Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-05-16
REGULATING THE WEATHER.

least power TO influence results. In as
tronomy for instance his knowledge as
sumes mathematical accuracy, vindi-
Gated by the ability to predict; yet he
cannot shift the course of sun, moon or
stars one hair breadth. On the other
hand, where mans power Is greatest,
as in the movements of human society,
Of which man alone is the motor, his
knowledge Of how to compass desired
results, or to predict consequences,
reaches its minimum. Between these
two extremes lie numerous fields OF
action, where the adage holds, and In
creased knowledge gives increased
power to effect results. But there Is
one department Of cosmogOny, bearing
directly on the comfort and necessities
Of man, in which he has hitherto devel-
oped neither knowledge nor power. We
allude to that every day topic Of peren'
NAL interest-the weather,
What is more uncertain than the
wind, which, according to the higher
authority, blows whittier it listetl!
Can man ever fathom its freaks, DIS
cover whence it comes or where 1t goes
and anticipate its eccentric courses I?
The rain falleth upon the just and un-
Just. VIII man be ever able TO WOO
and win 1t to his whitening crops at
will?
Copernicus studied for years a
tangling mass Of astronomical tables,
and ultimately reduced their mystlfy-
ing myriads of planetary cycles and cpl
cycles into circular orbits round a
common centre. Tycho Brahe devoted
his life to noting the eccentricities Of
Mars, and left an heirloom Of perplex-
ing maps filed with lines and arcs, IN
dicating no more system than the mil
lions of separate straws IN a haystack.
Yet Kepler, by means Of the Coperni-
can key solves the riddle and was ena-
bled to evolve the grand principles
which have reduced astronomy TO =
science as exact as Euclid.
The Signal Service Bureau, estab-
Hshed a few years ago, is accumulating
tables of temperature, atmospheric
pressure, rainfall, and storm paths,
from the study of which it is not I'M
reasonable to expect that some future
Copernicus or Kepler will discover the
general laws governing the weather.
Already scientists are on the alert, and
many isolated condolences of pbenOm-
cna have been noted, and principles Of
limited application discovered. The
developments thus far indicate a be-
wildering completely Of laws, similar
to the old astronomy, and We suspect
that our sgraaS are Travelling through
the same stage Of investigation. But
when the data and statistics become
sufficiently numerous, and the true
genius comes to study them, the active
principles that control the weather
may prove to be as few and simple as
the laws of Kepler.
At the recent meeting of the Ma
tionaI Academy Of Sciences at Wash
ington, Prof. Loomis, of Yale College,
read a very interesting paper on the
average duration of storm-paths and
their velocity of progress. The re-
suits of d previous study Of 3l4 cases
from the weather maps Of 1872 and
1873 were confirmed IN a remarkable
manner by the III storms recorded in
1874, giving an aggregate Of 4S5
cases in the three years from which to
deduce resemblances and diyergences.
The averages Of each year We're found
remarkably uniform as to direction
and velocity, the most rapid progress
Of a storm centre occurring Feb. >,
1874, being 533 miles per hour, and
tie slowest Aug. q, being only 50
miles. The movement Of the storm
centre Is to be distinguished from the
violence Of the wind itself, which Is
generally if not universally cyclonic,
50 that a storm which advances very
slowly may prove all the more destruc.
tive from that very cause.
a second principle established, is
that the maximum velocity is always
about S O'Clock P. NJ, the hour when
the temperature of the day is declining
most rapidly. Around this point it
varies somewhat with the season, being
earlier in winter and later in summer,
but all the great storms occur from
4:35 to II z. NJ. An attempt TO ascer-
tain the relation between the rainfall
and the winds velocity did not prove
50 satisfactory, although principles
were discovered indicating that when
ever the precise limits Of the rain area
round a storm centre can be given, the
course Of the storm can be accurately
predicted.
Still another curious fact elected is
that a storm is always detected from
its course toward the centre Of a high
barometer. As the storm itself is al
ways accompanied by a low barometer,
this indicates that the violence of the
elements is really an attempt to restore
their equilibrium. Practically, this
fact is Of great Importance. When
cold Probs" receives Geographic in
formation Of a storm brewing at some
distant point, be can look at his maps,
note the various wind currents and the
centres ofhigh and low barometer, from
which he can predict the approximate
course Of the coming storm, and fore
warn those a hundred or a thousand
miles away.
Prof. LOOMS thinks that sudden
falls of temperature, such as we have
frequently experienced during the past