New-York tribune., 1901-03-03
HE FORETELLS WEATHER.
PROFESSOR" DE VOE. OF HACKENSACK.
HIS SYSTEM AND HOW 1T WORKS
PREDICTS \ STORMY MARCH.

predictions have been laughed at and he has /
been ridiculed for many years. but he persists
in sendinf, warnings and weather forecasts
and preserves records to show that his predic-
tions were right and that more mistakes were
made by the Government weather forecasters
with all their expensive scientific Instruments,
than by him He knows that people generally :
look upon him as a crank but he smiles when .
he speaks of it, and goes right ahead making |
weather for people who have confidence enough |
in him TO pay him 81 year for his monthly |
forecasts.
lie looks down upon the twenty-four hour
weather prophets with feelings Of mingled pity |
and contempt, for who can't tell the weather a
day ahead? Ranquo, away back in the days
of Macbeth. went record in his last hours
as 4 weather prophet. when he said. 1T will
be rain tonight: and his listeners must have
believed in him. for one said Let it come !
down" How Banquo arrived At the conclu- |
sion will always be a thing of doubt-whether |
he Judged by the antics Of a Scotch toad or by |
the condition Of a rheumatic limb. or from the
appearance of the sky will ever know.
hut guesses like that. Professor De Voc thinks
are easy. Despite all the expensive outfits in
hundreds of offices. and the work Of a large
corps Of meteorologists. the present Weather
Bureau predicts the weather only twenty-four
hours ahead. but L. said DE Voc. "can give
You the correct weather for every day for the
next two years-that's what 1 call being a
weather prophet
Andrew J. DE Voc is the owner and operator
Of little sawmill at Hackensack. The village |
directory gives him the title "meteorologist."
and says nothing about what his neighbors
have referred to his 'kindling wood foundry" |
\ man who wished to call on De Voc recently |
consulted the directory. and. seeing the name
"De Voc. Andrew j., meteorologst. Hacken-
sack-ave.. n4ar Cross-st-' asked resident OF
the town how to reach the place.
Which De Voc you want
THE meteorologist. Hackensack-ave."
-Metrologist nothing! He's weather prophet.
an d poor one at that"
The home Of the professor" adjoins the saw
mill and is a modest little affair. nicely fur
nished and so neat and tidy that one must see
at a glance that Mrs. DE Voc attends her
housekeeping while the head Of the household
saws wood and studies the stars. DE Voc is a
slender wry man Of ifty-two. who could pass
for ten years younger. In speaking of his youth
ful appearance he said: THAT comes from being
= Prohibi;ionist My grandfather was ninety
when he died. and expect to live 10 be q
hundred"
Ia the room where he does his work De Voc
has nothing in the way Of instruments or scien-
tifc apparatus but with the aid OF n map Of
the world and a nautical almanac he figures out
the state Of the weather for any part Of the
world for any time and gives the result with
assurance that justifics a belief in his sin
cerity. He has worked at these weather prob
lens for twenty years. and has evolved a system
which, according TO his statement. is perfect
First along l may have made some mis-
takes he said, but now I'm so close that
there's foolin'
The Weather Bureau has the telegraph 10
rely on. Reports received from all i'm
portant points from observations made stimuli
taneousiy and from these the predictions are
gained. rely upon the position of the sun
moon and earth, and these points | get from
calculations made by expert astronomers. First
along groped in the dark, just the Govern
nent Weather Bureau is doing Then |
discovered the law which regulates the weather
all over the world. There is a law OF balance
In the universe. and if a storm belt forms in |
this country il must have its counterpart some
where on the other side of the globe
How he arrives at his conclusions after having
the chief factors. the position OF the earth sun
and moon, De Voc does not tell. but he saws
that just as the astronomers can figure out !
coming changes in the planetary world so he !
foretel the weather
"Of course he said. II had some breakuDs |
but l found that these were caused by the in |
accuracy of the ordinary amanacs, and since i !
haH h. Of he