The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-10-18
THE SIGNAL SERVICE.
Its Origin, Its Development, and Its
Uses.
From the C0uricf-Jourmdl.

and thou nearest the sound thereof
but cannot tell whence it cometh, OF
whittier it goeth."
However true the above words might
have been at the time they were spo
ken to Nicodemus, they have at the
present time lost their significance, and
the man Of to-day has no difficulty in
pointing out "whence the wind cometh
and whittier it goeth." 1t still, it is
true, "bloweth when it listeth," but its
once mysterious and lawless move.
ments are mysterious and lawless nc
longer. If man cannot control it:
movements, he has at least traced out
its paths, and can follow in its circuits,
The searching intellect Of the Nine
teenth century has proved that what
had previously been always considered
the most lawless Of the powers of ma
ture, is as much the servant of law as
the planet that circles in its orbit. A
few centuries ago such statements
would have been considered RS the
rawlings Of insanity, if not sheer bias
phemy, and the uttcrer of them would
probably have paid for his temerity
with his life. Through all the ages Of
the past the winds have been looked
upon as the very essence of instabili-
ty, and no one ever dreamed that their
comings or their goings were within
the reach of human investi CATION. In
every other field of research men toll
ed arduously, and made vast discove-
ries, but in the one most infinitely con.
nected with the material prospects and
physical condition of mankind, unit
very recently, no progress was made.
Vague conjecture, born of superstition,
took the place of scientific reasoning,
and confusion reigned instead of law.
Meteorology was set phrase in the
mouths Of charlatans or astrologers, OF
consisted in some wild theories con-
cerning shooting stars and the ig,'us
fat,s Of the swamp; the former being
considered as the manifestation of an
angry supernal power, and the latter
the delusion of petty malignant de-
mon who lay in wait to lead poor wan
derers astray. The orbits Of the stars
we're measured, and their revolutions
completed, but as regards the move
ments of the atmosphere in which we
live and move, men knew little or
nothing. Iorricelli made the first step
in the right direction, and made fur
ther progress possible by proving that at
the atmosphere possessed weig ght. Still
more than a century elapsed before
any further advance was made. AT
last chemistry discovered its true COM
position, and iu 1914 DIR. Wells ad-
vanced our knowledge materially by
the discovery of tho true nature OF
dew. How confused were mems opin-
ions on meteorology, even as late as
forty years ago, may be gathered from
the fact that in the year 1886 it was
proposed in the Pennsylvania Lcgisla-
ture to pay MIR. Espy certain sum,
varying from $4,000 to $4,000, if
he would make it rain over certain
extent of country-thc amount OF
money to be paid to be regulated by
the extent of country over which he
would make it rain. We do not think
he ever got the money, as we are GER
tain he never made it rain over any
very large extent Of country, nor is it
in the power of man to do so except
to a very limited extent, and then only
by fostering the natural conditions ne
cessary for such a consummation. The
only instance when the amount Of
rainfall can be influenced is in the
case Of a country naked of timber be-
ing converted into woodland by plant.
ing, or woody country being rendered
bare by the destruction Of its woods.
1t is known from experience that woods
and forests by protecting the earth
from the effects of the lays of the sun,
and by their accellerating radiation,
lower the temperature of Il district and
add to its humidity, which necessarily
increases the rainfall. Even at the
present day, Notwithstanding the vast
diffusion of general knowledge, there
is less known on the subject Of me-
teorology than on almost any other
subject. 1t has not yet risen to the
dignity of a science in the true accep.
tation of the term, nor has it yet
among the general public at least
shook itself free of the old trammels
of astrology and superstition. Still, a
great advance has been made, and es
pccially so within the last twenty years
We have arrived at true idea of the
nature of atmospheric movements, and
have truer notions of meteorological.
subjects generally. We are no more
frightened when fish, frogs or fruit fall
apparently from the heavens, but car
ascribe such strange phenomena tt
their true cause-namely, that they
have been picked up by the winds ano
carried along to the place where they
have fallen. Thus Ehrenberg, witt
his microscope, identified the infuseris
Of the valley of the Amazon in thu
dust which the winds deposited in th'
south of France.
In respect to meteorological knowl
edge, the United States has taken tn
lead of all the rest of the world, an(
has instituted system of syncronou
observations, so that the atmosphere
conditions extending over millions o
square miles of country can be asccr
tsined at any given time, and the ne
cessary deductions drawn therefrom
This is the only rational way of solv
ing the great meteorological problem
and ascertaininS the true nature 0
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