The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-01-21

Natures Moan. oc tnGicn!im. tho Coming
OF q S'nrrr.

pIcNcut. II IS SOUnu Whlcn tries the
nerves already sinking as the electric
stimulus is withdrawn from Che air. The
low spirits we are lmabl" TO account for
are often caused by tho suspension ftho
bracing, positive electric current during
Il change of weather, too slight per-
hapS, for us 10 notice. This sinking of
spirits unconsciouSly leads sensitive peo-
| pie to regard the cry of the wind us u
sort of banshec warning of disaster and
wreck. This is one of the oldest super
stitions in the world for before the time
| of Virgil and Thcocritus, when to Greek
and Etrurian an eclipse was the frown
of an offended deity ard comet was Il
| fiery messenger of wrath, The sigh of the
wind was full of multCrab!c Dortents.
In oldcn days, when window frames
were not as close rs ours and chimney
crannies offered pipe for any tune the
| wind chose to play upon it. imaginative
cottcrs wovc man q legend of demons
of the air and witches shricking discord
and horror, as if
| Tho cloudy air WAS filed round about
| With howling cries and worT!, waiting plants
Old-comtry tradition is full of such
tales, nnd we are all primitive enough
to feel n touch of creeping dread at the
cldrich voices OF the wind forgrtful that
the clamor and wailing is only the wind
forcing itself through cvcvicc too small
for it.
The world is full of supcrstitions which
have arisen rs NATURALLY is the childish
dread of the wa;ling of the wind. But
you must be sure that these wcll-worn
| ideas have neither meaning nor worth
before you throw them away. A super
stition is no! always thing to be
laughed at, truth which the latest re-
search of science s;r;kingly illustrates.
In places on the west coast of Eng
land, on the calmcst, qu;ctost of days. u
| strange, hollow moan is heard from n
distance at sea, although the waves lie
sleeping at ones feet. Fifty years ago
the coast folk believed it the voice of Il
spirit by the old hoathcn Saxon namo
of Bucca, which for1told tempest and
woe. You hear the voice now, ominous
as of yorc, but you know that it is the
nOiso of Il storm SO far oil on the Atlantic
that it's swell has not even reached
shore. Sound travels 50 much faster
than currents of air that tho tempest
reaches the car long before the first
| ripple of wind touches the cheek. Sound
in air travels about thirteen miles Il
minute; in water four times as fast, out
| stripping the speed of any tornado
| known. The shore at these places
gathers the sound as in the drum of the
ear, and currents striking eastward
carry the roar of storms which are
sweeping midoccan hundreds of leagues
away, not Il blast of which may ever
vcX the shore. 1t is wonderful what
carriers of sound and motion the great
empty spaces of the ocean are. Before
o gale is felt in the British isles q heavy
swell sets the lightship swinging nt the
station of the Kish and Cocklo Cat,
while at Valcntia the surf rises twenty
| four hours before the storm reaches that
projecting point. In the bay of Mon
terey, California, the pillows come tear
ing in from the Pacific while the day is
perfectly calm. A cyclone off days at
sea has sent these surges to tell the
shore of ils work.
When distant hills look clear, sailors
forbode storm. When instead of its
usual haze, Blue hill, us seen from Ded-
ham, invites the eye to pierce its dclls
and woody paths in singular clearncss,
we know it is the last Of our good
weather for awhile. How is this? A
| great German observer SAYS the moisture
| in the air washes its dust and impurities
! But this reason fails to be satisfactory.
Why isn't ii as clear after Il rain as well
as before it, when We know The woods
fold their hI,ust mist about them, as if
| to keep their rrccssrs fresh? ! prefer
the theory that the air before a storm
| has rclracting quality which brings
distances near, like the glasses of a tcic-
scope. How does it gain this quality at
one time and not at another? Perhaps
| by the different arrangement of its mole
oulcs by the alteration Of tho electric
current so that various layers OF the air
act like lenses in degree. One finds
the same lcnsc-likc quality in the air of
Arizona plains when mirage is visible,
and on the northwest prairics, when at
times it is like looking through a great
prism, and the slopes are outlined with
purple and laid with roscatc tingcs of
enchanting harmony.
You havo heard of the old signs and
sayings about the right time of the moon
for sowing seeds and expecting rain at
such a quarter, and you have laughed
at the idea that the moon had anything
to do with the affairs of the earth bcyona
giving light like big lantern. ''E.
fact" writes one English scientist, "thc
influence of the moon on the weather is
rs mythical as its influence over human
life" Presently the same writer speaks
of "the powerful agency of the moon in
causing tides of ocean and of air, sub
icct to the same tidal influences.
| Farther he declares that "changcs of
the weather are associated with various
aspects of the moon" Mr.. Park Harri-
son, one of the closest observers of
modern times after studying Il mass of
observations, concludes that there is q
tendency in the moon to warm 'hc
earth at her first quarter and cool IL at
the third, slightly but pcrccptibly. MIR.
Glaishcr, the celebrated mctcOrologist,
finds that there arc more north winds
in onc-half of the moons period and
more south winds in the Othcr-cRuscs
quite Sufficient to affect such susceptible
things as the germs of seed.
But leaving the slight additional heat
given by the moon out of the question,
research brings a new and serious phase
of the moons influence before us. The
moon is n radiator and reflector Of the
suns heat which pours upon her for q
period fourteen times the length Of our
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