Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1884-12-27
To FOreten weather.

be on the increase. In last weeks IS
sue we quoted from Cincinnati observ-
er his method Of fortelling the changes
in the weather, from watching the hab-
its of animals. and there now comes
from the South weather prophet who
adds long list of the signs which he
has observed to precede changes in the
weather.
Few intelligent persons says the
Southern Planter, can have any sympa-
thy with the so-called prophets who
oracularly announce phenomena, giving
dates, occasionally making lucky hits,
but as often firing their random shots al
together wide of the mark. That,
there is, however, something in weather
philosophy, intelligent persons will be
quite ready to admit, and they will be
in accord with the view of the writer
when he recommends the observation Of
natural phenomena, which has been
long practiced. He says:
If one could read the signs, each day
fortells the next; to-day is the progeni-
tor of to morrow. When the atmos-
phere is telescope, ant distant objects
stand out unusually clear and distinct,
storm is near. We are on the crest o +
the wave, and the depression follows
quick. 1t sometimes happens that
clouds are not SO indicative OF storm
as their total absence. In this state of
the atmosphere the stars are unusually
numerous and bright at night, which is
also bad omen. 1t appears that the
transparency of the air is soprodgious-
ly increased when certain quantity of
water is uniformly diffused through it.
Mountaineers predict change of wealth
er when, the air being calm, the Alps
covered with perpetual snow seem on
sudden to be near the observer, and
their outlines are marked with great dis
tinctness on the azure sky. This same
condition of the atmosphere renders
distant sounds more audible.
There is one redness of the east in the
morning that means storm; another in
dicates wind. The first is broad, deep,
and angry; the clouds look like an in
mense bed of burning Goals; the second
is soft aad more vapory. At the point
where the sun is going to rise, and
few minutes in lyance Of his coming,
there rises straight upward rosy col.
umn, like shaft Of dyed vapor, blend
ing with and yet partly separated from
the clouds, and the base of which pres
emily comes TO glow like the sun itself.
The day that follows is pretty sure to
be windy.
1t is uncertain to what extent birds
and animals can foretell the weather.
When swallows are seen hawking very
high, it is a good indication, because
the insects upon which they feed ven
ture up there only in the most auspic-
ious weather.
People live in the country all their
lives without making an accurate obser-
walton about nature. The good observ-
er of nature holds his eye long and
firmly to the point, and finally gets the
facts, not only because he has patience,
but because his eye is sharp and his IN
| ference swift. There are many asser.
tons, the result of hasty and incom-
plete observations, such as, for instance,
that the way the Milky Way points al
night indicates the direction of the wind
next day; also, that every new moon
indicates either wet or dry month
There are many other stories about the
moon too numerous to mention. Again,
when farmer kills his hogs in the fall,
if the pork be very hard and solid, he
predicts a severe winter; if soft and
loose, the opposite; overlooking the
fact that the kind of food and the TEN
perature Of the fall make the pork hard
or soft. Numerous other instances
could be cited to prove that the would
be shrewd farmer does not interpret
nature in the right way, and that his
conclusions, being hasty and incomplete
are wrong; and until he studies nature
! Understandings, using little common
sense, so long will he be more or less
under the ban of superstition and igno-
rance Scientific american.