200 WEATHER NOTIONS. 



WEATHER NOTIONS. 



" Signs of Foul Weather," by Dr. Erasmus Darwin. 

 In a poem, the well-known father of the eminent Charles 

 Darwin describes the various natural indications of coming 

 storms. Among the animals and birds he notes the cat : 



Low o'er the grass the swallow wings ; 

 The cricket, too, how sharp he sings ; 

 Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws, 

 Sits wiping o'er his whiskered jaws. 



"In England," says Mr. T. F. Thiselton Dyer, "the super- 

 stitious still hold the cat in high esteem, and oftentimes, 

 when observing the weather, attribute much importance to 

 its various movements. Thus, according to some, when 

 they sneeze it is a sign of rain ; and Herrick, in his 

 ' Hesperides,' tells us how 



True calendars as pusses eare, 



Wash't o're to tell what change is neare. 



"It is a common notion that when a cat scratches the 

 legs of a table, it is a prognostic of change of weather. 

 John Swan, in his 'Speculum Mundi ' (Cambridge, 1643), 

 writing of the cat, says : ' She useth therefore to wash her 

 face with her feet, which she licketh and moisteneth with 

 her tongue ; and it is observed by some that if she put her 

 feet beyond the crown of her head in this kind of washing, 

 it is a signe of rain.' Indeed, in the eyes of the super- 

 stitious, there is scarcely a movement of the cat which is 

 not supposed to have some significance. 



" Cats are exceedingly fond of valerian ( V. officinalis), 

 and in Topsell's 'Four-footed Beasts ' (1658, p. 81), we find 

 the following curious remarks : ' The root of the herb 

 valerian (called PJui), is very like to the eye of a cat, 

 and wheresoever it groweth, if cats come thereunto, they 



