Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/517

Rh cycle arch! But the keystone, the illusory planet Vulcan (which will be discussed later) is even more mysterious.

The sun and each of the planets were regarded by him as immense magnets with north and south poles, and as the planets moved in their orbits they were exposed alternately to the north and south poles of the great sun magnet, and this alternating exposure aroused not only the planet to greater electrical activity, but influenced the sun himself, as evidenced in the sun spots. But even were this so, what has it to do with the planet's equinoxes? The amount of change to and from the poles of the sun depends, as shown above, solely on the inclination of the planet's orbit to the plane of the sun's equator, as, in the case of the earth, the inclination of the ecliptic to the sun's equator plane, and not of the ecliptic to the equinoctial.

Now it happens that (at this time) the earth is at its greatest distance south of the plane of the sun's equator, and hence most exposed to the sun's south pole, March 6; and the greatest distance north, and so most exposed to his north pole, September 5. These dates are so near the dates of the earth's equinoxes—March 22 and September 21—Mr. Tice assumes that they agree. And even though this difference, like the equinoxes themselves, is not a constant, further assumes a like coincidence to exist in the case of every planet. With this lame assumption he puts the source of the great electric energy of the sun upon the equinoxes of the planets, and reaches the conclusion that all atmospheric phenomena were produced by planetary equinoxes.

But with all these assumptions injected into his great meteorological cycle, it yet refuses to work properly. It was found that there were many phenomena occurring that would not fit into any of his assumed cycles, or that were contemporary with the causing planetary positions—that is, of the known planets. Thus it became necessary to find a new planet—one he could have his own way about, and so Vulcan—a planet so near the sun that only Mr. Tice, and two others, neither of whom was a trained astronomer, and using only ordinary telescopes, have ever been able to see it, and they only once each—is harnessed to the electric cycle wagon.

Lescarbault saw the supposed Vulcan March 26, 1859, Mr. Tice September 25 or 26, 1859, and Mr. Lummis in March, 1862. So this wonderful planet which plays such an important part in our welfare has been seen only these three times, and never since, although astronomical observers with the finest telescopes, and located all over the world, have been on the constant search for a planet interior to Mercury, and though during every total eclipse of the sun (when his intense light is for a moment shut out), it is the sole duty of some observer in every party to search for such a planet—yet the wily Vulcan eludes them all.