Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-06
NO RADICAL CHANGES.
weather Record COnfound the oldest
I~nhabitant.

Inhabitant
There Is nothing "a untrustworthy as
unaided human recollection" once remarked
the late John @. Nicolay, who helped to
write the Lincoln memoirs; he referred
particularly to historic controversies. and
intended to discredit those observations
which had not been put in black and white
at the time OF the occurrence OF the event,
but instead had been allowed to grow. A
ferclble Illustration Of his truth, says the
New York Evening Post. is found In the
popular estimates Of the weather. II was
only last year that we had a summer 50
hot as to break the records OF the Weather
bureau, and yet this summer the country
men hereabouts are saying that "the cll-
mate Is changing" and specifically charg-
ing that "the summers are not what they
used to be-"
The climate remains the same. as will be
proved by the truthful records Of scientific
appliances. There are periods during which
It varies: times when cold or rain or heat
prevails to a larger extent than the nor
NAL. But when the whole is summed up,
covering a reasonably long period Of time.
II Is found that the frost line is Just where
IL used to be, and the cold or hot or the
rainy periods are no more or less frequent
than when grandfather was q boy.
Thomas Jefferson was q victim to the
popular delusion, and writing in iii, said;
"a change OF climate is taking place very
s%ensibly, Both heats and colds are becom-
ing more moderate within the memory Of
even the middle-aged. SHOWS are less fire.
quent and less deep. They do not often
lie below the mountains more than one, two
or three days, and very rarely a week.
The SHOWS are remembered TO have been
a.aAa $1,000
tinuance. The elderly inform me that the
earth used to be covered about three months
In every year"
But in those days there was no weather
bureau, and the elderly were free to give
their recollections without the danger OF
an Official observation being quoted. In
Europe accurate records have been kept OF
the dates Of the opening of navigation OF
streams at certain points for several CEN
turtles, and It is show that, covering q
long period OF years, there has been no APP
probable change. The first twenty years
or record, compared with the totals OF tine
last twenty years, gives the same result.
Observations made by biologists convince
them, and Prof. Moore Of the Weather
bureau, than in our lake regions no changes
Of climate have taken piece for several
thousand years. ossian Guthrie, the noted
civil engineer, says that ''the same variety
Of trees now growing in the lake regions
were growing soon after the glacial epoch"
The records of the Weather bureau show
that the maximum Of heat recorded in the
United States was In Colorado. at Mann
moth Tank, a station In the desert, where
in 1887 the thermometer recorded in the
shade 1913 degrees Fahrenheit. Again In
1884 124 degrees was reached in the same
place.
Prof. Moore advises people not to stand
in doorways or at open windows during
severe electric storms. The neighborhoods
Of trees and hreplaces are to be avoided.
On the other hand. he says It will do little
or no good to wrap up In a feather bed.
Alarm, In case Of lightning. is quite super
fuous. Remember that one who lives to
see the lightning fash need not concern
himself about the possibility OF harm from
that fash. Also recollect that heaven has
more thunders to alarm than thunderbolts
to punish. 1t serves also to calm the spirits
to think that even though struck by light
ming, the consequences are not always
fatal; even II stunned and apparently dead
the victim may be resuscitated. Prof
Moore says not to cease efforts at artificial
respiration and stimulation for an hour
Lightning stuns, but does not often kill.