Omaha daily bee., 1888-07-29
WEATHER PROPHETS.
Two French Savants on the Science
of Meteorology.
ONE DECLARES 1T A HUMBUG
While the Other Enlarges on the
Merits Of Balloons.
BouLANGER'S SHIP is SINKING.
All But the Bonepartists Have Now
Deserted Him.
EVEN HIS FRIENDS ADMIT 1T.
Some Good Words For Amcri-
a Students A Coming Nilsson
-Massenet's New Opera.
Mysteries of the Weather.

Mysteries of the Weather.
tCopyright 1883 by james Gordon Bcnnett.l
PANS, July 2S.-TNew York Herald
Cable-Special to THE BEE.l-The weather
has simply gone mad. Rain and wind nave
everything their own way. The Seine is al
most overlooking its banks. 1t was never
before so high at this time Of year. One
might have expected the director of the Paris
observatory to have a rational explanation of
the eccentric weather ready, but on calling
on Admiral Molichez I found that even he
was unable to %enlighten me. "Nobody
knows anything about it,'' said the gallant
old savaut. 'If any one pretends to, he's a
humbug." Pointing contemptuously to a
pile of weather charts, he continued: Here
are calculations, MAPS, curves by the thou
sand. What do they teach usl Practically
nothing. Meteorology is in it's infancy.
What's more, l am convinced it always will
be. Oh, it's a fine thing for telling us what
weather we had yesterday, but as for
foretelling, sir, it's stuff and nonsense. You
Herald people have organized your weather
service admirably, magniticently. You have
spent enormous sums on it. You can't go
further. If you work on for a hundred
years you won't know more. And what do
we know. Very little. Oh, yes. you can
announce a gale. That is, yon can inform us
by telegraph that a gale has started
in a certain direction but you
don't know whether it will reach
L., ,n n, ,plnt.,a, IL ,-11 ~.la,,a ..-o1c =.
Spain or Norway. Why, not long ago a cy-
clone left America, stood still three days in
mid ocean, and whirled again. We're all in
the dark about the weather, and always
shall be. 1 can tell you it has ralned daily
for the last two months in Paris, that the
temperature has been abnormally low, and
our crops ruined, but 1 can't offer any the
ory to explain the fact. l only
knew that hail destroyed everything
in my garden. No, in all my experience /
never had to record such a summer. The
persistent wet is all the more phenomenal
from its contrast with the habitual dryness
in Paris. A great part of the day the wind
in Paris blows from the northeast, and why
ooSo ~ " buS tiCuoV 1Cdh v Ucl
you. The present wet and cold are local, too.
In Russia it's hot, while in France and
England it's what you see.
"We had a letter the other day from the
director of the Rio Janerio observatory"
SAID the admiral, asking us for regular bulle-
tins to help the founding of a universal me-
neurological bureau. "It's all a dream. II
you had stations scattered over the surface
of the habitable globe, it would be the same.
Meteorology indeed, " and h e!admiral's con-
tempt had exhausted itself.
swell, M. Jouvis, how do you explain the
upset of all your promises Of fine weather.
said /, happening to meet that bold balloonist
to-day.
"Oh, its all that eclipse of the moon,' re-
piled Jouvis, land storm meteorology will
always be a mystification till we have made
up our minds to organize proper balloon
services. What we need is a weekly balloon
ascent which might cost a thousand
francs. Then we should be In
constant communication here with the Her.
aid weather bureau, New York, and one or
two other points, say London and st. Peters
burg. With these means and the instru-
ments l have already, l could promise you a
real weather service very different from the
ridiculous official sham they call a service
absurd than the idea Of squatting
down in a room in the Rue St. Dominique to
predict what the clouds are going to do this
morningl But that's the way with official
people. They bury themselves beneath their
charts and books aud stare straight up in the
air and fancy themselves weather prophets.
AS l once said to ADMIRAL Molichez, "Do
yeu know, Admiral, the way you sci
entists make your observations always
sets me thinking of u colored picture l used
to admire when l was a boy. 1t represented
a learned gentleman gazing at the stars
through a telescope. While he gazes a little
dog runs off with the meat in his basket be.
hind him."
The provincial triumphs of President Car
not this week formed a striking contrast to
the discontinue of Boulanger, who aspires tc
replace him. The sword of FloQuet and the
votes of the Ardeiche elections have made
big holes in the generals reputation. Bou-
langer's friends and foes alike admit that
the generals course is checked. They only
differ in their forecast of his future, his foes
regarding his overthrow as irreparable
while his friends profess hope of his po
litical resurrection. The radical rats are
scattering from Boulanper,s shin and now
his party is practically made up Of Bona
partists. M. De la Fosse, who is himself {
disguised Bonapartist, said the other day
H may recover from S'aday's beating
but should be again be beaten IN the Somme
where he now seeks election, his fall viii
probably be final"
Henry Rochefort affects to find comfort il
his -hero's defeat. "For was not Floquet,