2 62 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



And the careful foster-mother ? She too, as it appears to me, 

 has widened her studies, and must, I should think, recognize with 

 pride the stalwart growth of her early friend. May they be drawn 

 nearer together, and feel the warm glow which is produced by 

 the sympathy of a common love for truth ! 



SKETCH OF ZADOC THOMPSON. 



THE slopes and intervales of the Green Monntaius have ever 

 been a home of sterling worth. Much of it has lain mod- 

 estly hidden unless some compelling occasion called it forth, as 

 the Revolution brought out Ethan Allen and Stark of Benning- 

 ton. This region has had its workers in science, who, with more 

 generous facilities or a more assertive spirit, could have equaled 

 in prominence many whom the world calls famous. The subject 

 of the present sketch is an example, for he became known in his 

 lifetime only so far as the patient performance of valuable labors 

 of necessity brought him into notice. 



Zadoc Thompson was born in Bridgewater, Windsor County, 

 Vt., May 23, 1796. He was the second son of Barnabas Thompson, 

 whose father was one of the early settlers in that part of the country. 



His early life was a continual struggle with poverty. Having 

 from childhood a passion for writing and publishing books, he 

 earned part of the expenses of his education in this way. His 

 first publications were almanacs, which he sold traveling about 

 the State on foot. Thompson's Almanack became as famous in 

 Vermont as Robert B. Thomas's in Massachusetts, and shared the 

 honors with the latter publication in adjoining States. Its suc- 

 cess was to a large extent due, it is said by those who should 

 know, to a chance remark it can hardly be called a prediction 

 which came one day when a clerk, who was at work upon the 

 almanac, found that no weather forecast had been given for July. 

 Prof. Thompson was at the time much absorbed in some investi- 

 gations, and, when interrupted by the printer's inquiry as to the 

 July weather, hastily replied, " Say, Snow about this time." The 

 printer took him at his word and printed snow as a part of the 

 probable weather for July. Contrary to all expectations or pre- 

 cedent, in July of that year there was in Vermont a fall of snow ! 

 This apparently remarkable knowledge of the probabilities of the 

 weather made Prof. Thompson famous as a weather prophet, and 

 greatly increased the sale of his almanacs. It should be added 

 that Prof. Thompson made constant use of such meteorological 

 instruments as he could obtain, and that he was one of the first in 

 his State to study the weather in a careful and scientific manner. 



