Sun Spots, Aurora Borealis, and Floods.

Manawatu Times, Volume IX, Issue 1119, 5 December 1883, Page 2

Sun Spots, Aurora Borealis, and Floods.

The numerous inundations* Ifiat' Have occurred in all pans of Europe within, the last year or two naVe 3 raised jAe question whether an' increase' 'of/tach floods in modern times can be verified, i'rofesser Paul fieft^ e in -»* pamphlet lately published, shows that in pact times extraordinary floods were re* peated at regular intervals, and that periods of ' drought and high flood* occurred, at intervals, of frotr twenty* seven 'to - tvieniy^eigh'tior^Bgrti^i^wO maximum being reachea at everjr;f6iu&h high water period — that is^ in 'lroni>2JH> to 224 years. If~we~ reckon back from the present ,year we find 1776, 1778» 1784, 1,799 marked 7 as- c iood jc*n, amongst' which "the year ' 1784r; was remarkable ' for an inundation greater than that of theEhihe last year., Going back still further we find the year* 1564 and 1342 signalised' by-Hoods, and indeed the inundation of the year 1343 was the most terrible ever known in history. According to an old record the water was so high in the cathedral at Maury that it reached to a: vinaa't waist ; it was therefore three; nje^et higher- than the flood at Cologne" last year. Boats could be rowed .over nth© town walls. Researches in other direc* tions have resulted in proving the interesting fact that the phenomena of tbe anrora borealis recurs at exadthr^n* same interva's of about 226 "yem^Sntb intermittent periods of fiftyinve to fifty* six years; and the same thing hold* with regards to sansppti, whioh generally increase and decrease within periods of eleven years, reaching the maximum every fif tynfive yeari. Thechanges in the magnetism- of tbe .earth also coincide with these observation. Dr Keis has come to the conclusion that " terrestrial causes," auch as the cutting down of the forests and diverting! th« coarse of rivers, hare only a secon'darj influence in producing inundationi.