Application of the Laws of Action, Reaction and Interaction in Life Evolution.

opposite charges possibly arriving in great jets from the sun. Further the charges might be communicated to our air from such jets followed by discharge into space beyond. A sudden uplift of a highly charged thin air layer itself in waves or ridges might easily disturb the normal potential distribution and precipitate discharges from the crests. At¶nospheric currents or displacements may cause such uplifts as when a colder stream strikes down under a warmer charged layer. A set of vertical streamers would deflect a compass needle on the earth's surface one way or the other depending on whether such streamers exist to the north or to the south of the position of the compass. Observations seem to confirm this but' more work is needed. The direction of the compass deflection would determine the direction of the virtual streamer currents to which the deflection was due. Aside from these and other considerations, the effort has, however, been to present in this communication a rational theory which will at least enable a proper conception of the actual space relations of the visible portions of an aurora in relation to the earth's surface to be obtained; and to place on record ideas which through many years of consideration by the author have seemingly received at each appearance of an aurora with streamers, repeated confirmation. While I have in former papers, as in "Thoughts on Osmical Electricity," an address before the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania (December 19, 1893) and notably in an address on "Atmospheric Electricity" delivered at Princeton University October 21, 1909, and published in Science, December 17, 1909, pp. 857 to 869, given a brief sketch of some of the views presented, particularly the outward direction of the streamers, later observations have served to provide cumulative evidence and extend their application.