98 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 



The scientific staff of the United States Weather 

 Bureau is continually seeking to improve its ef- 

 ficiency, and there is little doubt that, at no dis- 

 tant date, it will adopt the novel and efficient 

 method already in use in London, of forecasting 

 the weather by means of the weather-plant (Abrus 

 precatorius) . A number of scientists believe that 

 by means of this augural plant it will be compara- 

 tively easy to predict cyclones, hurricanes, torna- 

 does, earthquakes, and even volcanic eruptions. 



Botanists have long been aware of the fact that 

 by close observation of the leaves of this plant- 

 prophet the condition of the weather may be cor- 

 rectly foreshown. This plant is so keenly sensitive 

 to all forms of electrical and magnetic influences 

 that even the slightest change in temperature 

 is immediately discernible by the movement of 

 the leaves of the plant, whose prophetic quali- 

 ties were first brought into prominence by an Aus- 

 trian baron, Professor Nowack. His discoveries 

 were made known to the public about twenty-five 

 years ago, when specimens of the plant were shown 

 and weather predictions made for two days in ad- 

 vance. So very accurate were most of these fore- 

 casts, that not only botanists but the leading scien- 

 tific thinkers of the world became interested. Both 

 Germany and Austria took up the matter; and 



