Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-12-03

signs Which Careful Observers May
Rely Upon.

4 communication to the Southern Planter
deals with the subject Of weather prognostics
Few intelligent persons can have any sympathy
with the sO-called prophets who oracularly
announce phenomena. giving dates, OCCASION
ally making lucky hits, but as often firing their
random shots altogether wide of the mark.
That there is, however something in weather
philosophy, intelligent persons will be quite
ready to concede, and they will be in accord
with the views Of the writer when he recon-
mends the observation of natural phenomena,
which has been long practiced. He says:
If one could read the signs. each day fOretells
the next to-day is the progenitor Of to-mor-
row. When the atmosphere is telescope and
distant objects stand out unusually clear and
distinct. storm is near. We are on the crest
OF the wave. and the depression follows quick.
1t sometimes happens that clouds are not SO
Indicative of q storm as their total absence.
In this state of the atmosphere the stars are I'M
usually numerous and bright at night, which is
also bad omen. 1t appears that the trans
parency OF the air is prodigiOusly increased
when certain quantity OF water is uniformly
difused through if. MOuntaineers predict a
change of weather when. the air being calm, the
Alps covered with perpetual snow seem on a
sudden to be nearer the observer. and their out
lines are marked with great distinctness on the
azure sky. This same condition of the at
mOSpheTe renders distant sounds more audible
IL
Ing that means storm; another that indicates
wind. The first is broad. deep, and angry; the
clouds look like an immense bed of burning
Goals; the second is soft and more vapory At
the point where the sun is going to rise and
q few minutes in advance of his coming. there
rises straight upward rosy column. like a
shaft of dyed vap0r. blending with and vet
partly separated from the Clouds and the ba e
of which presently comes to glow like the sun
| himself. The day that follows is pretty sure to
be windy.
1t is uncertain to what extent birds and ami
mails can fOreteil the weather. When swallows
are seen hawking very high it is q good inGlca-
tion because the insects upon which they feed
venture up there only in the most suspicious
weather.
People live in the country all their lives with
out making one accurate observation about
nature. The good observer 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 inference
swift. There are many assertions, the result of
hastv and incomplete observations. such as. for
| instance. that the way the milky way points ut
night indicates the direction of the wind the
next day: also, that every new moon indicates
either dry or wet 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 severe winter. il soft and loose
the opposite. overlooking the fact that the kind
of food and the temperature of the fall make
the pork hard or soft. Numerous other in
stances could be cited to prove that the would
be shTeWd farmer does not interpret nature in
the right way. and that his conclusions, being
hasty and incomplete. are wrong; and until he
studies nature UNDERSTANDABLE using a little
common sense. so long viii he be more or less
under the ban OF superstition and ignorance.