d faculae, or narben, formed at the
same points from whence the spots had disappeared, while new solar
spots were also developed within the faculae. Every spot is surrounded
by a more or less bright, luminous cloud. I do not think that the
spots exert any influence on the annual temperature. I register the
height of the barometer and thermometer three times in the course of
each day, but the annual mean numbers deduced from their observations
have not hitherto indicated any appreciable connection between the
temperature and the number of the spots. Nor, indeed, would any
importance be due to the apparent indication of such a connection in
individual cases, unless the results were found to correspond with
others derived from many different parts of the earth. If the solar
spots exert any slight influence on our atmosphere, my tables would,
perhaps, rather tend to show that the years which exhibit _a larger
number of spots_ had a _smaller number of fine days_ than those
exhibiting few spots."

These observations _seem_ to show that the spots exert no influence upon
the weather, and to be satisfactory. But, perhaps, they are not entirely
so. No effect would, of course, be expected from day to day, and perhaps
the annual mean may not be seriously disturbed, and yet the spots may
seriously affect the seasons. Popular tradition has fixed upon certain
periods, of 10, 20, and 40 years, for the return of winters of unusual
severity; and the tables of Mr. Webster, and other facts, show that it is
not wholly without foundation. If we, and those we have cited, are not
mistaken in most of the views expressed, the natural effect of a partial
interception or failure of the sun's rays, by or from the existence of the
spots, would be to decrease the exciting power of the solar rays upon
terrestrial magnetism, and, as a consequence, the volume of the trades and
their amount of moisture. This would increase the _mean_ heat of the
summer in the temperate zone--for the _less_ the volume of trade, the less
precipitation and variable wind, and succeeding polar waves of cooler air,
and the greater mean heat. On the other hand, the same cause, and the
feebler heating power of the sun's rays, would make the winters more
severe, both from an absence of a portion of heat, derived directly from
the sun's rays, and a less mitigating influence, from the action of the
trade, by