The coincidence was even closer. At the
very instant of the solar outburst witnessed by Carrington and
Hodgson the photographic apparatus at Kew registered a marked
disturbance of all the three magnetic elements; while shortly after
the ensuing midnight the electric agitation culminated, thrilling
the whole earth with subtle vibrations, and lighting up the
atmosphere from pole to pole with coruscating splendors which
perhaps dimly recall the times when our ancient planet itself shone
as a star.
If this amazing occurrence stood alone, and as I have already said it
has never been exactly duplicated, doubt might be felt concerning some
of the inferences drawn from it; but in varying forms it has been
repeated many times, so that now hardly anyone questions the reality
of the assumed connection between solar outbursts and magnetic storms
accompanied by auroral displays on the earth. It is true that the late
Lord Kelvin raised difficulties in the way of the hypothesis of a
direct magnetic action of the sun upon the earth, because it seemed to
him that an inadmissible quantity of energy was demanded to account
for such action. But no calculation like that which he made is final,
since all calculations depend upon the validity of the data; and no
authority is unshakable in science, because no man can possess
omniscience.
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