The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-04-01
The Wonderful Winter of 1ss1.,s2.

The Wonderful Winter Of 1SS1-'S2.
The winter of 1SS1-'S2 has, according
to the calendar of the seasons, given way
to spring. and, as is not often the case in
this latitude, spring has visited this north
ern locality strictly on time, and the
genial season is upon us without meeting
any lingering trace of winter.
The winter Just closed has been won
derful one, even in these days of the I'M
usual and unexpected, marvellous and ex-
traordinary. 1t is almost Unprecedented
that in this city the thermometer has not
fallen below zero during the entire win
ter, and that during the greater part of
the season from November to March
it has been above freezing point, and that
upon but one or two occasions, and then
for brief periods, has it fallen as low as
ten degrees above zero. .'t ",'' 90. t@"''
Another remarkable instance in the
history of the winter justpassed has been
the absence OF snow. During the winter
of 18S0-'81 snow, and deep snow, was
the rule. There was not only frequent
repetition of heavy snow-storms, but the
snow remained on the ground in such
depths during at least three months as
to seriously interfere with and obstruct
street travel. The horse-cars were re-
peatedly prevented for days from run
ming, and for weeks at time had to en-
ploy double teams. One line of horse
railway suspended travel for three weeks.
and at the end of that time was COM
PEELED to use the pick in order to uncover
the track from the accumulated ice and
snow. Nor was the general railway
traffic any more fortunate; come of the
railways were unable to operate. their
trains, owing to the repeated deep falls
of snow, except by the employment of
thousands of laborers, who excavated
the drifts, piling it on fat-cars, by which
it was hauled off. On several occasions
the trainSrunning into this city were sus-
pended, and the week or more of the
milk famine,n when the milk-trains
were cut off from the city, will be long
remembered. .... -.. ...... . =
Compared with that rigorous winter
the one which has just now given way to
spring seems all the more remarkable.
and will long be considered exceptional.
Except two or three days, when the fall
of snow did not exceed an inch at any
one time, and this disappeared in few
hours, Chicago has had fairer and more
agreeable weather than often happens in
ordinary springs What had this extra
ordinary winter in store for man? The
extreme rigor of the preceding winter
left legacy of excessive drouth, which
was followed in many sections of the
West by great loss of corn, and wheat,
and oats, and potatoes. The wheat was
such failure that in some localities not
enough was gathered for seed In others
the corn persisted under the drouth.
Many sections gathered no hay for many
months, though in the fall there was a
new and bounteous growth that sufficed to
make the pastures good far into the win
ter months. The winter of 1881-'82 was
attended with sickness of great severity,
including the dreaded small-pox-im-
ported here-which has been and is vet
yet almost az epidemic in certain States;
but the prevalence of diseases of other
and equally as fatal types was as great
during the winter of 19S0-'S1. when the
extreme weather intensified human suf-
fering.
The mildness of the past winter has
not been limited to the Western States
alone. 1t has prevailed generally through
out the country and all over Europe,
from st. Petersburg to Constantinople
There, as well as at certain points in
Canada and Nova Scotia, there has
been brief and exceptional cold weather,
but as whole the season has been one
of unusual mildness. To the astrono-
mer, and generally to the scientific
world, the two winters in such ex-
traordinary contrast ought to furnish
the materials for some additional in
formation, not only as to the causes re-
sulting in such opposite temperatures,
but as to the effect of these variations
upon human health and human happi-
ness. Can they from these phenomena
discover anything as to the causes pro-
ducing them? Or can they pluck from
these extremes following each other in
such succession such knowledge as will
enable man to fortell what is probable in
the future, or what effect, if any, the Sc
verify of the one or the mildness of the
other winter may have upon the human
family? Is either, and which of these
winters, a forerunner of pestilence or
famine, or of the opposite of these? The
| direct effect of a severe winter is to kill
by freezing the heat in the ground, and
the direct effect of ydrouth is to burn the
corn and hegrass in the field. But these
have not been general; they have been
confined to localities. Can the man of
science give warning note as to the
general effect of the mild winter of 1882
"a warning that will enable him to
profit by its promised blessings or to
avoid its pre-established blights and ca
lamities? The ordinary weather man"
predicts, but his predictions are so close
upon the time for their fulfllment and
are so frequently disappointments that
I they have small value. Can the men of
science reason out what will be the
weather and its concomitants during the
unexpired seasons of 1882? Can they
4 deduce from the past what will be the
character of the winter OF. 1882
| Is there any connection between the
weather and the severity of disease? Has
it an influence over or otherwise is it a
cause of epidemic or other unusual Wis.
itations of new and pestilential disease
Can science, enlighted by these two
winters of such strikingly opposite char.
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