The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-11-12
AIR, HEAT, WIND, RAIN.
PROF. ~. l.. MOORE LECTURES On
FORECISTING or STORMS.
To BENJAMIN Franklin Belongs the Credit
Of Discovering the Rotary Motions
of the wind.

| tOshos at lame. ana Whcn 10 takc 'lith''
| The lecture was delivered Al the iss
| Congregational Church. Tenth ana .
| streets and at its conclusion very large
| number OF those who had been instructed
| and entertained. shook hands with Ifoi.
| Moore. ana THANKED him Tor inc Urea. IlS
| had given. Among other iAinss, Ifoi'
| Moor. said:
While the practical application Of me-
| toorological scicpcc 10 the making Ci
| weather forecasts Will never reach thdt
! degree OF accuracy attained by thcoreu-
| cal astronomy in predicting The date OF an
| eclipse or the return OF comet mcteoro-
| logy has made. during the last century
such suts t8Ltial progress as seriously 10
| engage the attention OF thoushtiui man
and cause him To make special choIl5
probably 10 apply the knowledge gained
| 10 the commerce and industry OF the
world. Comparing mctcorology WIN as
| trOqOmy we may say that II paSScd
through the Chaldean ana Ptolemalc pc
RODS with the invention OF the barometer
and thcrmC II otter early IN the Seven
tccnth century. that II reached the Ca
pcrnician stage with the discovery OF the
rotary and progressive motions OF storms
and that 20 now awaits the genius OF a
Kcpler o. the magic intuition OF New
ton TO umraVCl the mysteries thal sun
battle the student.
"But il is doubtful whether any other
bigICh OF science, unless IT De that OF
electricity has shown moro wonderful
progress during the past quarter-cenluly.
TELEGRAPH : GREAT SERVICE.
"While man but few years ago, with
his limited range Of vision. thought that
chaos rcigucd supreme, me is now able
10y the aid of daily meteorological onsci-
Vaficns and the wonderful telegraph
joining our cities by an electrical touch 10
trace out the harmonious operations OF
many physical laws that previously were
unknown.
AS TO the genesis Of weather forecast
ing. il must De said that 10 the immoF-
tai Franklin belongs the credit OF dltln-
ing that storms have a rotary moton'
and that they progress In am easteiy Oh
rcction. I'm 1850 Prof Joseph Henry, or
the Smithsonian Institution. collected N.
telegraph observations from 90 nhInnri GA
stations and displayed large map INV
ing the meteorological conditions 100 ui''t
points. but the breaking out OF the ciNI
war caused him 10 suspend these lepoi -
If there were no other achievements 10
the credit of this grand institution ihe
work of Prof. Horny. IN connection WIN
practical meteoroloEy alone. ls suincleht
10 command the admiration OF hH thuHe
who love knowledge because Of the hene-
fits il confcrs upon man.
prof BUYS Ballot. of Utrecht, indl ''u
Holland TO establish a weather service
Witl tclcCraphic reports ana forecasts III
$50 England followed in lNl' ana Ian,e
began in 1863 The United States was the
fourtl government 10 establish a per-
mancnt weather service. although us see
entists were the pioneers in discovering
the progressive character Of forms ana
I'm demon straung tho praciiraniliN OF
weather services. I'm 1862 Prof cleveland
Able published "a weather bulletin ana
forecast at Cincinnati
After referring 10 other scientists ana
their mctcrcOlOgical work, lroL VI )ole
continued. -
4 SAMPLE OF FOREcASTlNG.
.t. 4 90 a. ID
time. which. hy the way. is Z O'Clock az
Chicago. 6oclock at Denver. and d @ CLOCK
III San TranciscO the Observers 20 about
ISL stations scattered throughout the
United States were taking their onstf-
vatiOus and. from carcfully-tcetcd ana
standardized instruments. noting an inc
elementary conditions of Tie air NJ the
bottom Of the lieat aerial ocean in which
we live ind have our being and Which,
hy its variations OF heat. cold sunshine
cloud. and tenn est. considerably aucclS'
not only tho health and happiness OF man.
but bis commercial and Industrial well
fare. Al s.25 o'clock fho necessary matne-
matical corrections had been made. the
observation reduced 20 cipher form ana
each had been filed 40 the loc1l once
OF the telegraph company. During the
next thirty or forty minutes the ohSer-
vs lions. with right OF way over al lines
are speeding 20 their destinations. edcn
81, ton contributing IT'S own observation
and receiving in return, ny an ingenious
system o. telegraph circuits. observations
from such cities as 81 may need. The OBJ
scrvatiOns from AN stations are received
1T such centcrs as Washington. Chicago,
New York and other large cities. and
nearly all cities having weather Bureau
station receiving enough reports from
other cities 10 justify the issuing or
daily map As fast as the reports reach
Washingto: trey are passed % tne Fore
cast Division. where reader stands in
tho middle of the room and tabIlatcs the
CIPHER into figures and words Of irte'li-
gible sequence.
HIGH AND Low PRTSsUREs.
"A force a. CLERKS is cng1ga d in making
graphic representations OF the geograpn-
icai distribution of the different mateoro-
logical dement's After describing Tho
mai king Of the charts. the lecturer sal !.
The foiccastcr knows That high or low
pres ure areas drift across tAe country
from west toward the east dt the rate OF
about GO miles daily, or about thirty
seven mile an hour I'm winter and tWcn-
ty-twO niles per ncur In summer, that
high prCsSGrcs are attended ly dry. ClcIr.
and cooler weather. and that they are
On awning down hy vertical action or
their centres the cold air from great fi-
ttudcs above the clouds and causing 10 20
flow away laterally along the surface Of
the earth in all directions from the ccn-
tire. and sometime become so intense I'm
their vertical motion as 90 draw down
sucL vast volumes Of cold cir that we
call them cold waves. Tho forcclsfcr
knows that cold waves are not simply in-
mensc rivers of air that have been chilli
ed by flowing over the great sncw and
ice fields of the arctic regions as WAS
once thought. Low prcssurcs are the
reverse of high prcSsures. We NOV that
while our atmosphere expands upward
10 an altitude probably OF nifty miles. 30
is so elastic and It's expansion is $50 rapid
ass IL reccdcs from the earth that half
of its mass lies below the threc-milo le. a.
and that our storms and cold waves gle
-WnlT great swiris or cddies b. tire Thin
lOwcr stratum Of probably not more than
five meters i'm thickness. that the air
above the siA-miles level probably r,vs
srrcncly eastward in these attitudes WITH
out bfins disturbed by our most scrcie
stolms
STORMS ARE GREAT EDDIES.
"Our stoi ms arc great cddics ln the air
carried along by the general oasteriy
movement Of the atmosphere IN the mid
die ATTITUDES OF the northern hemisphere
storm condition that extends from
Washington 10 Denver in horizontal
direction extends but from four or hNc
miles upward The whole disk OF whirl-
ing air. four or five miles thick and 1870
miles in diameter. Is called cyclone.
Tho tornado d. revolving mass or arr
Of only 500 10 con yards in diameter, ana
is simply an incident OF the cyclone Inc
cyclone may cause moderate or high
winds through a vast expanse OF terri
tory while tho tornado, with rotary
motion almost immeasurahle always
leaves "A trail Of death and destruction in
an area inhnitcsimal I'm comparison 20
mo area covered by the cyclone. The
tornado is the most violent Of an storms.
and lis more frequent IN the central vail
levs of the United States than clSeN nere.
II am satisfied that the number OF these
storms is not increasing. THE planting
or cutting away Of trees. the Drainage oi