North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1867-09-25


Alternately fair and wet at the begin
ming of the month. Expect some heavy
rain near the 9Th, with thunder in some
places soon followed by fair, mild and
pleasant weather, which prevails through
the middle Of the month then windy
with flying showers. The last week the
air becomes cold, with snow or slcet on
the hills.
Storms Of rain or high winds, more or
less, near the ID, sth, 18th, (pcrhaps the
lSth) I'D, cath and perhaps the 18th.
Those malign starr do raise the wind full high,
And cause = rough and very boisterous sky,
Hence mt.chirf both Al land and see ensue
Experience on hath told ne il il true
Towards the end, Sasurn's cold and lowering rays
Cause ciouds and rain to follow several days.
As it is in the air that all plants and an
imals live and breath, and ms that appears
to bc the great principle of most animal
and vegetable productions, alterations. &C.,
there does not seem anything, in all philo-
sophy, Of more immediate Government to
US than the state Of the weather. In effect,
all living things are only asssmblages or
bundles Of vessels whose juices are kept
moving by the pressure of the atmosphere /;
and by which, BY that motion, maintain
life-so that any alterations in the rarity
Or density, the heat, purity &c. Of that,
must necessarily be attended with proper
tionable ones in these. What great, yet
regular alterations little change in the
air makes in tube hlled with mercury, or
spirits Of wine, or in q piece Of string in
stance Barometers, Thermometers, Hydro
meters, &c., and it is owing partly TO our
inattention, and partly 70 our unequal in
temperate course Of living, that we do not
feel as great in the tubes, chords, and fb-
res, of our own bodies. It is certain .
great part Of the brute-creation have
sensibility and sagacity this way, beyond
mankind and yet, without any means or
disposition thereto, more than we except
that their vessels, iibres, &c., being in 9TH
er respects in one equable habitude, has
the same effect on them that is, their
vessels are regular barometers, affected on
ly from one external principle, namely, the
disposition of the atmosphere whereas
ours are acted on by causes from within,
as well as without some Of which check,
impede, and prevent the action of others.
But to ascertain the limits of these various
affections requires theory Of the weather
founded on mechanical and other princi-
pies.
have thrown these few reflections tc-
gether, with the hope it may be the means
of drawing the attention of many persons
to the study Of meteorology, or that sci
ence which explains tho phenomena Of the
weather so much neglected it was
not till the seventeenth century that any
progress was made in the investigation of
it's laws, when the most important discove-
ries Of the Barometer and Thermometer
occurred. This is sufficiently remarkable
when we consider that almost all the ope-
rations necessary for the support of hu-
man life, and almost al the comforts of
corporeal feeling, depend on the state of
atmosphere.
At present the notifications Of what is
called Science render like investiga-
ton nearly impracticable to the initiated
and beset with erroneous conclusions even
to the scientific. The knowledge of a state
Of the weather, for any given period with
in his own latitude, lies within the COM
pass of any person, bat whence is he to
obtain knowledge of its actuating as
poets Unless he be . gcometrician and
an Astronomer, with an Ephemeris at his
elbow, he is excluded from it; and magni-
ficent as is the intellect of this day, it
must remain excluded until some cores
ponding illustration places within popular
perception tho revolutions OF the celestial
bodies.
/ may say, in conclusion, that number
Of other subjects Of much interest, as con-
nected with Meteorology, present them
selves to me, but which I must defer en-
tcring on at the present. THos. S. SHAW.
Eastman, Sept. l8, 1867.
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