The sun., 1903-06-07
SCIENCE.
weather Cycles and Farmers' Aimanacs.

| "The fact has come under my otserva-
tion that a great many farmers and country
| people place a good deal OF confidence In
tho predictions Of so-called weather prophets
| whose vivid imaginatons are portrayed
| In the pages Of nearly all cheap almanncs.
! 1T Ia true that a few proGnosticators ap-
| pear 10 base their forecasts on astronomical
| phenomena IL there is anyJ question nt
| all as to whether their researches might be
| an aid to the science Of meteorology, 1t would
not seem best to interfere
1T does not seem right. however. that
| these weather prophets should be allowed
to publish such worthless predictions, which
are not only in direct opposition to the work
of the Weather Bureau but by their wide
| spread circulation through the country
| prove an actual Jury to the less intelligent
masses Of our population.
e! feel sure that any action taken to pre-
| vent such enterprises will prove nm import
| ant aid In efrectnR a still greater scope and
! efficiency In the work of the Weather Blu
| reau,"
| The Bureaus reply is in part We are
| encoura ged to believe that the weather fore
| casts of the ordinary farmers amanacs
| are not greatly relied upon. and that those
| who have moneyed interests at stake are
| daily guided in their transactions by the
| published forecasts of the Weather bureau
| Although the predictions Of tue amanacs
1
| fact that they are regarded with lenience
! by so many persons su1ices to show how
| little the spirit Of modern meteorology has
| as yet replaced the ancient belief in long
| range weather forecasts. Perpetual motion,
| squarng the circle, transmutation OF metals.
| and many other errors are banished from
| men q minds, but planetary influences. for
| tune telling and lotteries still have their
| devotees
| We fully recognize the value OF the work
of those long-range forecasters who are com
| pairing early weather records with those OF
| the present day and are searching for cycles.
| by means Of which the weather at distant
! times may be foreseen. They have tedious
| work before them. and will, We fear, reap
| very unsatisfactory results.
THE brilliant success Of Schwabe. who OBJ
! served the sun spots year after year until
! he was bic. in 1851. to announce that there was
| periodicty in their frequency. followed
| as IL very soon was, by the discovery OF
| parallel period in the disturbances OF the
| magnetic needle has led numerous STU
dents to search for similar parallel periods
! in various meteorological phenomena. al
| though no one knows why the spotted ness
! OF the sun should thus affect the earths atmos-
phere. or course. the hypothesis that u
! docs so NAV be accepted as working hypo-
| thesis but we think IL necessary 10 caution our
| readers against spending much time in search
VI ouu-SpOt Nchtutl IVIioNo' AAoF ''''O
thus far proven very elusive.
"On revie wing the work OF the century
we are impressed with the conviction that AL
| though We now know more about the sun
| and OUR atmosphere, yet we do not know
much more about the connection between the
| two. 1t seems unlikely that We shal! ever
| find any simple cycles in atmospheric phenom-
| ena or any. simple relations between solar
Since the days of Calico meteoroorists
and must study the mechanics OF an atmos-
phere on rough round surface EN- under & a uni
:sss solved hs as1
| involved in this latter problem that we shall
| be prepared to study with success the inhu-
THE BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION.
The London Tir,es publishes the following
summary Of the results of the National Ant
arctic Expedition. contributed by member OF
| the scientific staff:
| First"The discovery of extensive land at
| the east extremity of the great ice barrier.
| Seeond-The discovery that McMurdo Bay
is not -bay.' but . strait and that Mounts
Erebus and Terror form part Of compare
Third-The disoovery Of good winter
in hsh s,itapdsET1 La pa.e I 81
Ss erection OF masnetie 'ae% '.s @ vstions K"
| The lowest temper ature experienced was
o.. OF frost Fahrenheit. ...o
work over twelve months in winter quarters.
principally physical and biological, ,.,..
I good many y theeasand e, miles. Of which ths
.pad o Sso,ss :ssb H,s Tas asa
an immense tract Of new land dscoyered and
| charted as far as sa' an' south. with peaks
feet. 1'' " '''' 40 ~
siSth-The great eontineIntai. .,I inland In. ice
| from the coast. at an altitude Of s.1,o feet
| Seventh--A considerable amount Of mag
netic work al sea. also soundines, deep sca
dredging. &c,
HIGH WINDS on THE PACIFIC COAST.
| The Monthly Weather Rerier prints a long
account Of high winds registered at Weather
| Bureau stations on the Pacific Coast. from
| which few extracts are taken, as follows:
| On Feb. IS, 1902, at Point Reyes, the day opened
| with severe southeast storm in progress.
| At 10 A. NJ. the wind velocity measured NJ
| miles per hour. and so continued till noon.
frequently reaching os to 100 miles for short
periods. The extreme velocity was lOa
| miles--one mile in 35 seconds On March
| the extreme velocity was lo7 miles. On May
| IS there were 1902 miles recorded in a single
hour, with an extreme velocity of 10 miles
| The storm lasted Z? hours For ~ hours the
average velocity was - miles for the pext
i miles and for FOR se
velocity was ss. Four thousand seven hund.
| red miles are recorded during the storm.
| that Is, a light object. like a feather. would
have been carried 400 miles away by a wind
| blowing at this constant rate. On Jan 20.
1880. the extreme velocity recorded at Cape
| Mendocin was lH miles. The highest veloci-
| ties over a 5-mnute period at certain East
| ern stations is: Hatteras. l05 miles: Calves
| ton, 100 miles; kittyhawk N. g., 100 miles,
| On Feb. 20, 1850. AT Mount WASHINGTON, the
| S-h our movement of the wind was 9o5 miles,
at the rate OF 1855 miles per hour. The
| 2i-hour movement was 2073 miles. or nearly
| iii miles per hour. on the average. The fore
| going figures are a II based on readings Of the
| Robinson cup-anemo momctars. lts indications
| are certainly too high At speed OF so miles
| Il reads velocities about 0 miles too great,
| and at higher speeds the error ia relatively
| greater.
NEW RULES IN TALE COLLEGE.
The Yale University Corporation at the
| May meeting approved the recommendations
Of the academical professors to extend the
| elective system into the freshman year by
| allowing each freshman to choose five out
| of eight courses Of study and to allow the
| substitution of advanced work in mathe-
matics or modern la n1guaces in place Of Greek
| for admission to college. The new require
ments for admission. which will 60 into
| effect in 1894. leave English. ancient history
and Latin unchanged. but will allow Greek