Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-01-21
WEATHER LORE.
UNRellABILtTv OF THE OLDEST
,NhAsiTANT" As A PROPHET.
Animais' distinctive Forsknowlsdgs Of
weather Changes-The Brute Cres-
tion Not Reliable Prophets-Scl-
entiao Representations.

On one of the south avenues dwells .
retired merchant known to all his friends
a. an accurate and painstaking meteoro.
logical obsers ser. He was found at his
home BY reporter aud proved 10 be the
possessor Of An inexhaustiSle fund Of
weather lore
.What kind Of Q winter are We seiag
to have." he repeated We'll. should
say Q cold one As far IS It Is possible 70
forecast the weather the indications arc
that next winter will be unusually cold
NO the thick onion peel nor the musk,
rat house have NO bearing on my prog.
nosticationa II there is anything that At
tentive observation has more completely
exploded than another it Is the unreliable
ity Of the oldest inhabitant IS q weather
prophet. His deduction from the manner
In which the muskrst constructs his abode
il pure bosh Why. last fall muskrat
houses fairly lined certsin parts Of the
Ohio, and because they were built SO close
to the water It was argued by. some thai
We were going TO have . mild winter
Well. we had very severe one. and when
spring came the freshet arose and mill
ions Of muskrats persisted. and theiI
houses were washed away by the flood
NATURAL BARoMETERs.
.But there appears to be some reason
to believe that animals have certain in
stinctive warning Of changes in the
weather. knew Q mill man at Sturgeon
Bay. Mich. who had . hog which could
foretell . storm absolutely twenty foul
hours In advance Of the squall. Thil
porker when disturbed by the changing
atmosphere would become seized with
terror and would scamper about the in
18th h;o fooSh MI
Of wood and sidings as If apparently
anxious to form them into some prOtec
ton that would shield him from thu
storm
But all animals act as . sort Of natura
barometer. and are endowed with sens<
which tells them when the atmosphers
begins to be affected by q storm. Tsmt
geese you know. ry and squawk befor'
Q storm, and swallows and larks scar e
the upper regions of the atmosphere 4
escape the heavy vapors tha. precede I
storm. Birds always anoint themselve.
ON the appearance Of rain. 50 as to secure
their feathers from moisture that they maj
be able to fly higher than usual Then do
mestic cattle by their restlessnessness fore
tell the coming of . change in thu
weather. The atmosphere is generally
heavier on account of tho electric vapol
that arise. hence their irritab' ty. Fol
the same reason The man troubled with {
bad corn is likewise made t. feel thu
| change Horses rub themselves. shak'
their heads, and snuff the air by turnin
up their noses: dogs throw up the eartl
with their paws; the little ant labors dill
gently and the bees keep near their hives
, and all because the increasing weight oi
the atmosphere foretells the coming at
mospheric disturbance.
SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION.
But it is not given to the brute crea
tion TO prophecy correctly the duration o.
winter nor its degree Of cold Only pa
| tient study of the weather phenomenon
will aid in doing this, but en- at tn,
present day our knowledge on the sub
.ect ID NOT equal to the task. and often
times representations based on scentifi,
observation and calculation have proved
to be misleadidg The utmost that cal
be maintained up 70 date is that the an
nual mean temperature is almost uni
form year in and year out tn,
weather record for the past quarter of ,
century Is proof Of this. and, excluding
1856. 1857, 1873, lss3-years Of un
usually low tempersture--it will be foun(
that the highest annual mean is but l.
degrees above the mean of the period
and the lowest but IL degrees. or, In
cluding both, Il will only reach degrees
.Dr Loomia IN authority on meteor
oloGy. declarss that relying upon tn
constancy Of climate. which has beer
established by observation. ve may
predict the probable general chsrscte oi
any month Of the year The climate Of Z
country remains permanently the sam'
from age to age.