Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1896-02-04
WEATHER AND The PLANETS
PEOPLE VINO THINK THE FORMER
DuE TO TuE LATTER.
Thcy Bcthcr the Weather Burcau n
wsshnston-Are Moonstruck Them
selves and Think the Earth should
i,e .'roony" g. We'll rs They.

{ nNmcna on the earth are controlled by
the mrru and the planets. They are not
satisfied with the forecasts made by
government experts. and they are anX-
/ ious to pr'curc substitution OF a system
I bv which 10 Is practicable, they say, TO
predict with accuracy storms, floods,
drouths terus3ocs. frosts etc, a twelve
month iu advance or even loo years
ahead. Thvsc people are not victims OF
a raue form 90 luuaCy. The dcluSion has
numerous believers. Nicgius Is one Of
tNc.r Vvcvhcts Another Is the Rev. Mr.
livks 81 81 Louis, who publishes
periodical Ia the Interest Of planetarian-
ism.
"rrc crcat hold % the planetarians Is
The planet Vulcan" said Professor ". n.
Ha1tu. 20 the weather bureau. yester-
daV 1T served 10 account for almost
any thiuE IN the way " weather. They
<ly thar 10 cocS around the sun once in
seven DAYS. and 10 is an old and IA
riNar notion that weather is regulated
bN weekly periods You have heard II
said that " !t rains ON the first Sunday
'u month it Will rain on every other
SUNDAY tu that month. ON one occasion
storm In Missouri Professor TiCe. a
yiauctartau. declared that Vulcan was
accountable fur a. He took LeNerrier's
computations and figured st out that on
the day ~ The storm Vulcan must have
been ON the face " the sun Proctor,
the astronomer. took the matter up and
made tompututiOn. proving that TiCe
had omitted one important consideration,
which taking his own theory. would
have fetched Vulcan on that day to
the opposite side Of the sun and behind
the solar orb
But it takes more than little thing
like that to disturb the confidence of a
plauetarian. Hicks Of St Louis. has a
rival named Mensill in Rock Island, Ill.
The former figures II out that con-
functions OF planets have to do with had
weather. while the latter considers that
the cquinONes are responsible. Both
publish forecasts regularly. When one
says that IL will rain. the other predicts
clear skies. and vice versa. Probably
they come out even In the long run as
to accuracy. As for Vulcan. supposing
that II exists at all. IL must be very
small body. II Is never less than Sc
100000 miles from Us. and how Is It To- be
supposed reasonably that IL could affect
the earth? When IL is In transit. the
sun. glowing mass 100000 miles in
diameter. is just back Of IL and would
utterly overwhelm the trifling influence
that Il might exert Venus, presumably.
would be much more likely than vulcan
to affect the earth.
"The so-called Luna theorists are n
branch OF the planetarians. They be-
licvo that the moon has everything to do
with meteorological phenomena on the
earth. They call attention To the fact
that the tide IN the Bay OF Fundy rises
and falls sixty feet II the moon is thus
able to lift a substance as heavy as
water, II ought to produce tide In the
atmosphere 500 times as deep, because
water Is 500 times uS heavy as air. When
"a plunetarian said that TO me one day
put n question 20 him In return. |
asked him if he could tell me how much
the water Is raised by the moon in the
middle OF the Pacific ocean lie replied
that he did not know, and I told him one
not Il. Nd '
ne said What way could there he of
telling how much water rises in the
middle Of the Pacific" | answered, y very
easy way. simply by measuring the tides
on coral Islands
The tldes of the Bay Of Fundy are
caused by the heauing up ~ the water
that comes up the Atlantic coast. 10
sometimes happens that an mex
crionccd skipper VIII anchor there at
night iu Hfty feet 90 water. only to
find himself next morning on land. high
and dry. The weather bureau has made
careful observations of the tides in the
atmosphere. We tnd that they are so
slight as To- make "a difference in the
barometer OF only two or three thou
saudths Of uu iugh-a difference in
apprrciahlc. The belief that there Is apt
TO be- less rain at the time of the fun
moon Is widespread all over the world.
on this account fairs and festivals, par
ticularly In Germany and France, are
full, This notion seems 10 have small
basis in fact. Observations along the
Atlantic coast ~ the United states
shows that there H. less rain when the
moon is fun than ~ the time Of the
sickle moon. ON the other hand, obscr-
Natipns on the Pacihs coast seem 10 prove
exactly the opposite. The full moon APP
pears TO have some effect In dispensing
clouds as YOU may notice perhaps the
next time YOU see her perfect disk rise
rF L
think that the influence of the moon
upon the weather is very slight, though
faith i'm IL has been entertained in all
heather as well as Christian lands
NO matter what kind ~ weather we
have the planetarians argue that the
planets are responsible. IN there Is
frost, a Hood or hot spell and Jupiter
happens 20 be iu line with the sun and
the earth, then IL must be Jupiter fault,
l3ut surely Jupiter does not blow hot
to-day and cold tomorrow. \ man would
not put a red hot cannon bah in his
dining room iu summer 10 keep himself
cool Virgins, who Is typical plane
tartan, predicts a storm His prediction
is very apt 10 be fulfilled, because there
l. hardly a day in the year " heu there
is not a storm in some part of the world,
The planetarians have great ,onh-
dencr Ia sun spots. ] have tried 10 per-
suade some Of their prophets 10 name
the DAYS IN a year when sun spots We're
observed and 10 show that these We're
more stormy than other days i'm the
United states or in any other one region
of the earth which they might choose to
pick oug But no, they would not do
this: they must take the whole world.
II is impossible 10 bring them down 10
scientific tests. one of them actually
sent me false data relating To sun spots,
explaining afterwards that he had done
50 because he was afraid that | would
cook the weather observations SO as TO
make them III my theory,
Nobody can say positively whether
sun spots have any influence on the
weather or not. Ii is not known what
sun spots ale. They seem 70 be breaks
In the light emitting veil of incandes-
cent carbon Vapor that enyelops the
body Of the sun They are hollows GER
tainly. ana one theory IS that they are
electrical storms They affect magnetic
Instruments ou the earth and produce
aurOras, which are electrical phenomena.
Sometimes the telegraph companies are
able 10 shut off the batteries and send
messages all night over the wires By
the electricity 81 an aurora"