The Washington herald., 1908-03-22

northern hemisphere. Winter waves a
good-by hand to spring. burls a fare
well blast al Sol. just to serve notice
that he viii be back again. and HES him
away to the southern hemisphere. IN
i willing to rule Jointly with the Queen
or Verdure SpTing has come. just about
fifty seconds ahead Of time. She gets
here little early each gear, and will
continue to observe that trait which has
been called the politeness Of kings, until
the year gI26 Then she VIII begin 70 ar
rive a little behind time-fifty seconds
each year for 1890 years
This constant charge in the exact
moment when spring comes and winter
goes. is due to a sort of side-stepping
upon the part Of the earth II makes
the crossing of the squinoctial points
move back nifty seconds each year. max
ing a complete revolution in 26Oo0 years.
Il happens that the axis Of the earth
does not vigorously continue parallel 70
itself. but varies from time 70 time.
describing an entire cone IN the 1900
years. The northern extremity Of the
earths axis is now quite near the pole
star, Polaris. and viii continue 70 get
nearer TO that star until 2l20, when it
will point 10 within a half degree Of
PoIaris Then # viii begin 70 recede,
passing on by the Little Bear. and across
the border OF the Swan. II any Of Us
are on earth 1900 years from 212o. we
viii see that Vega. in Byra- has become
the polar star. After that. the return
journey viii be begun From this II
will be seen that while we pass around
the sun each year. there is also a stellar
year for Us which takes 300 solar years
for IFS completion. The constant NOV
ing backward Of the time OF crossing the
equinoctlal points is known as the pre-
/ cession Of the eqUinoxes. II was first
! noted by Hipparchus. of Alexandria, 2,090
years ago II has since been explained
by Laplace as due to gravitation-
March has a worldwide reputation for
its buster. and eQuinOctiaI storms are
things OF which children remember hear
ing long before they were old enough 20
know exactly what was meant. But sci
ence has kept :sb on the month and on
the day and has cleared them both from
the blackened reputation which they have
borne Even though February is not so
] =
she often manages TO set pace for bIus-
ter which her successor cannot keep.
Science has also proved that other
months often OutdO this one OF the evil
/ reputation. But what ought we care II
I the month is blustery. Has Il not passed
into proverb that every grain OF dust in
March is worth a peck OF gold al har-
vest time2 Equinoctial storms do hap
pen rather too frequently for the COM
/ fort OF those who sail the seas. but none
| OF the greatest storms OF history have
/ happened AZ the vernal equinox. and but
/ few of them have occurred around the
/ one which comes in the autumn.
/ The average mortal cannot conceive
the weight Of the water that is drawn
/ into the skies by the process OF evapora-
/ tion. only 10 be let down again II the
/ average rainfall over the earth could be
/ put at thirty inches. II would mean that
/ for every square mile Of the earth's sur
/ face there annually falls nearly 5oO. CO.,
Coo gallons Of water, the total weight
/ OF which would be in the neighborhoOd
/ OF 100000 tons The area Of the whole
earth Is placed N approximately 2e0.e90-
/ 600 square miles. The annual work OF the
1 sun In drawing up water and letting il
down again would thus amount 10 the
enormous task OF lifting 509,o00 099. .000,008
/ tons And after doing all this the sun
/ finds time 70 anuse itself by supplying
US with a reasonable amount OF heat and
\ light The amount OF rain that may fan
/ in single day is also beyond conception.
In 1Sf3 there fell in Franklin County. Pa.
! in three hours. sixteen inches OF water
That was approximately 100 pounds Of
water 10 every square foot II was the
biggest rainfall ever recorded in this
country.
Cloudbursts have frequently occurred in
this country. and many OF them have
been highly destructive. Up in the noun
tains Of Virginia. about sixteen miles
west Of Harrisonburg. on what is known
as Dickson's Ridge. one may yet see the
effect OF a heavy cloudburst The whole
side OF a mountain was torn out by the
/ tremendous force OF the descending wat
er. Though the mountain has = slope OF
some 50 degrees. the dOwnpour was so
great that Il cut a channel some 90 feet
deep and 100 feet wide out OF its side
and powders weighing hundreds OF tons
were carried down the stream which
flows at the mountains base as if they
had been feathers before a hurricane
Trees that had stood the storms and
blasts OF a century were cut Of as pipe
stems. and even beyond the zone OF
greatest downfall. where il was not Sc
we're enough 20 plough out the mountain
side. one could see where the water had
registered i0-foot mark on the trees
Several miles away in the interstate road
from Rockingham County Va, to Pen
dleton County. W. Va. and where the
stream from Dickson's Ridge crosses this
road, one may still behold thousands OF
stones, many Of them es big as a busheI
measure. carried down by the unclaimed
waters The reInoteness Of the scene Of
the cioudburSt from human habitatfon
makes it seldom visited. but those who
do visit 1t describe II as n most won-
derfui illustration o. the power OF falling
water.
The word blizzard is Of comparative
origin. so far as the United states is
concerned. In December. 1s76. there was
notable cold wave. The Weather Bu-
reau wanted a name for 81. The mem
bers ransacked their dictionaries for a
term. and finally fell back upon the word
blizzard" which, like the storm, came
out OF the West. They applied it to that
cold wave. and the term has never lost
its popularity The hardest wind that
ever blew in the United States beat
around Mount Washington in 1878. For
one and a half hours Il blew at the rate
Of lS6 miles an hour. When wind Is
blowing ut the rate of 100 miles an hour.
the pressure 1t makes is nearly 80 rounds
to the square foot. A wind blowing 30
miles an hour registers only 12s pounds
The greatest series OF, to-nadoes the
world has ever seen occurred on Febru-
airy g. 1854. in the territory extending
east from Mississippi. Tennessee, Ken
tucky, and Illinois TO the Atlantic. There