THE ATMOSPHERE.
_A Veritable Ocean._
The great aërial ocean which we call the atmosphere (at the bottom of
which we live, and move, and have our being), is even more vitally
important than has ever been dreamed of in human philosophy.
_How Constituted._
Its tangible constituents, such as clouds, vapors, gases, are well
understood; as well as the modifying influence of those atmospheric
elements upon what we call sunlight, and sun-heat. But the intangible
and vital principle, or basis of the atmosphere, has in a measure
escaped recognition. This principle is vito-magnetic in its character,
and may be designated as _static_,[12] from its habit when in
equilibrium, and also in contradistinction from that vast flood of
_active_ fluid which fills the solar cone-space.
_Extent and Character of this Influence._
The whole globe and its surrounding atmosphere are vast reservoirs of
this static fluid. These, interacting freely through continuity,
virtually become one in their operations. As a constituent of the
atmosphere this fluid is nearly uniform in its proportions. Its varying
conditions, as positive, negative, and neutral, form a marked
peculiarity. Changes from one to another of these conditions, over
larger or smaller areas, are affected with marvellous rapidity, and with
varying and sometimes with striking results.
In the extremes of atmospheric temperature, this fluid is found to exist
in the extremes of its positive and negative conditions. The contrast is
by some supposed to exist in the seasons of winter and summer, in
proportions as 13 to 1, (heretofore regarded as quantitive).
_Note the Functions of this Ocean._
This fluid is indeed _the vital principle_, upon which _all life_,
animate and inanimate, depends. The necessity for frequent respirations
is occasioned by the imperative demands of the system for this agent. As
before intimated, the mild and steady light which illumines the earth in
its day-season is owing to the action of the _active_ fluid of the
cone-space upon the _static_ fluid of the atmosphere. The untempered
force of the former might not be endured. The pale and steady light of
the moon and planets is due to a like reaction through the same
agencies.
The relations which the present known constituents of the atmosphere
sustain to this fluid may not at the present time be estimated.
_Not yet fully Comprehended._
"Air," said SIR LYON PLAYFAIR, "is the most familiar of substances; the
first with which an infant becomes acquainted on entrance into the
world, and in death, the last to be given up; yet, strange to say, its
nature and constitution have only become partially understood within the
past century, and even now scientific knowledge can only be regarded as
on the threshold of the subject."
The novelty and the assurance of the concluding lines of the above
quotation would, at a comparatively recent date, have excited in the
reader a great astonishment. We had supposed that the constituents, and
the functions of our atmosphere were very well understood, that little,
if anything, could be learned by further investigation. Yet the
revelations which are now being made show the assertion of SIR LYON
PLAYFAIR to be almost prophetic.
The vito-magnetic, the most important ingredient, has scarcely been
referred to in any formula of its constitution. This constituent as
previously stated, forms the bulk of the atmosphere, and upon _it_
depends the principal performance of its varied functions. More vital
than oxygen, without it life could not be sustained for an hour.
_Have we been Mistaken?_
The experiments of M. PASTEUR have demonstrated that oxygen and light
are not essentials of life, as he developed life in the dark, in an
atmosphere of carbonic acid.
_New Light._
More recent discoveries verify the presence of this comparatively
unappreciated constituent.
The process of induction has ever been a great mystery in electrical
science. Magnetic currents are known to act upon bodies in close
proximity without the intervention of a spark, and to indue such bodies
with magnetic force. This action, called induction, has been supposed to
be limited to short distances. This we believe to be erroneous. In order
that the inductive process take place, it is only necessary to suppose
some impulse to be superinduced upon some pervading medium. This medium
we recognize in the static vito-magnetic constituent of the atmosphere.
Magnetic or electrical induction is therefore nature's effort towards an
equilibrium. Newly-discovered phenomena show that this process is
carried on even at considerable distances. To Prof. LOOMIS of New Haven,
Conn., we are indebted for experiments which illustrate this fact. These
experiments show that magnetic communications may be made through ten
miles of space without the intervention of visible means of conduction.
The employment of wires is rendered unnecessary by reason of the
presence of the vito-magnetic fluid which operates in restoring the
disturbed equilibrium. Magnetic _currents_ are therefore not essential
to this phenomenon.
A wonderful exhibition of this power was recently observed at Rochester,
N. Y. In a telephonic exhibition in this city, the musicians were
located in Buffalo, sixty-eight miles distant. While PROF. JOHNSON was
engaged in preparatory practice during the afternoon, the notes from
Buffalo were distinctly heard at the same time, in a city business
office, at some distance from the hall of exhibition. Yet the wire used
by the Professor, and that employed in the private telephone, were at no
point less than ten feet apart. The same phenomenon was observed during
the progress of the exhibition in another locality, the two lines still
being no nearer than ten feet to each other.
_The Character and Virtue of this Element may not be Mistaken._
It is this vito-magnetic element, and not some other ingredient, that
renders the atmosphere so sympathetic, and responsive, to the governing
Force resident in the sun, and in the earth-core. The atmosphere thus
not only furnishes the field of operation for the manifold Force,
co-operating between the sun and earth, but is itself the medium and
instrument of the operations.
The vito-magnetic power under its Protean forms, styled "Vital Forces,"
and "The Physical Forces," works in the atmosphere and is the source of
nearly all its phenomena. It causes and directs movements in every
province of nature. Nothing else has so intimate relations with animal
and vegetable life and growth. It may be considered as constituting the
inherent _virtue_ of the atmosphere.
Among the varying manifestations in which this agent is disclosed to us,
within and beyond the atmosphere, may be enumerated the following, viz.:
1, Linear lightning; 2, Ball lightning; 3, The flash with
reverberations; 4, Heat lightning; 5, Aurora; 6, Frictional or
mechanical; 7, Magnetic; 8, Vital; 9, St. Elmo's Fires; 10, The
exaggerated wave which bears destruction in its pathway; 11, That
disclosed by rain, hail, snow, and fog; 12, Sunlight, and sun-heat; 13,
Static, or atmospheric; 14, Zodiacal light; 15, Corona, etc., etc.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Appendix, p. 104.