The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-03-08
Weather-Prophets.


The failure OF Wiggins is calculated
to undermine popular confidence in
prophets of all sorts, but particularly
weather prophets. To be sure Wiggins
has risen to explains; but the explana-
ton is worse than the failure itself, and
increases the popular disappointment,
rs it heaps failure upon failure. Thin
as the storm was, the explanation is
thinner. After Virgins had failed. it
was a little cruel to interview him, but
Wiggins was ready with his reasons.
He said; THE astronomical day begins
at noon on the meridian of London and
our day begins at twelve o'clock at
night. ] overlooked this fact, so that
the side OF the earth presented to the
| planetary face was the opposite to that
which gave. did not notice my mis-
| take unit this evening, so the storm fell
on the Pacific instead of the Atlantic"
1t will strike the unscientiiic and un-
| prejudiced reader that it was a very
serious mistake in the calculations of a
man who was astronomer, astro!oger
and meteorologist combined to get the
wrong side of one planet turned towards
| the sun when making predictions OF an
earth-shaking storm. Nennor fell into
obscurity for sma Ter mistakes than
that, and it is safe to say we shall soon
hear no more of Wiggins The Canadi-
an prophet will sink farther out of sight
than the St Louis one, indeed, and de-
servedly, for man who can't tel
whether he is on his feet or his head
when he is making predictions and gets
the whole world wrong end to is not to
be trusted with the weather
In the Wiggins prophecy, however,
there is wheel within wheel. 1t
now appears that Wiggins is about to
spring an almanac upon the public,
and his predictions for February and
the one yet to be fulfilled in March are
only advertisements for the almanac
1t is one OF the strange phases of the
human mind, perhaps we should say
one of the most conspicuous weaknesses,
that it takes to almanacs, although al
manacs from time immemorial have
been gay deceivers. Not one of them
could ever be trusted from /adSiel' S
down to Josh Billings. The only one
that ever told the exact truth was that
immortal ed by Washington Irving in
the "Sketch Book which had "About-
tn s-time-eXpect-w weather. orsome-
thing OF that sort, stretched clear down
the page from the first to the last day
OF the month. And yet knowing its
absolute falsity, the human mind Graves
the almanac No house is without it.
1t is daily consulted, and, though it may
guess wrong ninety times in hun.
dred, the hundredth guess is ha led
with as iubilant reclamation as the onC
sinner in a hundred. No amount of
failure undermines the popular faith
in the almanac. The old reverence
for the astrologer and the prophet still
survives when the predictions are put
upon record in the almanac. When
Mother Symptoms direful vaticinatior
was printed it was universally believed,
and there are many people even to-day
who believe that it all cane true iT
1881. 1t is not so much the compiler o
the almanac as the almanac itself which
is regarded with the same eur osity anC
awe that inspires the African as he ap
proaches his fetish. No per on in New
England ever knew who was the rea
author of the old Farmers Almanac
and yet an attack upon its verify or {
doubt of the absolute correctness of its
weather statements, even at this lati
day, would raise as great a storm Of in
dignation in that section as would ~
outrage committed against the grass
! hopper or Faneuil Hall. We may ex
2 pc t that Virgins will disappear, bu
3 Virgins almanac, like Vennor' S
5 though Vennor has pas ed out of sight
: will be widely sought for. There is nj
I method of getting before the world sC
easy as that of the almanac. The pub
, Usher who refused to pay Josh Billing
: $3.50 for his almanac has kicked him O.
ever since he heard that another pub
! Usher took it and has paid j. b. $25,00
{ in copyrights.
Q Fugitive prophecies for weathe
I prophets have been irrerievably iniure
| by Wiggins. Though he has imploret
4 both the Dominion and the Americal
l Governments not to allow any vessel
9 10 go out on the date of his Marc
storm they will go all the same. BIZ
the weather-plophets may yet live il
: their almanacs. Even General Haze
e would be considered rs more reliable
, he calculated his are Of low thermon
/, eter and barometer for a year to com
/: and p inted them in an almanac, an
e he certainly would be spared from tn
: searching criticisms which have bee
n made upon his management of the Sig
f nal Service. x chicago Tribune
g .