Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/497

Rh This theory accounts for nearly all the points on which there is now any uncertainty. There only remains the spectroscopic side of the subject, as intimated, to account for all the lines in the spectrum of the aurora. The yellowish-green line (the fourth in the spectrum) to which we have referred is only found in the "zodiacal light" which travels along the zodiac at certain times of our year. But while there is otherwise no identity between the two forms of light, this would indicate an intrastellar or supermundane source of both lights. So it is very probable that cosmic causes, foreign to our globe, may determine on our globe the production of the aurora. We have dwelt in other papers on the influence of the sun spots, so it is not necessary to revert to them, except to confirm our previous theory and impressions. These phenomena all appear to obey the successive phases of solar activity, and the electric theory of the aurora fully accounts for their relation to each other. If sun spots can cause a widespread action of the aurora in polar regions, why can they not induce magnetic disturbances, electric storms, and all the fury of tempests in temperate regions, acting along exactly the same lines of current, only deflected sooner to the earth than the rays of force which reach the earth nearer the poles? It is a very simple question, and the answer self-evident.

Laboratory study of electric discharges in rarefied air and gases has not yet reached a point where the spectrum of the aurora borealis can be artificially produced. A study of the zodiacal light, and of the influence of magnetism on light, will be necessary to reveal this factor of the problem. This opens an immense field of further research in which scientists must still delve.

the Baram district of Borneo, according to Mr. C. Hose, it is customary, when a dispute arises, concerning the ownership of a fruit tree, for example, for the parties to take their positions, in the presence of the witnesses and a throng of spectators, in about four feet of water, each asseverating that he is the rightful owner, and praying that the water and the birds and animals may bear him witness. Two sets of cross-sticks have been driven into the mud at the bottom of the river. At a given signal, each disputant puts his head under his cross-stick and keeps it in the water as long as he can, a friend holding his legs in order to detect the first signs of fainting and pull him out on their appearance. The man who can keep his head under water the longer time is declared to be the winner, and the loser is not allowed to make any further claim. Men recovering from serious illness often change their names, hoping that the evil spirit that caused their illness may lose trace of them. When this is done, the former name is never mentioned again. The most precious articles of clothing and weapons are deposited in the graves, because the friends wish the spirit of the deceased to appear to advantage on his arrival in the other world.