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diff --git a/24150-h/24150-h.htm b/24150-h/24150-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3652da9 --- /dev/null +++ b/24150-h/24150-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1051 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Disturbing Sun, by Philip Latham. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Disturbing Sun, by Robert Shirley Richardson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Disturbing Sun + +Author: Robert Shirley Richardson + +Release Date: January 3, 2008 [EBook #24150] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DISTURBING SUN *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + + +<h1>DISTURBING SUN</h1> + +<h2>By PHILIP LATHAM</h2> + +<h3>Illustrated by Freas</h3> + +<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science +Fiction May 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that +the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/illus.jpg"><img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>This, be it understood, is fiction—nothing but fiction—and not, +under any circumstances, to be considered as having any truth +whatever to it. It's obviously utterly impossible ... isn't it?</i></p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><i>An interview with Dr. I. M. Niemand, Director of the Psychophysical +Institute of Solar and Terrestrial Relations, Camarillo, California.</i></p> + +<p><i>In the closing days of December, 1957, at the meeting of the American +Association for the Advancement of Science in New York, Dr. Niemand +delivered a paper entitled simply, "On the Nature of the Solar +S-Regions." Owing to its unassuming title the startling implications +contained in the paper were completely overlooked by the press. These +implications are discussed here in an exclusive interview with Dr. +Niemand by Philip Latham.</i></p> + +<p>LATHAM. Dr. Niemand, what would you say is your main job?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I suppose you might say my main job today is to find out all I +can between activity on the Sun and various forms of activity on the +Earth.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. What do you mean by activity on the Sun?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Well, a sunspot is a form of solar activity.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Just what is a sunspot?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I'm afraid I can't say just what a sunspot is. I can only +describe it. A sunspot is a region on the Sun that is cooler than its +surroundings. That's why it looks dark. It isn't so hot. Therefore not +so bright.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Isn't it true that the number of spots on the Sun rises and +falls in a cycle of eleven years?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. The number of spots on the Sun rises and falls in a cycle of +<i>about</i> eleven years. That word <i>about</i> makes quite a difference.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. In what way?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. It means you can only approximately predict the future course +of sunspot activity. Sunspots are mighty treacherous things.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Haven't there been a great many correlations announced between +sunspots and various effects on the Earth?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Scores of them.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. What is your opinion of these correlations?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Pure bosh in most cases.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. But some are valid?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. A few. There is unquestionably a correlation between +sunspots and disturbances of the Earth's magnetic field ... radio +fade-outs ... auroras ... things like that.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Now, Dr. Niemand, I understand that you have been investigating +solar and terrestrial relationships along rather unorthodox lines.</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Yes, I suppose some people would say so.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. You have broken new ground?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. That's true.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. In what way have your investigations differed from those of +others?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I think our biggest advance was the discovery that sunspots +themselves are not the direct cause of the disturbances we have been +studying on the Earth. It's something like the eruptions in rubeola. +Attention is concentrated on the bright red papules because they're such +a conspicuous symptom of the disease. Whereas the real cause is an +invisible filterable virus. In the solar case it turned out to be these +S-Regions.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Why S-Regions?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. We had to call them something. Named after the Sun, I suppose.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. You say an S-Region is invisible?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. It is quite invisible to the eye but readily detected by +suitable instrumental methods. It is extremely doubtful, however, if the +radiation we detect is the actual cause of the disturbing effects +observed.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Just what are these effects?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Well, they're common enough, goodness knows. As old as the +world, in fact. Yet strangely enough it's hard to describe them in exact +terms.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Can you give us a general idea?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I'll try. Let's see ... remember that speech from "Julius +Caesar" where Cassius is bewailing the evil times that beset ancient +Rome? I believe it went like this: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in +our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings."</p> + +<p>LATHAM. I'm afraid I don't see—</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Well, Shakespeare would have been nearer the truth if he had +put it the other way around. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in +ourselves but in our stars" or better "in the Sun."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>LATHAM. In the Sun?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. That's right, in the Sun. I suppose the oldest problem in the +world is the origin of human evil. Philosophers have wrestled with it +ever since the days of Job. And like Job they have usually given up in +despair, convinced that the origin of evil is too deep for the human +mind to solve. Generally they have concluded that man is inherently +wicked and sinful and that is the end of it. Now for the first time +science has thrown new light on this subject.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. How is that?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Consider the record of history. There are occasional periods +when conditions are fairly calm and peaceful. Art and industry +flourished. Man at last seemed to be making progress toward some higher +goal. Then suddenly—<i>for no detectable reason</i>—conditions are +reversed. Wars rage. People go mad. The world is plunged into an orgy of +bloodshed and misery.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. But weren't there reasons?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. What reasons?</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Well, disputes over boundaries ... economic rivalry ... border +incidents....</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Nonsense. Men always make some flimsy excuse for going to war. +The truth of the matter is that men go to war because they want to go +to war. They can't help themselves. They are impelled by forces over +which they have no control. By forces outside of themselves.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Those are broad, sweeping statements. Can't you be more +specific?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Perhaps I'd better go back to the beginning. Let me see.... It +all started back in March, 1955, when I started getting patients +suffering from a complex of symptoms, such as profound mental +depression, anxiety, insomnia, alternating with fits of violent rage and +resentment against life and the world in general. These people were +deeply disturbed. No doubt about that. Yet they were not psychotic and +hardly more than mildly neurotic. Now every doctor gets a good many +patients of this type. Such a syndrome is characteristic of menopausal +women and some men during the climacteric, but these people failed to +fit into this picture. They were married and single persons of both +sexes and of all ages. They came from all walks of life. The onset of +their attack was invariably sudden and with scarcely any warning. They +would be going about their work feeling perfectly all right. Then in a +minute the whole world was like some scene from a nightmare. A week or +ten days later the attack would cease as mysteriously as it had come and +they would be their old self again.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Aren't such attacks characteristic of the stress and strain of +modern life?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I'm afraid that old stress-and-strain theory has been badly +overworked. Been hearing about it ever since I was a pre-med student at +<span class="smcap">ucla</span>. Even as a boy I can remember my grandfather deploring the stress +and strain of modern life when he was a country doctor practicing in +Indiana. In my opinion one of the most valuable contributions +anthropologists have made in recent years is the discovery that +primitive man is afflicted with essentially the same neurotic conditions +as those of us who live a so-called civilized life. They have found +savages displaying every symptom of a nervous breakdown among the +mountain tribes of the Elgonyi and the Aruntas of Australia. No, Mr. +Latham, it's time the stress-and-strain theory was relegated to the junk +pile along with demoniac possession and blood letting.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. You must have done something for your patients—</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. A doctor must always do something for the patients who come to +his office seeking help. First I gave them a thorough physical +examination. I turned up some minor ailments—a slight heart murmur or a +trace of albumin in the urine—but nothing of any significance. On the +whole they were a remarkably healthy bunch of individuals, much more so +than an average sample of the population. Then I made a searching +inquiry into their personal life. Here again I drew a blank. They had no +particular financial worries. Their sex life was generally satisfactory. +There was no history of mental illness in the family. In fact, the only +thing that seemed to be the matter with them was that there were times +when they felt like hell.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. I suppose you tried tranquilizers?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Oh, yes. In a few cases in which I tried tranquilizing pills of +the meprobamate type there was some slight improvement. I want to +emphasize, however, that I do not believe in prescribing shotgun +remedies for a patient. To my way of thinking it is a lazy slipshod way +of carrying on the practice of medicine. The only thing for which I do +give myself credit was that I asked my patients to keep a detailed +record of their symptoms taking special care to note the time of +exacerbation—increase in the severity of the symptoms—as accurately as +possible.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. And this gave you a clue?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. It was the beginning. In most instances patients reported the +attack struck with almost the impact of a physical blow. The prodromal +symptoms were usually slight ... a sudden feeling of uneasiness and +guilt ... hot and cold flashes ... dizziness ... double vision. Then +this ghastly sense of depression coupled with a blind insensate rage at +life. One man said he felt as if the world were closing in on him. +Another that he felt the people around him were plotting his +destruction. One housewife made her husband lock her in her room for +fear she would injure the children. I pored over these case histories +for a long time getting absolutely nowhere. Then finally a pattern began +to emerge.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>LATHAM. What sort of pattern?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. The first thing that struck me was that the attacks all +occurred during the daytime, between the hours of about seven in the +morning and five in the evening. Then there were these coincidences—</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Coincidences?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Total strangers miles apart were stricken at almost the same +moment. At first I thought nothing of it but as my records accumulated I +became convinced it could not be attributed to chance. A mathematical +analysis showed the number of coincidences followed a Poisson +distribution very closely. I couldn't possibly see what daylight had to +do with it. There is some evidence that mental patients are most +disturbed around the time of full moon, but a search of medical +literature failed to reveal any connection with the Sun.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. What did you do?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Naturally I said nothing of this to my patients. I did, +however, take pains to impress upon them the necessity of keeping an +exact record of the onset of an attack. The better records they kept the +more conclusive was the evidence. Men and women were experiencing nearly +simultaneous attacks of rage and depression all over southern +California, which was as far as my practice extended. One day it +occurred to me: if people a few miles apart could be stricken +simultaneously, why not people hundreds or thousands of miles apart? It +was this idea that prompted me to get in touch with an old colleague of +mine I had known at UC medical school, Dr. Max Hillyard, who was in +practice in Utica, New York.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. With what result?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I was afraid the result would be that my old roommate would +think I had gone completely crazy. Imagine my surprise and gratification +on receiving an answer by return mail to the effect that he also had +been getting an increasing number of patients suffering with the same +identical symptoms as my own. Furthermore, upon exchanging records we +<i>did</i> find that in many cases patients three thousand miles apart had +been stricken simultaneously—</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Just a minute. I would like to know how you define +"simultaneous."</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. We say an attack is simultaneous when one occurred on the east +coast, for example, not earlier or later than five minutes of an attack +on the west coast. That is about as close as you can hope to time a +subjective effect of this nature. And now another fact emerged which +gave us another clue.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Which was?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. In every case of a simultaneous attack the Sun was shining at +both New York and California.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. You mean if it was cloudy—</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. No, no. The weather had nothing to do with it. I mean the Sun +had to be above the horizon at both places. A person might undergo an +attack soon after sunrise in New York but there would be no +corresponding record of an attack in California where it was still dark. +Conversely, a person might be stricken late in the afternoon in +California without a corresponding attack in New York where the Sun had +set. Dr. Hillyard and I had been searching desperately for a clue. We +had both noticed that the attacks occurred only during the daylight +hours but this had not seemed especially significant. Here we had +evidence pointing directly to the source of trouble. It must have some +connection with the Sun.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. That must have had you badly puzzled at first.</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. It certainly did. It looked as if we were headed back to the +Middle Ages when astrology and medicine went hand in hand. But since it +was our only lead we had no other choice but to follow it regardless of +the consequences. Here luck played somewhat of a part, for Hillyard +happened to have a contact that proved invaluable to us. Several years +before Hillyard had gotten to know a young astrophysicist, Henry +Middletown, who had come to him suffering from a severe case of myositis +in the arms and shoulders. Hillyard had been able to effect a complete +cure for which the boy was very grateful, and they had kept up a +desultory correspondence. Middletown was now specializing in radio +astronomy at the government's new solar observatory on Turtle Back +Mountain in Arizona. If it had not been for Middletown's help I'm afraid +our investigation would never have gotten past the clinical stage.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. In what way was Middletown of assistance?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. It was the old case of workers in one field of science being +completely ignorant of what was going on in another field. Someday we +will have to establish a clearing house in science instead of keeping it +in tight little compartments as we do at present. Well, Hillyard and I +packed up for Arizona with considerable misgivings. We were afraid +Middletown wouldn't take our findings seriously but somewhat to our +surprise he heard our story with the closest attention. I guess +astronomers have gotten so used to hearing from flying saucer +enthusiasts and science-fiction addicts that nothing surprises them any +more. When we had finished he asked to see our records. Hillyard had +them all set down for easy numerical tabulation. Middletown went to work +with scarcely a word. Within an hour he had produced a chart that was +simply astounding.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>LATHAM. Can you describe this chart for us?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. It was really quite simple. But if it had not been for +Middletown's experience in charting other solar phenomena it would never +have occurred to us to do it. First, he laid out a series of about +thirty squares horizontally across a sheet of graph paper. He dated +these beginning March 1, 1955, when our records began. In each square he +put a number from 1 to 10 that was a rough index of the number and +intensity of the attacks reported on that day. Then he laid out another +horizontal row below the first one dated twenty-seven days later. That +is, the square under March 1st in the top row was dated March 28th in +the row below it. He filled in the chart until he had an array of dozens +of rows that included all our data down to May, 1958.</p> + +<p>When Middletown had finished it was easy to see that the squares of +highest index number did not fall at random on the chart. Instead they +fell in slightly slanting parallel series so that you could draw +straight lines down through them. The connection with the Sun was +obvious.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. In what way?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Why, because twenty-seven days is about the synodic period of +solar rotation. That is, if you see a large spot at the center of the +Sun's disk today, there is a good chance if it survives that you will +see it at the same place twenty-seven days later. But that night +Middletown produced another chart that showed the connection with the +Sun in a way that was even more convincing.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. How was that?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I said that the lines drawn down through the days of greatest +mental disturbance slanted slightly. On this second chart the squares +were dated under one another not at intervals of twenty-seven days, but +at intervals of twenty-seven point three days.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Why is that so important?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Because the average period of solar rotation in the sunspot +zone is not twenty-seven days but twenty-seven point three days. And on +this chart the lines did not slant but went vertically downward. The +correlation with the synodic rotation of the Sun was practically +perfect.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. But how did you get onto the S-Regions?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Middletown was immediately struck by the resemblance between +the chart of mental disturbance and one he had been plotting over the +years from his radio observations. Now when he compared the two charts +the resemblance between the two was unmistakable. The pattern shown by +the chart of mental disturbance corresponded in a striking way with the +solar chart but with this difference. The disturbances on the Earth +started two days later on the average than the disturbances due to the +S-Regions on the Sun. In other words, there was a lag of about +forty-eight hours between the two. But otherwise they were almost +identical.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. But if these S-Regions of Middletown's are invisible how could +he detect them?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. The S-Regions are invisible to the eye through an <i>optical</i> +telescope, but are detected with ease by a <i>radio</i> telescope. Middletown +had discovered them when he was a graduate student working on radio +astronomy in Australia, and he had followed up his researches with the +more powerful equipment at Turtle Back Mountain. The formation of an +S-Region is heralded by a long series of bursts of a few seconds +duration, when the radiation may increase up to several thousand times +that of the background intensity. These noise storms have been recorded +simultaneously on wavelengths of from one to fifteen meters, which so +far is the upper limit of the observations. In a few instances, however, +intense bursts have also been detected down to fifty cm.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. I believe you said the periods of mental disturbance last for +about ten or twelve days. How does that tie-in with the S-Regions?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Very closely. You see it takes about twelve days for an +S-Region to pass across the face of the Sun, since the synodic rotation +is twenty-seven point three days.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. I should think it would be nearer thirteen or fourteen days.</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Apparently an S-Region is not particularly effective when it is +just coming on or just going off the disk of the Sun.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Are the S-Regions associated with sunspots?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. They are connected in this way: that sunspot activity and +S-Region activity certainly go together. The more sunspots the more +violent and intense is the S-Region activity. But there is not a +one-to-one correspondence between sunspots and S-Regions. That is, you +cannot connect a particular sunspot group with a particular S-Region. +The same thing is true of sunspots and magnetic storms.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. How do you account for this?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. We don't account for it.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>LATHAM. What other properties of the S-Regions have you discovered?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Middletown says that the radio waves emanating from them are +strongly circularly polarized. Moreover, the sense of rotation remains +constant while one is passing across the Sun. If the magnetic field +associated with an S-Region extends into the high solar corona through +which the rays pass, then the sense of rotation corresponds to the +ordinary ray of the magneto-ionic theory.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Does this mean that the mental disturbances arise from some form +of electromagnetic radiation?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. We doubt it. As I said before, the charts show a lag of about +forty-eight hours between the development of an S-Region and the onset +of mental disturbance. This indicates that the malignant energy +emanating from an S-Region consists of some highly penetrating form of +corpuscular radiation, as yet unidentified.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>LATHAM. A question that puzzles me is why some people are affected by +the S-Regions while others are not.</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Our latest results indicate that probably <i>no one</i> is +completely immune. All are affected in <i>some</i> degree. Just why some +should be affected so much more than others is still a matter of +speculation.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. How long does an S-Region last?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. An S-Region may have a lifetime of from three to perhaps a +dozen solar rotations. Then it dies out and for a time we are free from +this malignant radiation. Then a new region develops in perhaps an +entirely different region of the Sun. Sometimes there may be several +different S-Regions all going at once.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Why were not the S-Regions discovered long ago?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. Because the radio exploration of the Sun only began since the +end of World War II.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. How does it happen that you only got patients suffering from +S-radiation since about 1955?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I think we did get such patients previously but not in large +enough numbers to attract attention. Also the present sunspot cycle +started its rise to maximum about 1954.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Is there no way of escaping the S-radiation?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. I'm afraid the only sure way is to keep on the unilluminated +side of the Earth which is rather difficult to do. Apparently the +corpuscular beam from an S-Region is several degrees wide and not very +sharply defined, since its effects are felt simultaneously over the +entire continent. Hillyard and Middletown are working on some form of +shielding device but so far without success.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. What is the present state of S-Region activity?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. At the present moment there happens to be no S-Region activity +on the Sun. But a new one may develop at any time. Also, the outlook for +a decrease in activity is not very favorable. Sunspot activity continues +at a high level and is steadily mounting in violence. The last sunspot +cycle had the highest maximum of any since 1780, but the present cycle +bids fair to set an all time record.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. And so you believe that the S-Regions are the cause of most of +the present trouble in the world. That it is not ourselves but something +outside ourselves—</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. That is the logical outcome of our investigation. We are +controlled and swayed by forces which in many cases we are powerless to +resist.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. Could we not be warned of the presence of an S-Region?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. The trouble is they seem to develop at random on the Sun. I'm +afraid any warning system would be worse than useless. We would be +crying WOLF! all the time.</p> + +<p>LATHAM. How may a person who is not particularly susceptible to this +malignant radiation know that one of these regions is active?</p> + +<p>NIEMAND. If you have a feeling of restlessness and anxiety, if you are +unable to concentrate, if you feel suddenly depressed and discouraged +about yourself, or are filled with resentment toward the world, then you +may be pretty sure that an S-Region is passing across the face of the +Sun. Keep a tight rein on yourself. For it seems that evil will always +be with us ... as long as the Sun shall continue to shine upon this +little world.</p> + + +<h4>THE END</h4> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Middletown believes that the Intense radiation recently +discovered from information derived from Explorer I and III has no +connection with the corpuscular S-radiation.</p></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Disturbing Sun, by Robert Shirley Richardson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DISTURBING SUN *** + +***** This file should be named 24150-h.htm or 24150-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/1/5/24150/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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