Outlines of a mechanical theory of storms

by Thomas Bassnett

It is the chilling influence of the ethereal stream which originated the idea among philosophers, of frigorific impressions, darted from a clear sky. In some years the sun will be nearly in the centre of the system; in other years the axis of the vortex will not come near the sun. And as the sun’s longitude may vary through the entire circle, it may happen that the earth’s longitude shall coincide in winter or summer, or spring or autumn. When, however, the earth emerges from the protection of the sun, and enters the conical shell, considered as a space of considerable depth, she will again be exposed to the full force of the radial stream, rendered more active by the previous deflection, and by the numerous cross currents pervading it; so that a mild and calm winter may be succeeded by a cold and stormy spring. The present season, (1853) the earth’s longitude coincided with the sun’s longitude in about 135°, and consequently was in the conical space spoken of, during February and March; but the radius vector of the sun’s centre, being then less than 300,000 miles, the protection was not as complete as it is sometimes. Still, the general fineness of these months was remarkable; yet in April and May, when the earth became again exposed to the action of the solar stream, the effect was to retard the spring, and disappoint the prognostications of the weather-wise. In applying these principles, we must consider the effect in those latitudes which are more readily affected,—that is, in the temperate zone, midway between the two extreme zones of heat and cold.

In 1837 and 1838, the longitude of the sun’s centre corresponded with the earth’s, in August and September, when there was neither rain nor electrical excitement; and consequently those seasons were sickly over the whole country. Now, there is another cause which renders the months of August, September, and October, deficient in electrical energy, and consequently more prone to be sickly. If, therefore, the two causes unite their influence, the autumnal months will be more sickly at those times. This last cause, however, only affects the northern latitudes in autumn, and consequently, ceteris paribus, the autumnal months should not be so proverbially sickly in the southern hemisphere. This is, however, only suggestive.

Again, in 1843, the winter was very mild in January and February; but in March it turned cold and stormy, and continued through April. In this year the longitude of the sun was nearly the same as in 1853,—the two longitudes of the earth and sun corresponding about the last of January; but in March, the earth forsook the comparative calm produced by the sun’s position, and hence the greater cold.[25]

Thus it appears at every step we take, that the different members of the solar system do indeed belong to the same family, whose least motions have their influence on the rest. Who could have anticipated that the position of Jupiter in his orbit had anything to do with the health of this remote planet, or with the mildness of its seasons? In this we have a clue to the origin of that astrological jargon about planetary aspects being propitious or malign. Philosophers are even yet too prone to wrap themselves in their mantle of academic lore, and despise the knowledge of the ancients, while there is reason to believe that the world once possessed a true insight into the structure of the solar system. As war became the occupation of mankind, under the despotic rule of ambition, so truth retired, and ignorance seizing upon her treasures, has so mutilated and defaced them, that their original beauty no longer appears. Let us hope that the dawn of a better day is approaching.

There is yet another cause (just alluded to) which modifies the action of the vortices.

We have shown that, if the periodic times of the planets are approximately equal to the periodic times of the contiguous parts of the solar vortex, the density of the ether is directly as the square roots of the distances from the centre. As the earth is at her perihelion about the first of January, the density of the surrounding ether is then less than in other parts of the orbit; consequently, if we suppose that there is a continual tendency to equilibrium, the ether of space must press inwards, during the time between the perihelion and aphelion, (i.e. from January to July,) lowering the temperature and increasing the electrical action of those months. As the distance from the sun is most rapidly augmenting about the first of April, and the effective power of the sun’s radiation is most rapidly increasing in May; by combining the two we shall find, that about the first of May we shall have considerable electrical action, and cold weather. This explains also, in part, the prevalent tradition of certain days in May being very cold.[26] When the earth leaves the aphelion, a reaction takes place, being most rapid in September. There is then an escape of ether from the earth, which keeps up the temperature, and causes these months to be sickly, from the negative electrical state of the atmosphere. In the southern hemisphere, the effects in the same season will be reversed, which may partly account for the greater degree of cold in that hemisphere, and for accelerating the approach of both summer and winter, while in the north they were both retarded.

We must now advert to another cause, which of all others is probably the most important, at least to the other members of the solar system.

In every part of the solar vortex the ether is continually pressing outwards. We are not now speaking of the radial stream, but of the slower spiral motion of the ether around the axis of the vortex, whose centrifugal force is bearing the whole body of the ether outwards, thus rarefying the central parts, and thus giving rise to the polar influx, from which arises the radial stream. This may be made more intelligible, by reflecting that the polar current is comparatively dense ether, and that the length of the axis of the vortex prevents this influx current coming in sufficient quantities to restore an equilibrium in the density of the medium. Yet, what does come down the poles, is distributed rapidly along the equatorial plane, leaving the space still rarefied. Now we perceive, that in order for the radial stream to continue in action, requires the whole medium of the vortex to be also moving outward; it is therefore continually condensed as it proceeds. This condensation necessarily converts much of the specific heat of the ether into sensible heat; so that the temperature of the medium is continually increasing, as the distance from the sun increases.

When we contemplate the solar system as the emanation of one Great Mind, we naturally seek for evidence of the wisdom of a supreme intelligence in all the arrangements of that system. But, however humbly and reverently we may speak of these arrangements, we can scarcely avoid the wish, that the planetary distances had been differently arranged, if Newton’s doctrine be true, that space is a vacuum, and that the heat of a planet, is inversely as the squares of the distances from the sun. For, to speak of the temperature of space, except as dependent on this law, is one of those many incomprehensible inconsistencies with which philosophers are chargeable. If the Newtonian philosophy is literally true, space has no temperature, and the surface heat of the planet Neptune is nearly 1,000 times less than on our own globe. Again, on Mercury it is seven times greater, which heat would scorch and consume every organic substance on the earth, and speedily envelope the boiling ocean in a shroud of impermeable vapor. Granting even that space may not be a vacuum, and yet the law of gravitation be true, we may still be allowed to consider both Saturn and Uranus and Neptune, as inhospitable abodes for intelligent creatures; and, seeing the immensity of room in the system, there is no reason why these planets might not have been permitted to revolve nearer the great source of light and life and cheering emanations. To suggest the resources of Omnipotence is no argument. He has surrounded us with analogies which are seen, by which we may attain a knowledge of those which are not seen; and we have every reason to suppose that the great Author of nature is not indifferent to the aspects under which his works reveal him unto his creatures. Yet there is (on the above hypothesis) an apparent want of harmony in the planetary distances; and if frail mortality may be permitted to speak out, an explanation is needed to obviate this seeming anomaly in the economy of the world. The more we learn of the physical arrangements of the universe, the more do they correspond with our experience of the nice adaptation of the means to the end which obtains in our own globe, and we can only judge of other planets by the analogies around us. Here, there, are extremes of temperature it is true: it is necessary there should be, and we can see and understand the necessity in all such cases, and how they conduce to the general average of good. But, astronomers can give no reason why it is necessary that some planets of our system should be placed so remote that the sun is frittered down to a star, whose heatless light is but a mockery to those frigid realms.

Now, according to this theory, the temperature of Neptune may be far more uniform and conducive to life than that of our own globe. The chilling influence of the solar stream at that planet being nearly null, and the temperature of the surrounding space far greater. So also Mercury, instead of being the burning planet of the schools, may suffer the most from cold.