August 15, 1S95] 



NA TL 'RE 



3S1 



"generally uvcrcasi." This did not err on the side of boldness 

 when considered with reference to one of the severest gales of 

 the century. 



A Spanish peasant whom I heard of in Andalucia, and who 

 had the reputation of a weather prophet, wisely said, if you 

 ■want to know the weather for to-morrow, ask me early in the 

 morning. The Indian weather prophets who made a failure had 

 to be silent altogether for the rest of their lives ; and this causes 

 lus to regret that some of our own seers were not born in that 

 ■distant land. 



.\s to the so-called weather forecasts, they only come under 

 the title of this paper when they fail, and as eight out of ten are 

 said to be correct, I shall only say that they are honest attemjits 

 on the part of civilised governments to warn their people as far 

 as |x)ssible against the march of known disturbances. I could 

 •wish that the term "weather indications" or "indicated 

 weather '' had been adopted, so as to make this plain to all, and 

 that ofjener, when the signs were vague, we had the simple 

 announcement of no change indicated. 



The director of this system so well known to us, and who is 

 playfully called the " Clerk of the Weather," sometimes receives 

 valuable hints, even from children ; and I must quote one such 

 ■communication. 



" Plea.se, .Mr. Clerk of the Weather, tell the rain, snow, and 

 hail to stop for the afternoon, and rain in the night." 



I may conclude this section by saying that il is a great fallacy 

 to suppose that there is such a thing as a weather prophet. All 

 the great .lulhorities agree that in the present state of our know- 

 ledge no human being can correctly predict the weather, even 

 for a week to come. 



And now we must consider a class of weather fallacies of 

 ■which the victims can only excite in a well-regulated mind feel- 

 ings of sadness and com]>assion, rather than the ridicule to which 

 at first sight they seem more naturally entitled. I mean those 

 weather prophets in whom the delicate mechanism of the mind 

 5s touched by disorder or decay, even if it has not already fallen 

 under the stroke of complete dementia, and who believe that 

 they can not only foresee the weather, l)ut, by an effijrt of their 

 own minds, control the elements and compel the clouds. 



These patients I had hoped only existed in small numbers ; 

 but, on perusing the correspondence of a prominent meteoro- 

 logist, kindly lent me for the purpose, 1 find that there are many 

 ■of this class whose name, like that of the ancient wanderer 

 among the tombs, is " Legion," and who still come on, each 

 prepared to drive the chariot ot the sun, or by an exertion of 

 his own will, odylize (the word I suppose will come) all the 

 powers of nature. 



Dr. Johnson's .-Vstronomcr says in " Rasselas": — " Hear me, 

 therefore, with attention. I have diligently considered the 

 position of the earth and sun, and formed innunierable schemes, 

 in which I changed their situations. 1 have sometimes turned 

 aside the axis of the earth, and sometimes varied the ecliptic 

 of the sun, but I have found it impo.ssil)le to make a disposition 

 by which the world may be advantaged. What one region 

 gains another loses. Never rob other countries of rain to pour 

 il <»n thine own." 



This type of patient, as well as those who would use their sup- 

 posed |X)wer for the purpose of creating fine weather during the 

 holidays of the people, belong to the more noble sort, hut thera 

 have been others, like the notorious Friar Kungay, who for sordid 

 reasons have professed to exert a similar power. The only 

 ■wonder is that anybody ever believed them. 



Now, as this mal.-idy of the mind is not incurable, I will ven- 

 ture to offer a practical suggestion, and would recommend these 

 patients who have nursed themselves into the belief that they 

 possess the keys of the weather, to .seek the hill-top on a summer 

 afternoon— the air and exercise wdl do them good — and watch 

 the fine fleeces of cumulus cloud as they sail m.ajestically across 

 the sky, e.ich with its attendant shadow below. Let the patient 

 concentrate his attention upon one single feathery cloud, and try 

 by the exertion of his utmost force of 'will to make it pause for a 

 moment in its career : and, if he fails—" as fail full well he may" 



-then let him banish from his mind for ever the idea that he can 

 liy his own will dcmiinate the whole firmament. .-\nd if he has 

 ever gone into print upon the subject, let him go home, and, 

 like Prospero, his prototype, say — 



" nccpcr iti.in ever plummet sounded, 

 rit ilrDwti my book," 



anil so save the world from the trouble of investigating much pure 

 nonsense. To these sufferers I can only repeat the words of one 



NO. 1346, VOL. 52] 



of our own kings to the last man he touched for the evil — "I 

 wish you better health and more sense." 



I must he forgiven for having only made a selection from the 

 vast catalogue of fallacies which have accumulated about the 

 subject, and I must continue to regret that there are still people 

 who are ready to believe that the saints' days rule the weather, 

 that the sun jjuts out the fire, that warm water freezes sooner 

 than cold, or that a man is a prophet because he says so himself. 



This Society is clearing the ground of many weeds, and already 

 the fallacy of the "equinoctial " gales has been exploded (by 

 -Mr. Scott), while the churchyard ghost of the supposed fatal 

 " green Christmas " has been most effectually laid by a recent 

 statistical paper by Mr. Dines. 



Some one may ask, after all this clearing away of fallacies — 

 What have we left ? and I would venture to refer him to all the 

 jiatient work which is being done in various countries, and by 

 which a real .Science of Meteorology is being slowly built up, 

 while to the outdoor weather student I wotdd offer this consoling 

 reflection — fhere is still the sky. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



1'rof. .\. H. Ciit-RCH AMI Dr. Fream have been ofl'ered 

 and have accepted Honorary Professorships at the Royal -Agri- 

 cultural College, Cirencester. These gentlemen were both 

 formerly i>rofessors at the College, and both took part in the 

 recent jubilee celebrations. 



It would be a great advantage to the numerous students of 

 science and technology if the scientific works in all public 

 libraries were arranged in a separate class, and catalogued 

 separately. This has been done for the Central Free Public Lend- 

 ing Library of Nottingham, by Mr. J. P. Briscoe, the librarian, 

 and Mr. T. Dent. All the scientific books in the librar)- have 

 been arranged according to the science to which they refer, and 

 indexed according to sunjects and authors. The list will thus be 

 of great assistance to students. 



New technical schools, presented to Winsford. in the salt 

 district of Cheshire, by Mr. Joseph Verdin, at a cost of £&OQO, 

 were opened by the Duke and Duchess of Westminster Last 

 week. The money is part of a fund of /^26,ooo, originally in- 

 tended to compensate projierty owners from subsidences brought 

 about by brine-pumping. As he was unable to transfer the fund, 

 the Charity Conmiissioners were applied to, and it was decided 

 that ^12,000 should be used in the erection and endowment of 

 technical schools at Winsford and Northwich. 



Precedino a historical account of the Owens College, 

 Manchester, contributed by Mr. P. J. Hartog to the current 

 Kt-iOrd of Technical and Secondary Kducation, the function 

 1 of university colleges in technical education is discussed. 

 I Mr. Hartog points to a fundamental distinction established by 

 i the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction between (i) 

 i institutions for the instruction of manufacturers and higher 

 managers, and (2) institutions for the instruction of foremen and 

 workmen engaged in industrial pursuits. He rightly remarks, 

 however, that the distinction is still vague in the mind of the 

 \ public, and even in that of many educationalists. It has become 

 more vague through the use of the words "polytechnic" and 

 " technical school " to render the German polyleihnidiin and 

 iechnisc/ie hochsihuk, to which they are not at all equivalent. 

 The polyteihnuuiii and tichnischc liOi/iSilitilc educate managers 

 and manufacturers : our polytechnics and technical schools, with 

 their day-schools for lads and their night-schools for adults 

 occupied during the day, educate foremen and workmen. It is 

 not nrces-ssary to insist on the inestimable value of the latter 

 class of school ; but it is of the first importance that the public 

 should perceive the distinction referred to by .Mr. Hartog, and 

 that they .should not think that they are following the nxample of 

 a country like Switzerland, which eleven years ago w.-is spending 

 over ^14,000 a year on the Ziirich Polytechnic, when they vote 

 a large sum to one of the many English polytechnics and 

 technical schools, now springing up so rapidly with the help of 

 fimds derivfd from the Customs and Kxcise duties, while but 

 meagre support is given to the institutions for the training of 

 managers and manufacturers. .\s Mr. Hartog remarks, the 

 university colleges combine the faculties of a tleniian or Swiss 

 university with those o( a.fiolyl,<linuurii, but the existence of the 

 technical jiart of the instruction given is often ignored liecause it 

 is called university leaching, and not technical instruction, and 



