[26] That the 11th, 12th, and 13th of May should recede 2° in temperature as determined by Mædler from observations of 86 years, at a time when the power of the sun so rapidly augments, is strongly confirmatory of the theory. See _Cosmos_, p. 121. [27] Plucker first discovered that a plate of tourmaline suspended with its axis vertical, set axial. [28] Silliman's Journal for March and April, 1853. [29] Humboldt, _Cosmos_ p. 193, London ed. [30] See Silliman's Journal for September, 1853. [31] See Silliman's Journal for September, 1853. [32] This was the central vortex ascending. [33] Reid's Law of Storms, p. 350. [34] Humboldt, _Cosmos_, p. 203. SECTION FOURTH. THE SOLAR SPOTS. We have yet many phenomena to investigate by the aid of the theory, and we will develop them in that order which will best exhibit their mutual dependence. The solar spots have long troubled astronomers, and to this day no satisfactory solution of the question has been proposed; but we shall not examine theories. It is sufficient that we can explain them on the same general principles that we have applied to terrestrial phenomena. There can be but little doubt about the existence of a solar atmosphere, and, reasoning from analogy, the constituent elements of the sun must partake of the nature of other planetary matter. That there are bodies in our system possessing the same elements as our earth, is proved by the composition of meteoric masses, which, whether they are independent bodies of the system, or fragments of an exploded planet, or projected from lunar volcanoes, is of little consequence; they show that the same elements are distributed to other bodies of the system, although not necessarily in the same proportions. The gaseous matter of the sun's atmosphere may, therefore, be safely considered as vapors condensable by cold, and the formation of vortices over the surface of this atmosphere, brings down the ether, and causes it to intermingle with this atmosphere. But, from the immensely rapid motion of the polar current of the solar vortex, this ether may be considered to enter the atmosphere of the sun with the temperature of space.