Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-11-01
OUR PRESENT COOL WAVE
From the Far Northwest it Came
And Blew Upon us a Frosty Breath
Why the Temperature OsClIIatss so Va.
rlOusly.

A number Of our citizen meteorolo-
gists who keep thermometers at their
residences report that the temporal
ture dropped early this morning TO
32' others say 33', and still others 34o.
In the signal service Office, the wise
watcher Of the elements says he does
not doubt it. The altitude of each
particular thermometer above the
earth is the cause of those variations,
he explains.
Scientific men have established the
fact that a thermometer placed on the
ground on its back will sometimes
drop eight, ten or twelve degrees lower
than one six or eight feet above the
earth, while one fifty or sixty feet above
the earth will record a still higher
temperature than the one which is
only six or eight feet above the earth.
If a mar will get into a balloon with a
thermometer attached and ascend into
rari6ed space he will find that after he
has attained an altitude of 264 feet his
thermometer will fall just IL lower
than the thermometer placed sixty
feet above the earth. When he has
assembled to an altitude of 528 feet it
will be 2 lower than the one sixty
feet above the earth, and when he has
attained an altitude of 1000 feet the
mercury in his thermometer will fall
more rapidly; hat is, it will fall 10 for
every 80 or 100 feet, and the higher lie
ascends the more rapid will be the fall
Of the mercury, until it will 90 much
lower than the mercury in the Their
mometer on the earth, and still lower
than the one 60 or 100 feet above the
earth. When an altitude of 1900
feet has been attained the temperature
will be almost zero. These facts are
given in answer to questions asked.
Scientific experiments have proved
that at night, between midnight and
daylight, Il thermometer placed on the
earth will drop its mercury s., g., 70,
s or l0o lower than one GO or 100 feet
above the earth, but at midday a Their
mometer on the earth will show a
higher temperature than one 60 or 100
feet above the earth. This is caused
by radiation. And now we are forced
to this conclusion, that at night the
temperature Of the earth is lower than
the temperature 60 or 100 feet above
it, but is not so low by many degrees
as that stratum of air 10000 or $4,000
feet above the earth. In other words,
there is a warmer stratum lying be-
tween that stratum against the earth
and that one $4,000 feet above it.
All this, however, is merely ex.
planatory and has nothing to do with
the Polaric breeze we we're favored
with during the past forty-eight
hours. According to the Signal Ser
vice kilograms this GOODNESS on the
part Of natures e~aloric had its origin,
far to the northwest, beyond where
the weather bureau have stations up
d'ubtless in the Yellowstone park, or
in the region Of Alaska where snow
abounds six months in the year. The
wave seems to have split in its travels
southwark, as the air is re-
corded as being several degrees
colder than ours at stations to the
cast of this, while to the westward a
frigid breeze has been passing down
the line toward the gulf. We may
feel thankful that the temperature
has been so zeal the freezing point.
1t will do much good toward allaying
any uneasy feeling hal may prevail
among timid refugees who have re-
turned. while at the same time it has
purified the air and laid Yellow Jack
| out as stiff as a poker.