LECTURES. 57 



knowledge gained thereby, but from watching these, so called, lower 

 animals, who can foresee the change coming, and know the meaning 

 of the sign by some power now unknown to man, either undeveloped 

 in him, or perhaps long since lost, when he ceased to roam as a wild 

 beast, and became a man. But all these observations and the weather 

 lore evolved by man therefrom, were, so to speak, mere rules of 

 thumb. The why and the wherefore he knew not, neither was he at 

 any trouble to seek it. What caused these strange changes in the 

 sky, thereby bringing about such changes on the earth for man and 

 beast and herb? What were the mighty laws that governed the 

 atmosphere ? Or, was there any law ? Here and there a man of a 

 more scientific mind than his fellows sought by painful and continued 

 observation to evolve some order out of the apparent chaos, but 

 though his labours were not in vain, yet they brought no result to 

 himself Observations in one place are useful, but it is dangerous to 

 attempt to theorise from the results there obtained. The atmosphere 

 is so vast, the forces at work therein are so mighty, that one might as 

 well expect to see the ocean visibly increased in magnitude by emptying 

 a tumbler of water into it, as to think that the observations of one 

 single man in one place are sufficient to enable that man, or anyone 

 else, to determine the laws and forces that govern the atmosphere. 

 There must be long, patient observation, carried on through many 

 years — aye, perhaps hundreds of years — by thousands of observers 

 all over the globe, and all these observations must be worked out and 

 compared, to enable mankind to fathom the laws that govern the 

 changes of the air. Thus you see why meteorology is apparently at 

 present so unsatisfactory in its results. In the first place it is a very 

 young science. Scientific research respecting the atmosphere is at 

 present only in its early infancy. Our forefathers had no uniformity 

 in their observations, consequently these were of very little scientific 

 value. For instance, there is an old saw which you have all prob- 

 ably heard, 



" If the oak comes out before the ash 

 Then we shall only have a splash. 

 If the ash comes out before the oak 

 We are certain then to have a soak," 



thereby pretending to indicate the wetness or dryness of the coming 

 Summer. But, unfortunately, our ancestors when they made their 

 observations were not concerned to observe the same two trees year 

 by year. They took any two trees and hardly ever the same. Neither 

 did they take any account of soil or situation. Had they done all 



