The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1913-12-04
WEATHER
FORECASTS
With Aid OF Ea!ometer 1t Is Possible
to Measure Heat Changes of the
SUMS Ray - Predictions
Far Ahead.

WGshington.-It was Mark Twain
who complained that people kept talk
ing and talking about the weather, II
nobody eve did anything about it.
This Just reproach may be removed
as the result of some cry important
discoveries that have been made by n
little group of American m~eterologists.
These scientists have been carefully
observing the sun for ten years, and
have come TO the conclusion that our
weather is due to changes pom he
surface of the aun. They say that the
sun spots are responsible. When the
spots are many and large the weather
is apt TO be cold. When they are small
and few the weather will probably be
warm. The differences are questioned
by some ether scientists, but their
chief scientific discovery, namely, that
the radiation OF heat from Che sun is
not constant, is being generally ac-
cepted, and is considered of great
value to future observations.
The discovery that there was no
solar constant" as 1t is called. name
ly, that the amount Of heat ladiated
by the sun is not constant, but tluctur
ates almost as much us the amount OF
heat generated in a furnace, was due
10 the invention by Prof. S. p. Langley
OF the Smithsonian Institution of a re-
~n!arkahie instrument he called the boil
ometer. This apparatus is a thermom-
eter of such surprising sensitiveness
that it viii record a millionth of a de
gree of heat. Equipped with bolom-
etcrs, a sp.cial post of observation
Waa established near the summit OF
Mount Whitney. in California, and an
other in Algiers The object of max
ing the observations from two widely
separated stations was to insure
against error due to local atmospheric
causes. Fer ten years The holometers
have been 1T work in California and AZ
RIGA and the scientists believe that
the time has been long enough to JUS
thy them III making some important
concentrations concerning sun spots.
They have found. for instance, that
sun spcts appear and disappear with
a certain regularity. Every eleven
| = - N'' hA'ii : kCt2 al1 Il lltiA
as regards number and area. -Four
years liter they have reached a min
imum, from which they gradually in
crease for seven years. They have
also found thai the sun spots have Il
controlling effect upon the amount of
heat daGiated from the sun. They act
as q sort of blanket, and less heat
comes from the portion of the sun un-
der the spcta than from the other por-
tions. a difference of % per cent. was
recorded in the heat radiated from the
part of the sun covered by a spot and
the clear portion. This discovery,
taken with a careful examination of
meteorological data. such as tempera-
lures in the wear when the sun spots
were most numerous. has prompted
the scientists TO venture the opinion
that h presence of sun spots makes
for cold weather.
If their theory is right and the com.
ing and disappearing OF sun spots can
be predicted years or months in adj
vance, it follows that it should be pos
sible TO make weather forecasts six
months or so ahead of time. 1t would
not be possible to know. of course.
that IL would rain on a given day in
the future. but it would be known
whether the winter would be a severe
or a mild one, whether the spring
would be late or early, whether the
summer would be wet or dry. In 9th.
er words. it would be possible to know
as much as the patent medicine alma
macs pretend to know. That this
knowledge would mean the saving oil
many million dollars a year is plain
after a moments thought. Farmers,
for instance, would know what sort OF
crop to SOW in order to take adyan.
tage of the coming season. Manufac.
tnrers would know what sort of cloth,
ing would be most seaSonable, and all
industries that are more or less de
pendent upon the weather would be
able to calculate precisely for months
in advance. Some such stride In the
science of m~etecrology might be rea
sonably expected. II is long overdue
i -----0 ----
POL- u CAPTAIN INDICTED.
New York City.-A fcsmer police
captain. Dominick Reilly, was indics-
ed today for bribery by the grand
jury in connection with ar alleged con
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