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.