196 POPULAR WEATHER PROGNOSTICS. 



to be inquired into, set about testing the value of the 

 prognostics relied on in their neighbourhood ; and if 

 they attempt to explain them on scientific principles, 

 we venture to assure them that the result will be a very 

 remarkable demonstration of the amount of their own 

 ignorance ! The rationale of these phenomena must be 

 sought for in intimate acquaintance with "rerumnatura" 

 as Lucretius phrases it, in other words, in knowledge 

 of the laws which bind together all things animate and 

 inanimate ; sun and moon, rainbow and aurora borealis, 

 falling stars and thunder; the aspects of mountains and 

 of the sky; the varying sounds of the ocean, rivers, and 

 cascades ;' subterranean noises, and the issue of gases 

 and foul air from the crevices of mines ; the movements 

 of various plants ; the proceedings of birds, fishes, and 

 quadrupeds ; the sensations of human beings ; and a host 

 of unclassified prognostics. The man who thinks him- 

 self qualified to inform us intelligently how all creation 

 here below is in sympathy with that all-pervading some- 

 thing called the weather, must be a graduate of a uni- 

 versity which communicates to those attending it a 

 great deal more knowledge than we got at Edinburgh 

 College, or have managed to pick up since in the great 

 school of daily life. Dr Mitchell's collection of weather- 

 signs has interested us much, and, to tell the truth, has 

 humbled us greatly. 



1 Guesses after Truth, by Two Brothers/ is the mo- 

 dest title of a very delightful modern book ; and if the 

 meteorological guesses of the competitors for the Tweed- 

 dale prize find as many admirers, it will be worthily 

 bestowed. We confess that in so wide a field we expect 

 many explanations of meteorological phenomena which 

 will only deserve to be called guesses ; but that is no 

 reason why these phenomena should not be classified 

 and seriously examined : the guesses of the wise of one 

 generation are often, to the next, demonstrated truths 

 of great importance. And these popular prognostica- 

 tions of the weather, whether true or false, are import- 



