The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-09-30
AstrOphObia Now.

IHcTb ~ u IcW NlSSuSti anu t5 ~ - VI u
common everyday, inexpensive sort We
may all indulge in its imaginary symp-
toms and pains, If we wish to our hearts
content. Unlike that ultra fashionable dis
order, appendicitis it is not an expensive
malady, nor do we have TO go to n hospital
and have surgical operation performed
| to be cured The disease has been called
| astrophobia, and persons suffering from
| it are human barometers, so to speak.
They prophecy the weather and can predict
| without error "a hours before the APP
proach Of northeast storm Before o
rising thunder squall they are miserable
beings. There are those indeed who are
utterly Frustrated before and during a
| thunderstorm, and some are even thrown
| into spasms.
1t has long been known that insects and
| certain domestic animals become aware of
approaching changes in the weather. They
understand the heralds of coming storms,
not from visual observation, but through
their nervous system. Insects fly close to
the ground before a storm, and birds fly
low TO catch them. Turkeys will sniff the
air and seek cover long before a coming
| change in the atmosphere, and, indeed,
| make considerable fuss about it too. While
| this quality of premonition is general
| among the lower animals it does not with
| them reach the perfection attained by
some afflicted human beings-those with
abnormally sensitive organizations, deli
cate systems and nerves attuned to every
| physical impression.
1t is to the presence of electricity in the
| atmosphere and It's variable effects upon
the nerves of these sensitive subjects that
| may be attributed their unenviable power
of foretelling the weather and the disorder
| lnd ctnta pf fboir xryha
ditions are present.
There abounds in the air what is known
as atmospheric electricity, the existing po-
larity of which, positive or negative, indi-
| Gates respectively normal and abnormal
| weather conditions. 1t is when the air is
charged with positive electricity that one
feels good, so to speak-that is, one ex-
Iperiences the bracing, stimulating effects
of pure air charged with ozone.
| The presence of negative electricity,
| however, has the contrary effect and shows
one of two things either that storm con-
ditions are present or are approaching.
| 1t is now we'll known that there are two
regular tides of positive electricity in the
| atmosphere-the high or maximum, which
occurs between the hours of a. m. and IL
~ and and 8 p. m, and the low, or mini
mum, between and p. IN. and / and 5
| 10. m.
There are those who almost every day
pass through tides of feeling which, if
they do not automatically correspond to
these daily tides of electricity in the air,
follow so closely as to render certain re-
lation between the variable states of the
system and the variable states of the air.
From 8 u. m. to IL m. is the golden time
for brain work, as all students know From
to p. m. there are frequently dizziness
and lassltude present that make hard work
a task. The latter part of the afternoon
the spirits revive, and between and or 8
O'Clock is what might be called the silver
period of the day for all mental labor.
Irregular disturbances in the electrical
condition of the atmosphere in storms
and especially in thunderstorms and
northeast storms, affect the nervous sys-
TEN of these impossible Compartments
most unpleasantly, often bringing on or
aggravating neuralgia, rheumatism and
other pains, as well as inviting mental
listlessness and Encouragement.
Who of us, for that matter, even of the
most robust cast have not at times felt u
sort of resonance in the atmospheric GER
tain "feel'' in the air, which seemed to
'take hold, so to speak, and that maybe
in an unsupported rheumatic joint this
when the wind has been blowing lively
from the northeast.
AT one of the largest institutions in the
country for the treatment of nervous dis
eases it has been established beyond all
question and by experiments extending
over a period Of several years that attacks
of epilepsy and mania correspond in a
large number of instances to changes in
the electrical condition of the air.
There is nothing strange in all this, for
all naturalists know that many plants pre-
dict storms with wonderful precision hours
before they appear. Man, with his exalted
and complete nervous system, and espe-
cially civilized man. is far moro impressi-
bic than any animal or flower.
1t is therefore not humane to despise
these subtle, storm anticipating pains in
our friends, nor, indeed, may we ridicule
the statement of chance infrm weather
prognosticator who may claim, and perhaps
be able to prove that he "knows it's goin
to rain cause he can feel it in his j'ints. "
Washington Star,