WARS IN 1928.

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6604, 26 May 1925, Page 8

WARS IN 1928.

SCIENTIST’S PROPHECY Do the disturbances in the sun that we see on its surface as sunspots affect the human nervous system as they undoubtedly do atmospheric conditions and movements ? Do they make us irritable and stir us up to quarrels and perhaps to war and tumult ? A French scientist thinks that they do. He is the Abbe Th. Moveux, director of the Bourges observatory. The Abbe has held his opinions for nearly 20 years past', and in 1910 he warned scientific men that they should look out for the results of the approaching sunspot maximum. Now, after the Great War, he warns us again that another maximum will occur in 1928. What has it in store for us. The Abbe has drawn a curve, as substantiating his theory. It represents the periodic frequency of solar activity, and the peaks of the curve are marked by wars. The exact correspondence of magnetic disturbance on the earth has long been accepted* by scientific men, and the recent discovery on Mt. Wilson, California, that sunspots are magnetic, furnishes the reason for it. The Abbe’s theory of their influence on human irritability is a large leap but it is interesting. “That the sun is the sole regulator of our climatography is no longer in doubt to-day among those who have kept up with the progress of science,” he says. “Hersehel noted many years ago that in his day there was a correlation between the price of wheat and the sunspot curve, which represented solar activity. Our means of transportation lessen crises and famines, and translated into modern terms, Herschel’s idea is this: There is correlation, speaking generally, between solar activity and climate. Those who doubt this have only to read the little volume that I published in 1901, with several successive editions; .it is entitled ‘The Sun and the Prediction of the weather.’

“Hpat, electricity, magnetism, are effects of one and the same ca|sie —the disturbance in the solar "luimace that takes place about every irL years, on an average.

“In fact, every 11 years, not only does the earth feel the recrudescence of the solar activity in the form of heat, but the magnetic needle is affected and our compasses get out of order. By phenomenon of electric induction yet to be explained thoroughly, the polar auroras increase in intensity, cyclones plough up the seas, and internal gases heave up the earth’s crust, and volcanoes erupt. There is a relation between earthquakes and the sun’s activity, and the theory formulated by me in 1902 has enabled me to foretell all the seismic crises of importance in the past 22 years!

“But the life of the sun does not stop here; every 33 ,to 35 years a burning fever develops in the depths of its flaming atmosphere, and our climatic conditions reflect it, especially in our own region. The 35 years of which I speak are only an average, as Bruckner showed some time ago, but I claim for myself the credit of connecting these periods with the solar activity. “I have gone even further: I have maintained since 1902 that our bodily organism is influenced by the electric flux—call it by this name for lack of any other —emanating from the sun. In fact, I long ago proved that a number of persons are more :A liable at the moment oi’ solar magnetic crises; these' unconscious influences are often the cause, in certain feeble subjects, of attacks oi gout, headache, rheumatism, neuralga, etc., and even of cholera epidemics. Since 1903 I have been making statistical study, from which it appears that the number of penalties in schools is always larger when there are magnetic perturbations due to the sun.

“In a lecture before the general assembly of the International Scientific Association at Brussels on April 7th, 1910, I asked of my auditors—all scientific men—whether it would not be legitimate to see in the exasperation of active forces on the sun the cause of wars. “As a smile went round I threw on the screen a chart complete. It was seen that periods of solar calm agree with moments of peace universal expositions and large commerce; whereas the brusque ascents of the curves, showing magnetic disturbances, correspond to the fury of the nations.

“I have read somewhere of a Russian scientist who discovered this parallelism; it may be that, isolated as he was, he had no knowledge of former researches; but I can assure you that the idea harks back as far as Hersehel at the very least. Renan speaks of it in his works; there is, then, nothing new under the sun; but what is new is the discovery that wars correspond

to magnetic storms, as the instructive curve that I first drew; 20 years ago shows clearly. “The solar curve will begin to rise again in 1925, and will reach its peak in 1928.- Attention, then! I tender again to our Governments the warning that I gave in Brussels in 1910!” “Hello, where have you been?” asked Binks. He was on his way home from the office and had overtaken Jinks, who looked wet and muddy and was burdened with fishing tackle. “Been fishing, at Elstree,” replied Jinks solemnly. “Catch much?” was the next question. “Oh, yes; too much,” Jinks laughed mirthlessly. “Too much for me.” “What did you catch ? ” inquired Binks eagerly. “First train there, last train back,” Jinks told him bitterly. “Caught in a shower, caught a cold, and expect I shall catch it when I get home.”