Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-08-02
Storm Warnings In the OIden Time

Storm Warnings In the OIden Time
The attempt to presage great weather
phenomena is nothing new.
From time immemorial civilized society
has sought after a plan for averting the
violence of the storm and tempest as
anxiously as it has sought to resist the
deadly approach Of the pestilence and the
plague.
The great plague of London, historians
tell US, carried off in a year about 10000
persons. This was, however, in the rude
and undeycloped condition Of medical
science, when the metropolis Of England
had but few hospitals, and every victim
was left in his own house to spread and
speed the march Of the contagious foe. APP
palling as such mortality seems for the
year 1868 amidst the wTetched and squal-
id dens Of the London poor, it has been
oyershadoWed in modern times by a great
er calamity On the 9TH Of October,
Sol, the storm which swept over Calcut-
ia destroyed. in a single day. over $4,000
lives Yet this is but one Of a large
number Of similar occurrences rivaling in
magnitude the great Indian disaster.
10 give torewarning of approaching
tcmpests on the coasts Of the Adriatic,
the Italian and Roman castles, as de-
scribed by an antique writer, had on their
! bastionS pointed rods, to which, aS they
passed, the guards on duty presented the
iron points OF their halberds and whenever
they perceived an electric spark to follow,
| they rang an alarm bell to warn the farm
er aud the fisherman of an approaching
storm 1t Is interesting, to note that this
ancient Italian custom was widely spread
over the earth in former ages. And it is
not difficult to connect it with those olden
towers mot only in ireland, Scotland and
! Spain but IN Africa and the East. Upper
India and China In which the use Of a
similar conductor may have been one
among the many objects Of those relies Of
the past.
But, as the title Of our article shows. a
new element OF science has been introdu-
ced-the electric telegraph invention
whose mission Of usefulness Is destined 10
unlimited enlargement.
In November, lo54 while the Anglo
French fleet was operating n the Black
Sea against the stubborn walls of Scba,to-
pol, The tidiug~ flashed across the wires
that u mighty tempest had arisen on the
western coast Of France, and, hy the warn
/ inc~ Of the barometer, was on it, way
eastward The telegram wa, -cut by the
French Minister Of War, Marshal Vail
ant, from Paris and reached the allied
/ fleet in good time 10 enable them 20 put
10 sea before the cyclone could travel thc
/ 800 leagues of Its course, and dIsperse or
/ destroy the most splendid navies that ever
rode those waters The storm came with
fatal punetuaity TO the predicted hour.
The Crimea, shaken, r4vaEed, >c0urged
by its tury.-prg ,nted everywhere scene
Of havoc and ruil in the allied camp mere
fearful than amy the fire of all the Rus
sian forts combined could have inflicted. IL
is perhaps not too much to say that, but
for that telegram and its timely storm
warming, the c0ucregated uayies. far from
home and shattered 10 pieces, could not
have sustained the bose1ing armies and
the event Of the great Eastern war might
have been different from what it finally
was. 50 happily. in this instance did
theory too often despised blend with fact.
that the French War Minister said. .' it
appears that, by the aid Of the electric
telegraph and baromctr.c observations. we
may be aprr.>el several hours or several
day Of great atmospheric Disturbances
happening At the distance Of 1000 or 1900
leagues
less than three years after the occur
renee Of the famous Black Sea Storm,
Just mentioned, there appeared for the first
time. ami ia an American paper, formal
proposition for the establishment Of a geu-
eral system OF daily weather reports by
telegraph and the utilization Of that great
invention for the collection of mcteorologic /
changes at d central Office, and the trans
mission thence Of storm warnings to the |
sea ports o. the American lakes and our
Atlantic sea-board
" Since great storms, says Mr.. Thomas |
y. Butler, in his work on the " Atmos- |
pheric System and Elements Of Prognosti- |
cation, have been found to observe
pretty we'll defined laws, bofh as respects
the motions Of the wind and the direction |
Of their progress, we may often recognize |
such a storm, in its progress, and antici-
pate changes which may succeed during |
the next few hours. When it Is possible |
to obtain telegraphic reports Of the wealth
er from several places in the valley Of the
Mississippi and its tributaries, we may Of
ten predict the approach Of a great storm
twenty-four hours before its violence is
felt at New York
On the coasts Of tie kingdom Of Italy
mariners are forewarned that a storm
threatens them by red flag hosted on all
the towers and light houses Of the princi-
pal localities, ranging from Genoa to Pal
ermo, and thence up along the Adratic
On the most dangerous points of the coast
of England, where the fishing boats and
small craft that perform the service Of the
coast are exposed to formidable gales even
during the most promising'season,b barome-
ters put up by the Meteorological Bureau
are at hand to warn the seamen of bad
"a The Telegraph and the
Storm" By Pref T. b. Marry. in Har-
per's Magazine far A7tgllst.
The WIVES OF GREEcE.-They were US
ually married when very young. Their