Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-27
Is IT GOING TO Rain F?
By Far the Most Fruitful Topic Of
Ordinary Conversation.
ANCIENT SIGNS AND PORTENTs.
The Work Now Accomplished by the Great
Weather Bureau.
G0ETHE'S IDEAS UPON ATMOSPHERE
ANCIENT SIGNS AND PoRTENTs.
GoETHEs IDEAS UPON ATMOSPHERE
WRITTEN FOE THE DISPATCH,


"What of the weather." SIS it going to
rain?" The world seems to have been born
with q chronic anxiety about the weather.
As stimulant to conversation it is not
mere matter of form. but controls it, because
it controls everything else. King Weather
rules religion, character, cuisine and archi-
lecture. Is it going to rain or snow? be hot
or cold? are inquiries that are directed to
every one we meet. There is no theme so
general, no subject upon which each and
all can talk as intelligibIy as his neighbor.
Each morning millions of people scan the
newspapers for the weather report, and read
the unfailing prophecy of the skies OF the
coming day. Even marriage and death
notices yield to this sovereign.
Fifty centuries passed before the
world was able to predict certainly
the weather of single day, but with the es-
tablishment of the Weather Bureau not 20
years ago, if we follow the weather report
we may know days before what the weather
in all probability will be. The value Of
such science cannot be overestimated, but
the most important Office Of the bureau is
giving warnings OF approaching storms to
vessels. The weather is an extremist 1T
never rains but it pours." In q wet season
it rains to-day because it rained yesterday,
and more than likely will rain tomorrow
for the same reason. 1t is climate that effects
our entire natures. The bright, enterprising
Westerner, tho languid Southerner, the
sharp, scheming Yankee. are all specimens
Of climatic influence. We may resist, but
CLIMATE WILL CONQUER
in the end. Some days are like a dreamy
drfua mil nd
felicity takes her place. Some days are
filled with celestial fires that exhilarate and
electrify, until all the world seems to smile.
Then comes the gloomy. downcast, lowering
clouds, and the world looks at life through
smoked spectacles. Woe to the suppliant
for favors on such dayl Some one has
said, "What is a Yankee but John Bull
plus the American climate?" But what a
transforming power King Weather has had.
in this instance. During this year the war
of the elements has combined against our
entire country-from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, from the North to the South have
the cyclones and floods devastated our land.
"It is the stars"
The stars above Us govern our conditions,
quoth Shakespeare, and in this age, too, the
weather witch" credits Jupiter with all
the storms and deluges Of the past year and
all the prospective horrors of the coming
year, until his power as ruling planet has
passed. But to abuse the weather, we dare
not. for the rain means as much as the sun
light-it means life and growth, and is as
necessary to man as to vegetation. "0ld
Probabilities" has his rivals certainly, in
the almanac followers, in the good old
Dutch, and in the Indian, and their old
signs seldom fail either.
sfIf it rain before 7, it will clear before
H." "a rainbow in the morning, sailors
warming" but "a rainbow at night,
sailors delight" and others, invariably
prove the truth Of the old signs. Yet King
Weather is as capricious, moody, severe or
tender as the monarchs of the olden days.
Hence there is speculation when we look at
the clouds, the moon, the sunset or the stars,
and 'All signs fail in dry weather." Goethe
gave very picturesque cause for the rain,
but as for the science of it-welI, no matter.
He said: 'sI compare the earth and her
atmosphere to q
GREAT LIVING BEING
perpetually inhaling and exhaling. If she
inhales she draws the atmosphere to her, so
that coming near her surface it is condensed
to clouds and rain. This state call water
affirmative" The opposite state he called
"water negative" That it has rained cats
ana QOgS anu pitculOrkb, uSu, ucsu, mdund,
fowls and toads, we all have heard; that il
has never rained umbrellas the most credu-
lous will not doubt, for whoever had an
umbrella when he needed it most Yet ssit
is wise man that carries an umbrella on
dry day." "Old Probabilities signal
stations are getting more numerous every
year. At Mt. Washington the altitude is
over 5000 feet, yet observations are often
made in balloon. The result of each OBJ
servation, all over the whole country, is
telegraphed in cypher to the Signal Office
at Washington. The work at these stations
is simple, being only reading of the instru-
ment at stated times and Of transmitting to
Washington the results.
From these the bulletin of"probabilities"
for the ensuing "a hours is made out and
telegraphed to all newspapers in the coun-
try who are willing TO publish them for the
benefit of their readers, and to all boards of
trade, exchanges, societies, seaports. etc.,
etc. When momentous storms are raging
kilograms are dispatched. received, acted
upon and filed. The irimensity of this sci
ence is absolutely wonderful, and yet Its
system is perfection itsel,. Every report
that reaches the Signal Office is carefully
preserved on file, and at the end Of each
year the Office possesses Q complete history
of the meteorology of every day in the year.
This scientific iorecasting Of the elements
influences all the civilizations Of the earth,
and each year its value Is becoming more
apparent. M. NJ.
r-u--