more forever._
If these theories be true, the recent marvels of the age, the telephone,
phonograph, and their fast-multiplying brood find a satisfactory and
philosophical explanation.
If these theories be true, the boast of the Atheist, that God is
wasteful and a bungler, in that he wastefully scatters his sunlight, and
sun-heat, in all directions into space, is set at naught. Nature has
been misinterpreted. _No sunlight nor sun-heat is disclosed, except in
the direction of other spheres._
These theories throw new light upon the character and extent of the
atmosphere of the moon and planets, and the consequent availability of
those and other spheres for sustaining life. The extent of the
atmosphere of each celestial body may be presumed to be proportionate to
our own. Analogy would therefore teach us that those bodies, also our
sun, and other suns, are the abodes of intelligent beings.
If these theories be true, heat may no longer be regarded as actual
motion among the particles of heated matter, neither may we longer
imagine the existence of hypothetical upper trade winds.
If these theories be true, the part which has ever been attributed to
the sun as originator and dispenser of light and heat, has been
overestimated. Every sphere contains within its enclosure the source
from which its own supply is derived;--a veritable storehouse, which at
one and the same time yields and governs its requisite supply. _The
earth receives what is due to it, in the interchange constantly taking
place_; and not an amount which the sun may fitfully dole out.
In the character of the winds, and atmosphere as disclosed, what
revelations! What floods of light will thus be thrown upon subjects now
mysterious!
FOOTNOTES:
[14] Appendix, p. 106.
[15] Appendix, p. 106.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DIRECT INFLUENCE OF THESE FORCES AS CAUSATION OF DISEASE.
In its bearings upon the systemic conditions which we term health and
disease, this mysterious vito-magnetic fluid is of the highest import.
This great principle which fills the earth and all spheres, and governs
and binds them together--this great principle which is the source of all
life, animate and inanimate--this principle dominates in every vital
system, from man down through and beyond the microscopic forms of
existence.
The normal action of this principle in every part of the human system
constitutes _health_; its abnormal action, _disease_; its interruption,
_death_.
The human system is thus a delicately organized and exceedingly
sensitive vito-magnetic machine, and is virtually kept in action
through the operation of this principle. Any condition, therefore, which
may directly or indirectly influence or disturb this principle, may
influence or disturb the actions of every human organization.
In the search for causes of disease throughout the ages, this field, so
fruitful in material, has been left almost unexplored. The disclosures
of the early future will wonderfully change the sentiments entertained
in regard to the cause of a large proportion of our diseases.
Meteorological influence, although now comparatively ignored as a
disease-producing power, will ere long be recognized not only as _a_
power, but as _the_ power, far overshadowing all other influences
combined.
The character and extent of these influences are scarcely imagined. In
estimating them the attention of the profession is now mainly directed
to thermometric and hygrometric changes and conditions. These form not
the largest proportion of the perturbing influences constantly in
operation around us.
With the verification of the meteorological theory of causation, more
positive and rational ideas will prevail;--obscurity will, in a
measure, give place to clearer and more exact perceptions of the
character and relations of diseases, and a corresponding efficiency in
treatment may be expected.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF LIGHT, HEAT, AND POWER, AND THEIR
UTILIZATION.
The practical procurement of necessary light and heat for our dwellings,
as well as of necessary mechanical power for the world's work in mills
and factories, _in some less expensive and laborious manner_ than
through vast consumption of wood, coal, and oil, is believed to be now
so close upon realization that we may even call it _un fait accompli_.
The conversion of the momentum of rivers, and of the power of cataracts,
tides, and winds, into vito-magnetic or electrical fluid; the
transportation of this fluid to any locality through wire or cable; and
its final transmutation into light, heat, or mechanical force sufficient
for all work, are already demonstrated as practicable.
There is no reason then why the Mississippi should not be made to roll,
and Niagara to fall through our workshops, or even to impel our
street-cars. They may as well work as to be idle as they go.
But in all this, startling as it seems, man is only imitating Nature in
her every-day operations through sun and earth. Even the order is
similar. The sun is the _river_ giving its constant impulse through the
vito-magnetic cable of the solar cone. The _earth_ end of the cable is
adjusted by means of the atmosphere, for the production of light and
heat for this earthly habitation.
It indues the globe with magnetic influence which we have called
gravity. And in its workshop, its mechanical and vital forces are
keeping up all motions in animal and plant, earth, ocean, and air.
And thus light, heat, gravity, mechanical power, electricity, magnetism,
vital force and universal motion, are but one principle variously
expressed. This principle we have designated vito-magnetic fluid. But
have we reached a climax and an end? No. This vito-magnetic river or
current flows on. Its flood is never stayed. But yet we find no
accumulation. Light and heat have neither been piled up to the sky, nor
have they become annihilated. Their essential element has only changed
form, and proceeded on its busy way, turning earth into a magnet,
vivifying and operating all organisms, travelling upon all currents,
gathering up and utilizing all the fragments and waste of its workshop,
transmitting and conserving its energy _en route_ to the poles. And
finally, _the same element that signalized its entrance at the earth's
more central regions_ AS HEAT, _now signalizes its departure along
earth's polar extremities_ AS COLD.[D]
Nothing is lost. Such a mighty flowing current cannot be stopped. If it
rolls _in_ we may be assured that _somewhere_ it will roll _out_. And
this is but THE GRAND COSMICAL CIRCUIT, already made mention of.
FOOTNOTES:
[D] We would not define cold as "absence of heat." Cold is rather the
opposite electrical condition to heat.
CHAPTER XV.
WHY WAS NOT THIS DISCOVERY SOONER MADE?
It may be asked, why should the discovery of this great source of all
the forces, vital and physical, have been delayed to the present time?
Master minds have been engaged for ages in efforts to solve the
wonderful problem.
HERSCHEL, NEWTON, HUMBOLDT, FARADAY, MOSSOTTI, and many others have held
the _key_ almost within their control, and the consummation has only
failed of being realized at an earlier day by reason of the tenacity
with which the minds of men are held by preconceived and pre-existing
opinions.
SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL regarded solar and stellar light as the effects of
an _electro-magnetic_ process.
NEWTON recognized all movements of the cosmical bodies to be the result
of one and the same force; "_of some higher_ and _still unknown power_,"
but luminiferous ether shaded his mental vision, and he failed to
discern that power. In his investigations of those great subjects he is
led to ask, "Are not the sun, and fixed stars, great earths, vehemently
hot?"
HUMBOLDT said: "It is indeed a brilliant effort, worthy of the human
mind, to comprise in one organic whole, the entire science of nature,
from the laws of gravity to the formative impulse in animated bodies;"
but the preoccupation of his vast mind, and the hold of pre-existing
ideas, offered difficulties to the solution of the problem. But, note
the approximation of his ideas to those herein expressed, he said: "The
sun, as the main source of light and heat, must be able to call forth
and animate magnetic forces on our planet." Unfortunately, however, he
continues thus: "and more especially in the gaseous strata of our
atmosphere."
FARADAY, perhaps the most distinguished man, in the whole of his own
field, which the world has ever produced, recognizing the power of this
great obstacle to true advancement (_i. e._, preconceived and
pre-existing ideas), once said: "When such a one as myself gets out of
the way, then new conditions, new men, new views, new opportunities,
may allow of the development of other lines of active operation than
those heretofore in service." He believed in the existence of one great
universal principle, from which gravity, heat, light, electricity,
magnetism, even life itself might come. He spent many of his latest
years in efforts to solve this great problem, and on his failure he
asked: "Is it all a dream?" He never, however, wavered in his faith, and
his last efforts were directed to that end.
With prophetic vision, almost amounting to prescience, he, in speaking
of magnetism, said: "When we remember that the earth itself is a magnet,
pervaded in every part by this mighty power, universal and strong as
gravity itself, we cannot doubt that it is exerting an appointed and
essential influence over every particle of matter, and in every place
where it is present.
"What its great purpose is, seems to be looming up in the distance
before us:--the clouds which obscure our mental sight are daily
thinning, and I cannot doubt that a glorious discovery in natural
knowledge and in the wisdom and power of God in the creation is awaiting
our age."
Thus did those great philosophers so nearly attain to the goal of their
highest earthly aspirations, and only failed in the consummation by
reason of clinging to the existing opinions of their age.
APPENDIX.
1. (Page 22.) "BRUNO, about the close of the last century, _guessed_ the
fundamental fact of the Nebular Hypothesis, and _Kant reasoned out_ its
foundation idea, and LAPLACE _developed it_."--CORRELATION AND
CONSERVATION OF FORCES.
We have learned to recognize on how very doubtful a basis many of the
received axioms of physical science are founded. This hypothesis has
been received with much unanimity and has firmly held its sway. Yet,
"BRUNO _guessed_ the fundamental fact," and this _figment of the
imagination_ has, for nearly a century, controlled the scientific mind.
Its paralyzing influences have affected other departments of physical
science, and true progress has been obstructed. The attempt to describe
minutely how the spheres were formed millions of years ago is but
presumption.
This hypothesis, from such an origin, unverified and unverifiable, is
too weak to support the superstructure which has been erected upon it.
This hypothesis discarded, it may be presumed that the earth was never
in a fluid or _wholly incandescent state_.
"It may be shown that all nebulæ are crowded stellar masses."--HUMBOLDT.
_Action and Retro-action._
2. (Page 25.) "Considering the continued activity of the sun through
countless centuries, we may assume, with mathematical certainty, the
existence of some compensating influence to make good its enormous
loss."--COR. AND CON. OF FORCES.
If the earth receives the benefits of this activity, surely the
"compensating influence" must, in a like degree, go forth from the earth
to the sun. And, furthermore, if this influence (whatever its character)
may pass in the _one_ direction through space without known or visible
means of communication, _retro-action_ may be affected through the same
channel.
_The Earth and all Spheres framed alike._
3. (Page 26.) "The earth belongs to a system of planets analogous to
itself, having the same origin, the same destiny, situated around the
same centre and governed by the same motive power."--FLAMMARIAN.
_Mutual Relations of Earth and Sun._
4. (Page 27.) "A mysterious chain links together the celestial and
terrestrial forces. According to the ancient signification of the
Titanic myth, the powers of organic life, that is to say, the great
order of nature, depend upon the combined action of heaven and
earth."--HUMBOLDT.
_The Sun's Body Dark._
5. (Page 30.) "HERSCHEL'S fixed idea was that the darkness of a spot was
an indication of a cool habitable globe."
_A New Theory of the Nature of Water._
6. (Page 36.) M. MAICHE, in _Les Mondes_, propounds the theory, reached
after numerous experiments, that water is simply hydrogen _plus_
electricity, or oxygen _minus_ electricity, or, in other words, that
normal electrified hydrogen constitutes water, and that normal
diselectrified oxygen produces the same; or that hydrogen, oxygen, and
water are precisely the same, differing only in degree of
electrification.
_Sun-heat._
7. (Page 41.) "The sun, as the main source of heat and light, must be
able to call forth and animate magnetic forces on our planet."--HUMBOLDT.
"It is an incontestable fact that the sun exercises an action upon the
magnetic phenomena which are manifested upon our globe."--SECCHI.
"What is certain is, that there ought to be, between the sun and
planets, a means of communication of force, and the transmission of
movement."--_Ibid._
"The central body may, as a powerful source of heat, excite magnetic
activity on our planet."--HUMBOLDT.
8. (Page 42.) "It cannot be doubted that electro-magnetic currents exist
in the interior of the globe."--AMPÈRE.
"The internal heat of our planet is connected with the generation of
electro-magnetic currents."--HUMBOLDT.
"A large proportion of winter heat of the poles comes through the
equatorial current."--YOUMANS.
_Auroræ._
9. (Page 44.) "HOOD heard a noise as of quickly moved musket-balls, and
a slight crackling sound during an aurora. He also noticed the same
noise on the following day."
"FATHER PERRY of the Stonyhurst Observatory remarked that the green
spectroscopic line characteristic of the aurora, could be detected even
where the unassisted eye failed to notice any trace of light."
"The fleecy clouds seen in Iceland by THIENEMANN, and which he
considered to be the northern light, have been seen in recent times by
FRANKLIN and RICHARDSON, near the American north pole, and by ADMIRAL
WRANGEL on the Siberian coast. All remarked that the aurora flashed
forth in the most vivid beams when masses of cirrus strata were hovering
in the upper regions of the air, and when these were so thin that their
presence could only be recognized by the formation of a halo around the
moon."
"These clouds sometimes range themselves _even by day_ in a similar
manner to the beams of the aurora and then disturb the course of the
magnetic needle in the same manner as the latter. On the morning after
every distinct nocturnal aurora the same superimposed strata of clouds
have still been observed, that had previously been luminous."
PARRY even "saw the great arch of the northern light _continue
throughout the day_."
"ARAGO was of the opinion that each observer saw his own aurora somewhat
as each observer of a rainbow sees the luminous arc differently placed."
_The Great Sun Battery._
10. (Page 44.) If with a percussion cap and a tear we may develop
sufficient power to deflect a magnetic needle 3,000 miles distant, what
power may not be expected of the sun, 1,250,000 times larger than the
earth; the sun exercising a force of the same character?
_Gravity._
11. (Page 50.) "PROF. MOSSOTTI has recently shown, by a very able
analysis, that there are strong grounds for believing that not only the
molecular forces which unite the particles of material bodies depend on
the electric fluid, but that even gravitation itself, which binds world
to world, and sun to sun, can no longer be regarded as an ultimate
principle, but the residual portion of a far more powerful force,
generated by that energetic agent which pervades creation."--FARADAY.
"If gravitation is made to mean something allied to magnetism, some
poorly explained phenomena become easily understood. But what are the
circumstances affording proof of the identity of these forces? First,
gravitation acts upon all kinds of matter; FARADAY proved the same of
magnetism. Second, gravitation is attractive; so is magnetism. Third,
gravitation is proportionate to the mass; the force of magnets also
depends upon the mass. Fourth, gravitation acts in an inverse ratio to
the square of the distance; so does magnetism. Fifth, gravitation does
not manifest polarity; magnetism is known not to do so. Sixth,
gravitation acts independently of bodies affording a resistance to light
and heat; so does magnetism."--CARTWELL.
FARADAY'S biographer says:--"He is oppressed with the magnitude and
importance of his subject, yet is stimulated by the fact that the
discovery which he aims for (the relationship between gravity and
electricity) would have a bearing in importance far beyond all
conception in elucidating not only the facts connected with these
subjects, but also others of a high importance. There being scarcely a
limit to the subjects which would be illuminated by it."
"Gravity, surely this force must be capable of an experimental relation
to electricity and magnetism and the other forces, so as to bind it up
with them in reciprocal action and equivalent effect."--FARADAY.
KEPLER regarded gravity and heat "as being probably derived from one
single principle."
"There is every reason for believing that the radiations which
constitute heat and light are essentially the same."
"Gravity acts instantaneously."
_Static Electricity._
12. (Page 52.) Speaking of static electricity, FARADAY remarks: "What an
idea of the ever-present and ever-ready state of this power is given to
us, when we consider that not only every substance, but almost every
mode of dealing with substance manifests its presence. It is not
accidental at these times, but active and essentially so, and we may, in
our endeavors to comprehend it, usefully compare and contrast it with
gravity which never changes. There we see that power which in
undisturbed and solemn grandeur holds equally the world and the dust of
which worlds are formed together, and carries them on in their course
through illimitable space through illimitable ages; and in this other
power, even in this our first glimpse we see probably the contrasted
force which is destined to give all that vivacity and mutual activity to
particles that shall fit them as far as matter alone is concerned, for
their wonderful office in the phenomena of nature, and enable them to
bring forth the ever varying and astonishing changes which earth, air,
fire and water present to us; from the motion of the dust in the
whirlwind up to the highest conditions of life."
13. (Page 61.) An illustration of this form of wind-production may be
found in the following facts related by DR. GISLER, who for a long time
dwelt in the north of Sweden: "The matter of the aurora borealis
sometimes descends so low that it touches the ground. At the summit of
high mountains it produces upon the face of the traveller an effect
analogous to that of wind."
We should pronounce this effect to be the production of a true wind of a
circumscribed or local character.
_Solar Spectrum, its origin._
14. (Page 80.) PROF. KIRCHHOFF was led to the study of a coincidence
between the bright yellow line given in an incandescent sodium vapor,
and the solar line "D," which coincidence had already been noticed by
FRAUENHOFER. Upon applying a greater dispersive power he noticed that
the line "D" was a double one; but so also was the sodium line under
these conditions. Moreover, each line of the one coincided with each
line of the other. The _suspicion_ became strong that it was the sodium
in the _sun_ which caused the "D" line. He then extended the comparisons
to other elements. He carefully measured sixty bright lines in the
spectrum of iron; and found every one of these sixty lines to
correspond with a dark in the solar spectrum.
"The overwhelming _probability_ of a common cause for both was forced
upon him, and _by calculation_ he ascertained that this probability was
as one million million million to one, in its favor."--LOCKYER.
ADDENDUM.
The great Solar Cone-space, in order to be clearly marked to the eye,
was represented in Plate I, page 30, as white. This to some readers may
be misleading; as this space when viewed transversely is not
luminous,--it is not even visible. (Pl. V.)
[Illustration: Pl. V. Solar Cone, Or Cone-Space.]
Outside of the atmospheric envelope of all spheres, there is only "_the
black of infinite space_."[E]
Retro-action between the earth and visible and invisible spheres, gives
to the earth the light which it possesses during the night-season.
FOOTNOTES:
[E] Flammarian.
Transcriber's Notes
The following typographical corrections have been made:
Page x: Heat without combustion--Inter-currents{original had
no hyphen; changed to match page 45, to which it refers}
Page 60: back and forth to maintain an{comma removed}
equilibrium.
Page 64: {quotation mark removed}The course of a balloonist
Page 102: {quotation mark added}"These clouds sometimes
range themselves
Page 107: {quotation mark added}"The overwhelming
_probability_ of a common cause
The following inconsistent hyphenation is as printed:
Page 42: just such a retro-acting inter-communication.
Page 72: might interfere with the intercommunication of light
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