The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-12-06

out its suburbs, lest the supply of Gro
ton water should fail to meet the re-
quirements of the rapidly growing
At times during the
past year, it was even believed that the
supposed deficiency would be SO great
es to render delay in providing other
resources dangerous to the public
health. It was freely asserted that the
was due to the amount of rain
fall, which theorists claimed had ma
terially diminished in the United
States in proportion as the surface OF
the country had been cleared of forests
and built up or placed under cultiva-
ton. With a view to determine the
question with accuracy and to setting
all doubts on the subject at rest Mr..
Danial Draper, Director of the Meteo-
rological Observatory in Central Park
in this city, has caused to be made,
during every day of the past three
years, reliable observations from self
rain gauges. The results
obtained, as well as other valuable in
formation regarding the climate of this
section of the country, he has en-
bodied in the annual report of the
under his charge, for the
year 1870.
During 1859. the total rainfall was
$50 inches: 1870, 1882 inches, and
1871, 52.06 inches: so it is evident that,
instead of there being a decrease as has
been strongly urged, the last year
shows considerable increase of either
Of the years preceding. To render
the fact still more striking, the results
Of observations made during the past
thirty-six years are added, from which
it is proved that from 1885 to 1916 tn
rainfall was 39.5 inches, from 1S45 to
1856, AZ inches, from 1855 t. 1866 and
from 1866 to 1872, 81 inches, moving
large and steady aiigmentatNh. Dur
ing the above period, although great
changes on the face of the country be-
tween the Mississippi and the Atlantic
Ocean have been made, no correspond
ing diminution can be Traced in the
mean amount of water that has fallen,
SO that it is considered as concluded
that over large tracts there is perfect
compensation, the decrease at one
place being compensated by the in
crease at another.
But the actual supply of water does
not depend upon the rainfall alone. 1t
is diminished by evaporation caused
by heat and consequent dry winds, by
the condition of the surface which, if
hard or frozen, prevents percolation,
and also, in combination with the
latter, by the rapidity Of the descent of
the rain, in which event the quantity
of water that belongs to whole month
may fall in the course of few hours,
and, rushing over the surface, may be
lost. Agricultural conditions also,
though not affecting rainfall, have a
powerful influence in causing rain.
waste. Thus growing plant vapor-
Hes from its leaves an immense amount
of water which its roots have abstract
ed from the soil. A sunflower, it is
stated, will remove twenty ounces of
water in single day.
From the consideration of the
amount of rainfall, it is a natural
transition to that of the problem Is
the climate of New York and the At
lantic States undergoing modification?
In this connection, We may cite GER
tain interesting facts which are doubt
less generally familiar to the inhabi-
tants of this city. Thus there are no
terized the winters of years gone by !;
the cold weather seems to begin later,
and probably all have remarked the
absence of the huge sleighs which were
substituted for horse cars and stages in
our streets. Indeed, SO far as appear
ances go, the winters have become
mi1der, and, On the other hand, the
summers have become cooler; for, in
spite of the vagaries of the thermO-
meter during last summer, when at
times the mercury seemed to have
taken q permanent abode among the
nineties, it will be remembered that
the intense heat rarely exceeded q few
weeks in duration and did not extend
through months of unbearable sultri.
ness. In a rapidly growing city like
New York, several local causes may
be assigned in explanation of these
changes of temperature. The quantity
of fuel consumed has necessarily in
creased ia proportion to the number of
buildings erected, and, moreover, the
reflection and radiation of the SUMS
warmth from the vertical sides, or its
absorption by the dark cOlOred metal
roofs of the houses, must tend to ele-
vate the temperature and aid in pro
ducing a thaw in winter. The facts,
therefore, as observed In cities, are by
no means complete guides to general
climatic changes.
Resort has, however, been had to
data of a more extended Typographical
nature, for instance, the opening and
closing of the Hudson River, which,
flowing for $50 miles through varied
localities, affords information regard
ing the quantity of heat over a long
line. Records, nevertheless, of the
past fifty years, show that there has
been no important change in the num-
Der of days the river has been frozen.
The same is true of the Baltic rivers of
Europe for the last three centuries.
Again, the average height of the Their
mometer for the months of January.
February and March for the past half
century is 33.06o, which, taken in con-
nectiOn with the fact above given con-
corning the river, plainly shows that
our winter climate has not changed.
The thermometer records of Phila-
delphia extend back to 1867; taking,
as before, the first three months of the
year, the average for fifty-six years is
80. SO, for different periods distributed
along 80 years, So 23o, so that the mean
temperature of Philadelphia during
the winter is some 2.66 degrees above
that of New York. moreover, no SEN
sible change in this locality is appar-
ent. At Charleston, s. c., for five
periods between 1850 and 1854, the
total average is $500, and although
the individual averages of tine separate
intervals differ sometimes widely the
general climate has undergone no
modification. Considerations such as
these may satisfy us that the surface
alterations, which the Atlantic States
have undergone since their first settle
ment, as was predicted by Humboldt,
have produced no meteorological Ell
fects, and that the rainfalls and win
tiers probably remain the same as they
were many years ago. While such is
our final conclusion, we must bear in
mind that thes: mean or average re-
suits exhibit only one phase of the
problem. They do not show the fact
that there are brief cycles of heat and
cold, of moisture and dryness, under
the operation of some unknown law,
a law which is perhaps not of meteoro-
logical but of asurOnUInioal origin
and, moreover, they make no allow
ance for the imperfections in the in
struments or tables used in days gone
by.-Scientifc american.
The Vice of the Age.
A lively sermon on the Vice of the