THE WEATHER AND THE SUN. 479 



scape, or in the appearance of the sky above him ; some wonderful 

 transformation of Nature, as though the spot where he stands were 

 her tiring-room, and she were trying on robe after robe to see which 

 became her best ; some striking incident, which might well inspire 

 him with the wish to catch the happy moment, and give it a perma- 

 nent existence. Such are the simple, refining, and enduring pleasures 

 which the cryptogamic botanist enjoys in the pursuit of his favorite 

 study amid the scenes of Nature. 



Add to all these recommendations this last important advantage, 

 that these plants can be observed and collected without interruption 

 throughout the whole year, and in situations where other vegetation 

 is reduced to zero. They can be studied alike under the cloudy skies 

 of December, as when illumined by the sunshine of June. When the 

 flowers and ferns have vanished, when the lights are fled, and the gar- 

 lands are dead, the deserted banquet-hall of Flora is still relieved by 

 the presence of these humble retainers, whose fidelity is proof against 

 every change of circumstance, and whose better qualities are dis- 

 played when the storm is wildest and the desolation most complete. 

 They are no summer friends. As Ruskin has beautifully observed : 

 " Unfading as motionless, the worm frets them not, and the autumn 

 wastes not. Strong in lowliness, they neither blanch in heat, nor 

 pine in frost. To them, slow-fingered, constant-hearted, is intrusted 

 the weaving of the dark eternal tapestries of the hills ; to them, slow- 

 pencilled, iris-dyed, the tender framing of their endless imagery. 

 Sharing the stillness of the unimpassioned rock, they share also its 

 endurance ; and while the winds of departing spring scatter the white 

 hawthorn-blossoms like drifted snow, and summer duns in the parched 

 meadow the drooping of its cowslip gold, far above among the moun- 

 tains, the silver lichen-spots rest, starlike on the stone, and the gath- 

 ering orange-stain upon the edge of yonder western peak reflects the 

 sunsets of a thousand years." Foot-Notes from the Page of Nature. 



- 



THE WEATHER AND THE SUN. 



By RICHARD A. PROCTOR, B. A. 



THERE are few scientific questions of greater interest than the 

 inquiry whether it is possible to find a means of predicting the 

 weather for a long time in advance. In former ages many attempts 

 were made to solve this problem by a reference to the motions of the 

 heavenly bodies. Other methods of prediction were, indeed, in vogue; 

 but I am not here considering ordinary weather portents, or mere 

 scientific schemes for anticipating the weather of two or three coming 

 days : and, with a few trifling exceptions, depending on observations 



