The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-12-31
Some Interesting Rem1rks Upon n
Familiar. Subject.

weather contains many striking
and eloquent passages. Climate and
weather are compared as follows:
"Climate is geographically fixed,
while weather Is atmo-pherically varia-
bile; climate il a calculated quantity.
while weather is an unknown one. All
sorts of rules are applicable to climate.
but none are applicable to weather.
Climate is monarchy; weather is an
xrchy. Climate is a constitutional gov
ernment, whose Organization we see and
undeIstand; latitude and altitude are its
king and queen; dryness and dampneSs
are its two houses of parliament; an
imal and vegetable products are its
lis newspapers; but weather is a red
hot radical republic, all excitements and
uncertainties, despi$er of old rules, a
hater of proprieties and order. Climate
is great, stately sovereign. whose will
determines the whole character of the
lives and habits of its retaIners, but
whose rule is regular and is therefore so
little felt that it seems like liberty; bnt
weather is a capricious. cruel tyrant. who
changes Its DEGREES each day, and VINO
forces us, by his ever-varying whims, to
remember that we are slaves. Climate
is local; weather is universal. We are
insii fferent to climate because we are ac-
customed to il; but we are dependent on
weather because we never know what
form it will take tomorrow. Climate is
the rule, weather is the exception. CIi-
mate is dignity; weather is impndeDce." +"
The canses of changes in weather are
indicated:
'lf all the air reposed exclusively on
water or on earth alone. there would be
no weather; of course there would be eli
mates, but they probably would be very
nearly free from accidents or changes,
for the reason that no sufficient agent
would be at work to upset their regular
ity, as weather does. 1t il the division
of the earth into sea and land, it is tile
joint though separate action on the at
mosphere of these two bases, which cre-
ate weather; it is the counter working
of those two pavements on the air above
them which provokes its good or bad he
havior; it is the contrast and the clash.
ing betw.e evaporation and precipita.
lion. between the uplifting and the
down-pouring of waters, according tc
the variety of topographic influences
which bring about the wild uncertain
ties of water and destroy the peaceful
unities of climate. It is, however, no
solely because the snrface of the earth
is mixture of wet and dry that thes'
and the diversified disposition of tn,
materials of which the land part of tina
snrface is composed, must also be taker
into account; for, as through their agen
ey, the distribution Of heat on land i
rendered most uneven, the atmospher'
in contact with that land is irregularl,
heated also, its faculty Of absorbing va
por increases or diminishes with it
temperature, and, in this way, a SECOND
motive cause of weather is produced.
At the outaet of the study of tn
clouds on inaolable enigma is encoun
tered:
"Clouds, as has just been said, ar
made of water, and water is eight hun
dred and sixteen times heavier than all
how, then, do clouds manage to get lift
ed in the air, and to stop there comfort
ably, apparently without an effort, an
to travel thousands of miles there, at al
sorts Of PAGES, just as if it were quit
natural ald profitable they should b
: there? Nobody can tell us. Now reall
} il is humiliating that, at the very .outss
of weather: we should encounter an Oh
stacle of this sort, which bars the doc
to all possibility of real intimacy. {
course, wise people have tried to scran
D BILE over it, of course, there have bee
j plenty of suggestions of the peculi'
3 reasons which enable clouds to del
: what are supposed to be the laws "f N;
i ture, to despise attraction. and to moe
+ at gravitation; hut not one of the expl
u nations which have been invented
e considered to be sufficient; the clouG
go on swimming incomprehensivel
above US, in utter disdain of a numb
: Of excellent reasons why they should {
e nothing of the kind. If they behave
: like everything else in Nature tn,
d would never go up at all; but, in tn
e case. they would not be clouds. Son
l. learned gentlemen have asserted tn
clouds are supported by rising cnrreH
of hot air, which PuSfI them mp fro
: below, apparently just as children bic
up soap bubbles and keep them hoatiI
of as long as their breath lasts; othe
e, have considered that electricity, in sor
e, unknown fashion, contrives to hold the
in their places; others, again, have Il
10 ged that the water-globules of whi
TO they are formed contain obscure in ID
lie nal heat which, BY expansion. max
Is them lighter that the surrounding a
Il converts each of them IN that way ir
IN a Motgolfer balloon. and SO enab
nr them TO remain suspended. We ign,
IL ant people are, of course, quite ready
We believe any one of these Interpretation
es or any other provided only the sag
to will teach us which one to adopt; but
'ss long as they hold silence on the poi
an all we can do is to stare inquisitively
or the clouds, and say within ourselv
oy How on earth, now, do you manage il
rk Rain is the frst-born child of I
clouds; fog is the second and snow
o. third.
lie "Rain is incontestably possessed
il: some most remarkable capacities;
nd talents are brilliant; its influence
70. enormous; but the value and merit
re- its qualities are lamentahly diminisI
We. by the capriciousness. the willfulr
mt and the disorder with which it empl
ne. them. OF course. il has the excuse