The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-01-27
WEATHER. SIGNS.
natures Means OF Indicating the Coming
of "A storm.

The wind rises, forctclling storm.
1t cries and means at the window as if
it lamcnted the evil it was powcrless to
prevent. 1t is Il sound which tries the
nerves already sinking us the electric
stimulus is withdrawn from the air. The
low spirits VIC arc unable to account for
are often caused by the suspension of tho
bracing, positive electric current during
change OF weather, too slight, per-
hapS. for us To- notice. This sinking of
spirits uncon.ciously leads sensitive pco-
pie To regard the cry OF the wind rs II
sort OF banshCc warning of disaster and
wreck. This is one of the oldest SUPER
stiuons in the world. for before the time
of Virgil and 'rhcocritus. when to Greek
and Etrurian an eclipse was the frown
of an offended deity and Il comet was a
hcry messenger Of wrath, the sigh of the
wind was full of unuttcrablc Dortcnts.
In oldcu days. when window frames
were not ~ close rs ours and chimney
crannics offered pipe for any tune the
wind chose to play upon it, imaginative
cotters wovr many 4 legend of demons
OF the air and witches shricEing discord
ana horror. as if
The cloudy mir was filled round about
with hu"inE cries ana wOtil, wailing plants
'r'-N''i'iN u lt'ltloll IL IuIl OI Sllcn
tales, and we are all primitive enough
to feel touch of creeping dread ut the
eldrich voices of the wind, forpctful that
the clamor and wailmg is only the wind
forcing itself through crevicc too small
for it.
The world is full of supcrsitions which
have arisen rs naturally rs the childish
dread of the wailing of the wind. But
ypll r>nSt hn cpr, l,t tb,,,>
ideas have neither meaning nor worth
before you throw them away. A super
stitlon Is not always thing to be
laughed at, q truth which the latest re-
search of science Strikingly illustrates.
In places on the west coast of Eng
land, on the calmcst, quictest of DAYS, a
strange, hollow moan is heard from n
distance at sea, although the waves lie
sleeping at ones feet. Fifty wears AGO
the coast folk believed it the voice of a
spirit, by the old heather Saxon name
of Bucca, which forctold tempest and
woe. You hear tho voice now, ominous
as of yorc, but you know that it is the
noise OF Il storm 50 far off on the Atlantic
that lis swell has not even reached
shore. Sound travels so much faster
than currents of air that the TEMPEST
reaches the ear long before the first
ripple of wind touches the check. Sound
in air travels about thirteen miles a
minutes in water four times as fast, out
stripping the speed of any tornado
known. The shore ut these places
gathers the sound rs in the drum of the
ear, and currents striking eastward
carry the roar of storms which are
sweeping midocean hundreds Of leagues
away, not II blast of which may ever
ycA the shore 1t is wonderful what
carriers of sound and motion the great
empty spaces Of the ocean are. Before
n gale is felt in the British isles heavy
swell sets the lightship swinging at tho
station of tho Kish and Cookie Cat,
while at Valentia 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 tho day is
perfectly calm. A cyclone eff DAYS at
sea has sent these surgcs to tell the
shore nf its work.
w II istant hills look clear, sailors
forbod storm. When instead of it's
usual haze, Muc hill, as seen from Ded-
ham, invites the eye to pierce it's dclls
and woody paths in singular clcarncss,
we know il is the last of our good
weather for awhile How is thisp A
great German observer says the moisture
in the air washes its dust and impurities
away, leaving this beautiful clcarncss.
But this reason fails to be satisfactory.
Why isn't il a. clear after rain as well
as before it, when wc know the woods
fold their b'uest mist about them, az il
to keep their rcCcSscs fresh? | prefer
thn thnn,.,, l,nt bn ,i, l..F
has rcfricting quality which brings
distances near lI.c the glasses Of tele-
scope How does it gain this quality at
one time and not at another? Perhaps
by the different arrangement of its mole
culeS by the alteration Of the electric
current so that various layers of the air
act like lenses i'll 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 great
prism, and the slopes are outlined with
purple and laid with roscatc tingcs of
enchanting harmony.
You have heard of the old signs and
sayings about the right time of the moon
for sowing seeds and expecting rain Mt
such quarter, and you have laughed
at tho idea that the moon had anything
to do with the affairs of the earth beyond
giving light like big lantern. "In
fact" )" writes one English scientist, "the
influence of the moon on the weather is
ms mythical as its influence over human
life" Presently the same writer speaks
of 'thc powerful agency of the moon in
causing tides of ocean and of air, sub
ject to the same tidal influences.
Farther he declares that "changes OF
the weather arc associated with various
aspects of the moon" Mr. Park Harri-
son, one OF the closest observers of
modern times, after studying mass of
concludes that there is a
in tho moon to warm the
earth at her first quarter and cool it Mt
the third, slightly but pcrceptibly. Mr..
Glaishcr, the celebrated meteorologist,
finds that there are more north winds
in one-half OF the moons period and
more south winds in the other--causes
quite sufficient to affect such susceptible
things as the germs of seed
But leaving the slight additional heat
given by the moon out of tho question,
brings n now and serioua Dhasa