National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-05-29
ADVANCE WEATHER BUREAU.
How 1 Discovered tho Weather system
of the Glohe.


of the Globe.
EDITOR NATIONAL REPUBLICAN,: In reply
to your question, will try to make brief
and clear explanations.
II Laplace rightly regards the mutual at
traction Of the planetary masses as system
Of mechanical force, then my system COM
bines a few simple principles OF several
sciences, as physics, mechanics, astronomy,
&C., and, being mathematical, is, so far,
exact. For simplicity, weather science may
be called thermal, since heat, with It's rela-
tive absence, cold, is the prime source OF
all Its phenomena. Yet light, with It's rela-
tive darkness, enters closely into the condi-
tions Of fair and foul, and It was wholly
and solely through the phenomena OF light
that made my first discovery.
noticed cold, pale, dim, and cherries
sunlight one forenoon forty years or more
ago, the sky being clear / asked myself
the cause Of this singular phenomenon.
had, long before, settled, for myself, the
fact Of tides Of the air from the great law OF
the mutual attraction Of masses o. matter
according TO their relative densitles, and in
versely according to the square Of their dis.
tanccs. Yet, even now, some deny that
that there are air tides, or, II so, that they
are appreciable. But the air tide answered
my question. Familiar with the laws OF
refrGction Of light and heat In passing
through medium OF increasing density,
/ said: Part Of the light due is re-
fracted and concentrated on some
other locality, and, IL so, as light
and heat are similarly affected by refrac-
tion, the thermometer exposed to the sun
must show these tidal variations OF heat in
its passage through the air and reveal the
key to the. changes OF temperature, and
hence Of the weather. During that aud
every day and night for fifteen years kept
up my watch and study with only neces-
sary interruptions, recording every move
ment up and down and every pause OF the
mercury In the thermometer, and the move
ment of time each occurred. Every day
contributed some new discovery Of prin-
| ciplc or coincidence, orsuggested some new
| generalization pointingt to n law. lnprOcess
OF time / mastered, reduced, and matured
| the longitudinal system OF tho succession
| of the hot waves and the cold intervals or
| "dipsn between the waves. But as the
earth makes an entire revolution Of 360o In
| tweniy.four hours, showing the play OF
both the two great acreal tides OF twelve
| hours each, of course the focal periods and
the cold intervals, or "dips,n were short;
yet giving all the brief and rapid changes
| Of temperature constantly occurring
| through the day, but only fully aud clearly
shown by exposure Of the thermometer TO the
sun. But these rapid changes gaveno clew to
the weather. But, knowing that an hour
| of time measured 15o In space, changed
| longitude or time to degrees In space and
| applied my principles to the very much
slower latitudiual movements OF the sun
and moon in decllnatlon, or latitude In the
| heavens. This gave longer periods OF heat
| and cold and clear and strong grip on
| the weather and Its changes, as revealed IN
the slower movements Of the great tides of
| the air. AS soon as got hold of some STA
bic principles, / began to predict; my mis-.
| takes helping to arrest and fix my attcn-
tion to points, and make me familiar with
the principles and laws l had already
| verified.
The basis Of my system, then, is that the
SUMS heat, in its radiation through the
e0rth's atmosphere, comes very irregu
larly, from day to day and from hour to
| hour as well as from month to month.
| This is due to the ever-varying refraction OF
the crests Of the waves, into which found,
| by constant watch and study OF this refrac-
| tion, the great tides of the air were subdi-
| vided. The tides and waves are convex,
with rounded crests, and act like convex
lens making refractlon, with all its conse-
| quences, inevitable. This concentration of
heat makes all the waves of the air hot in
| their action and character. II Is the great
aerial valleys between the tides and the in
tervals or dips, between the waves, that are
| cold, because their heat is difracted aud
turned away by the lens-action Of the
| waves.
Another reason why the "dips," and not
the waves, are cold is that the "dips,"
like the low tides or valleys, being con-
| cave, are lower In altitude than the crest,
which balloonists tell US, is nearer the
surface OF the earth, and that intenser cold
makes itself felt in the temperature as well
as more evident In the condensation OF the
invisible vapor into visible clouds, &C.,
causing partial vacua, eddies, gusts, dust,
whirls, &c. Hence the crested tides aud
| waves are all hot, never cold wave; while
it is the low tide valleys and the low and
hollow ''dips," or troughs between the hot
waves, that are cold. Thus the term "cold
waven is an unsCieutifc misnomer.
Finally, found, as the best part OF my
discovery that all the hot waves, with their
foreheat and afterheat waves and the inter-
vening cold dips, although some are larger
than others and at greater intervals or less;
still, their distances in latitude and longi-
tude from the sun and moon are perma-
nently fix and never vary. The same is
true Of their relative distances. This great
fact is the basis Of eXactness, stability, aud
certainty in all weather and its prediction,
and the best result OF my long years of
protracted toll has been TO ascertain their
relative magnitudes, distances character,
|
kind, quality, and character of the coming
weather, from the past and from the cur
rent weather. MS 1t passes before our eyes.
Thus, have given the basis and briefly ex-
planned the principles of my system.
think you will see at once that they are
simple and philosophical.
The "method" or process and "the man
ner In which arrive at results" are as fol-
lows:
/. By the Nautical Almanac find the
declination and meridian passage OF the
sun and moon for the given place, its lati
tude and longitude being known.
2. BY very simple processes of computa.
tion and inspection, l proceed to find
whether hot waves, cold dips, or omlnous
stormpits, are dominant; or what "casts''-
1. c., combinations of either--are In force at
any given hour, and, as they are In constant
motion and change, find the hourly domi-
nants and their relative dominance (Which
depends on their latitudinal or longitudinal
distance) for each passing hour. This gives
me, on the page Of the Nautical, map OF
picture Of each hours weather Respect
fully, F. /. CAPEN, Chief.
| About Mr.. Gorham's Criticisms.
EDITOR NATIONAL REPUBLICAN: am 9
daily subscriber to your paper. Although
voted for Mr.. Blaine do not know hin