50 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



more, and yet found themselves in nearly the same place as when 

 the gale began. This fact is clear to us to-day but then was 

 regarded as most unexplainable. 



There are a thousand who can note a fact for one who can draw 

 any inference from it. Many generations had noted the ebb and 

 flow of the tides before anybody noted a connection between these 

 facts and the daily passage of the moon across the meridian. It 

 is likely that a good many fishermen and sailors had talked over 

 the curious fact that the first sign of the coming northeaster 

 seemed to be from the southwest. And so Dr. Franklin must 

 have the credit of first propounding the doctrine of American 

 storms. The observations we make of the physical state of the 

 air are affected to such a degree by local accidence such as the 

 elevation, contour of the ground, its nearness to the sea, and even 

 the character of the soil, that we meet with considerable varia- 

 tions in the condition of the atmosphere, even within the limits 

 of a single county. 



In this respect meteorology offers a strong contrast to astron- 

 omy. The objects of observation and study in the latter science 

 are at such a distance from the earth that it is practically of minor 

 importance whether they should be observed at Washington, 

 Greenwich or Hong Kong; the phenomena themselves are 

 identical, and other things being equal the difficulties of making 

 the observation depend mainly upon the meteorological con- 

 ditions of the locality. In fact, under favorable conditions the 

 range of phenomena observable by an astronomer is limited 

 solely by the horizon of the station and the power of his telescope. 



But in meteorology itself the case is widely different. The 

 phenomena are not the same at two different points of observa- 

 tion. A marked difference in temperature may exist in places 

 one mile apart, hence we see the necessity of covering the country 

 with a network of stations, as the observer at each place can 

 not do much more than record the phenomena exhibited by the 

 portion of the atmosphere actually in contact with his instru- 

 ments. 



Meteorology may be considered from many different points 

 of view. In the first instance, observations taken systematically 

 at one place give eventually information as to the climate of that 

 place, and when the results obtained from one such station are 

 combined with those of other stations and compared with those 



