The Portland daily press., 1871-08-10
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1871.
Every Man His Own Clerk of the Wealth

Every Man His Own Clerk of the Wealth
From present appearances the decade Oh
which we are entering is to be distinguished
for discoveries as important and as useiui u
mankind as the telegraph and steam en s'ne'
Among these the Improvements anu o'soo'ei
les in tbe scence of meteorolo9y are now at |
tracing most attention. observations OF the |
weather and unscientifc representations as |
10 its future aspects we're of course among the
earliest acts of mankind. But meteorolooy is
almost the last OF known sciences to get
much beyond the NEUROLOGICAL stage, and the
modern almanac-maker, whose "Look out for
some snow or rain" is noted with so much re-
spect by credulous old ladies, POUNDS his pre-
dictions on no wider induction of facts than
did the ancients who made HEolus to hind
the winds in chains and invested .Jupiter
with the general supervision of the weather.
These Delphic utterances of the almanac, to-
gether with mass of more or less rational
traditions, mostly embodied in delusive
rhymes and misleading sentences, constituted
up to very recent period the entire popular
stock of popular knowledge of the weather
and all the means commonly possessed OF
forecastng it. Most persons whose intelli-
gence caused them TO distrust these blind
guides have regarded the future aspect of the
skies as among the "unknowables," or at
least have dreamed of no further glimpse in.
to the future than local barometic obserya-
ton eked out by few rude interpretations of
other signs would give them. 1t is indisputa-
BILE that far more people have relied on
II Chandlemas day is fair and bright,
Winter will lake another flight
than or any more scientific data. 1t is won
derful how many people still cling to the no
ton that the twelve days of Christmas "gov-
ern" the weather of the twelve months, and
that certain "first Sundays" or ''last Fridays
have also mysterious potency in ruling GER
tain seasons. Even when the popular mind
does deign to ignore such mysterious agen-
cies, and to turn away from moon and stars
to observe winds, clouds, temperature, and
other rear and important natural phenomena.
there is still leaven of primitive superstition
and faint of irrational tradition that COM
monty obscure the clearness of vision so
necessary to the observer.
But this seems on the point of being chang
ed, and the time cannot now be far distant
when all intelligent persons will be in pos
session OF the main principals of genuine
Scaence OF meseorology, learning them, like
geography, as matter of course. All of us
WIZ then have the means of determining
proximatefy, by rational methods, what has
always been matter of much importance TO
all the world except that pieposterous "Shep-
herd OF Salisbury Plain"- what the weather
will be tomorrow. The chief fundamentally
In working this change is the War Depart
ment "Division of kilograms and Reports for
the Benefit of Commerce." the dispatches of
whose Chief Signal Officer, Gen. Myers now
constitute SO interesting and important a part
of the daily news The experiment of estab-
fishing signal Stations and forecasting the
weather has proved Unexpectedly useful, and
the officers of the government, instead
OF contenting themselves with the present
results, are making wider and wider generali
cations, and are svailng themselves to the ut
most OF the opportunities for study that are
afforded them. As time passes, and as the
held OF observation is extended by establish
ing new stations and bringing the whole in
habited portion of the continent and the ad-
jacent islands into communication on this
subject, the results reached must become
gradually more accurate, and the official an
nouncements greatly enlarged so as to have a
specific application to smaller and smaller
portions of territory.
The last enterprise undertaken by Gen.
Myers is very promising. He has issued a
small pamphlet that is now before us, in
which are concisely stated in plain language
the leading principles of the science, and the
general theories by which Prof. Able, the de-
partment meteorologist, is governed in deter
mining the probabilities. Maps, such as are
used at the signal stations, are furnished gra-
tuitously on application. By making use of
the weather reports daily published in the pa
pers to mark the indications ON the map, and
applying the information contained in the
pamphlet, any amateur observer may have
before him precisely the same data for fore
casting the weather that are relied upon at
headquarters. The purpose of this move
ment is to popularize the science, and TO en-
list the interest of persons in all parts of the
country.
The social aspect of this question is by no
means an uninteresting one if we had space
to consider it. Only think what revolution
it will be when charming young ladies, who
receive formal calls, instead of addressing to
visitors vague generaties about the weather,
speak with scientific precision of the 'areas
of high and low PRESSURE" of the omnous
"crrus" clouds, of the indications of the n.y.
grometer, and of the storm due at sharp
twelve tomorrow. 1t will be seen at glance
how infinitely the scope of this important top
ic of conversation is enlarged, and how pleas
antly it will be diversified. 1t becomes a
question, therefore, whether society or COM
merce will be most indebted to meteorology.
The WORLD wisely askes if Alexander Fl.
Stephens, late Vice President of the Confed-
&c H..