102 



DISCOVERY 



en. 



irresponsible weather prophets in almanacs popular in 

 agricultural districts and among credulous people. 

 Appropriately can it be said of such predictions : ' The 

 prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by 

 their means ; and my people love to have it so." No 

 doubt some of the forecasts made by " Zadkiel," "Old 

 Moore " and " Raphael " in their almanacs, and by 

 other soothsayers who think they have discovered 

 weather cycles and causes which have eluded the wisest 

 meteorologists in the world, do prove to be correct ; 

 but it would be strange if these coincidences of prediction 

 and realisation did not occur. 



No man of science familiar with the many variable 

 factors which determine the character of the weather 

 would have the temerity to make such predictions as are 

 put before an indulgent public by these oracles, whose 

 theories break down immediately they are faced with 

 facts. Caution comes with knowledge ; and confident 

 assertion as to the weather to be expected day by day 

 even next week, in a particular part of the country, must 

 lead to discomfiture when promise is made to face per- 

 formance. The predictions in most popular almanacs 

 are based upon the time of day the moon enters into one 

 of its four quarters ; and any success achieved by them 

 may be ascribed to the laws of chance. 



In addition to the moon, the stars and planets are 

 believed by some people to exert an influence upon the 

 weather, the belief being a survival of the days of 

 astrology. So far as the stars are concerned, the 

 positions they will occupy at 10 o'clock to-night will be 

 practically the same as will be presented at the same 

 time a hundred years hence. Moreover, on account of 

 the earth's rotation on its axis, every star in the heavens 

 shines upon some part of the earth every day. No one 



