Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-03-21
cursos,sses a the season.

Tho seasons present curious contradic-
tious' In dtfferont quarters Of the globe.
Countries like EgypA, where " never rains,
can be said 70 have but one season. We gem
orally speak OF tho tropics ~ having but
two seasons, wet and dry, but from an
astronomical point Of view they have four
two summers. aud two winters Our
seasons are the results OF the fact that
the sun recedes, or seems 10 recede, from
certain parts Of the globe, and ~ retnras tn.s
temperate zone. When tho sun retircs into
the southern heavens II IL winter for us.
When IL comes back into our northern
heavens II Ia summer. The sun is no farther
from us In the winter than In the summer.
but Its rays strike obliquely over part Of
astronomical and meteorological seasons.
The sun attains Its farthest point In the
southern heavens about the 2lst Of De-
comber, and at once begins To return.
Automatically the weather should at once
begin 70 amelioratc, and continue steadily
to get warmer till the 2lst Of June, when
II has reached Its extreme point in the
northern heavens But II does not The old
saw says when the days begin. to lcngthen
tho cold begins to strengthen, and we all
well know that winter has bad habit,
especially Of late years, of lingering in the
lap of May. This Is because the northern
hemisphere has accumulated certain
amount Of cold and refuses to part with II.
One would naturally suppose that when
the sun begins to go south the weather
would promptly begin TO get coOitr. IL
does nothing OF the sort Our hottest
weather---that T., speaking as Americans
and not ~ Californians-comes after the
summer solstice and lasts often into Sop
tember, when the sun is already far to the
south. Even after this there In In the
Northern states an Indian summer In
October, which in France, II II comes at all.
as II rarely does. they call II the sum
mer Of 81. Michael. The French have
warmish weather In November, which
they call st. Martins summer, so II Is
six months AFTER the sum nor solstice, and
when the sun In low down on the southern
horizon, before winter comes in earnest.
The earth has stored up heat and parts
winds interfere with the astronomical reg
ularity OF the seasons. II Is from circu m
stances of this kind that come the pecu-
liaritles OF the climate of Pacific coast, and
the two seasons of the polar regions,
winter and summer. The Greeks, fol-
lowing the East Indian custom, recog-
nized at first but three seasons. Later
they added autumn, not probably be-
cause they saw any particular reason
for II In Greece proper, but that sea-
son seemed moro distinctly marked In
some of their northern colonies The
NOiilhtIS TcCDKUlLOu IOuE scstSOus, uOt Oo-
cause they had any reason TO do 40 Oh tho
coast or the Mediterranean, but because
the year seemed so to divide itself in the
Alps, and In the parts of Central and
Northern Europe with which they were
acquainted. There were few among the
Romans who divided the year into eight
seasons, according to prevalence OF winds
or tho appearance or disappearance of ccr-
tain consultations which they connected
with changes of the weather. The Arabs
recognize three seasons only. In France
spring begins tho Goth of March, summer
the Goth of June, autumn the Goth Of Sep
tember and winter the Goth of December.
Meteorologcally this is not far from correct
for most parts of the temperate zohes~ but
has no sort of application TO the tropics or
10 the far north. South of the equator
we know that everything is reversed.
The Englishman, with whom Christmas
Is u traditional institution, celebratesi It in
Australia In midsummer. Death has all
seasons fol its own, but each season has
its special maladies. In France, whose
prevailing winds are from the ocean,
spring Is the most deadly. In Belgium,
whose weather Is modified by winds from
the North sea and from Scandinavia, 1t Is
winter. Our mortuary statistics not having
arrived mt this perfection, 1t il difficult TO
decide whether the east winds of the North
arc or are not more deadly than the malaria
of the South.