NA TURK 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1S94. 



ANCIENT METEOROLOGY. 



Thecphrastus of Eresiis, on Winds and on IVeather 

 Signs. Translated, with an Introduction, and an 

 Appendix, by Jas. G. Wood, M.A., LL.B., F.G.S., and 

 edited by G. J. Symons, F.R.S. (London : Stanford, 

 1894.; 



THIS book owes its appearance in an English dress 

 to the action of Mr. G. J. Symons, who believed 

 ts contents to be of such value and interest, that he 

 offered to defray the expenses of publication provided 

 I competent authority would prepare a translation of 

 ;his neglected author. An able and willing translator 

 was found in Mr. J. G. Wood, sometime Fellow of 

 Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and we are thus put in 

 asy possession of the thoughts and the science of 

 Thenphrastus, or it may be the wisdom of Aristotle, 

 filtered through the mind of his favourite pupil. It need 

 scarcely be said that the book possesses a greater in- 

 terest for the archaeologist than for the pupil of modern 

 science, whose habit of thought is so different from that 

 of the old Greek author, that he will have a difficulty in 

 attempting to follow him. 



A main object that Mr. Symons had in his generous 

 proposal was to offer the means for the study of the 

 gradual growth of our knowledge of meteorology, as 

 exhibited in the literature of past ages. He has, there- 

 fore, begun at the fountain-head, or as near as was pos- 

 sible or desirable. Mr. Wood seems to have been 

 animated by a somewhat similar ambition. He is afraid 

 , that in the study of meteorology, as at present existing, 

 the student may be tempted to forget " the far-off and 

 small but necessary beginnings which have conduced to 

 such an end." In this sentence there are several words 

 to which one might, if in a captious mood, take 

 exception. For instance, can meteorology, in any 

 sense, be said to have its beginning in the school 

 of Aristotle or Theophrastus ? Certainly not in the same 

 sense in which astronomy could be said to have its 

 rise in the work of Hipparchus or Ptolemy, for whatever 

 errors may have vitiated their reasoning and impaired 

 their results, they were in an advanced position com- 

 pared with those who taught or who studied meteorology 

 before they had an adequate conception of the existence 

 of an atmosphere. Again, is it necessary that science 

 should have its origin in error? Hasty generalisations, 

 imperfect judgment from insufficient facts, one must ex- 

 pect, but there will always be a central thought which 

 successive students will develop and render fruitful, and 

 in Theophrastus this germ seems to be absolutely want- 

 ing. It is rare, if not impossible, to find any paragraph 

 which is scientifically correct, or in which any train of 

 reasoning is sound, so that we fail to see how the efforts 

 of Theophrastus and his predecessor have in any way 

 conduced to the position, imperfect as it is, in which 

 meteorology now stands. Mr. Symons has told us that 

 he hoped to capture some new thought from the study of 

 this author. We venture to say he has been disappointed, 

 for whatever interest the book may have for the curious 



NO 1306, VOL. 51] 



and the literary student, it has little or none for the 

 scientific. 



We have in this little book two treatises, or (as Mr. 

 Wood says we should now call them) "papers," of 

 Therophrastus, one on "The Winds," the other on 

 " Weather Signs." Both are marked by traces of haste 

 in their original compilation, and assume a better ac- 

 quaintance with the writings of Aristotle than most 

 people at the present day possess. But even with 

 this knowledge, the author is difficult enough to follow ; 

 accordingly Mr. Wood in his introduction has endeavoured 

 to give the English reader a notion of Aristotle's views 

 on Wind. This it will be admitted is no easy task, within 

 the small limits permitted to the translator ; and if the 

 explanation is not everywhere so clear nor so full as 

 could be wished', the fault lies not with Mr. Wood, but 

 in the intricacy of the subject, and in the difficulty the 

 reader finds in endeavouring to follow the subtleties of 

 Aristotle, and of accommodating modern thought and 

 knowledge to the ancient methods of expression. It is a 

 treat, after wandering through the mazes of "dry subli- 

 mation " and " moist sublimation," to come to Mr. 

 Wood's summing up of the whole matter, in which he 

 endeavours to concentrate his intimate knowledge of 

 this subject, as it presented itself to the Greek mind. 

 "The winds"— and Mr. Wood draws a necessary and 

 picturesque distinction between tti-oi;. di/f/iof, and 

 TTiKVjxa — " are separate and distinct entities, flowing 

 in definite courses, and not mere movements of 

 the same air hither and thither : that to produce wind 

 matter has to be formed, and the more matter the 

 greater the wind : and this matter is derived from the 

 earth, and is distinct from vapour." 



With these misconceptions influencing the Greek 

 mind, and giving rise to infinite confusion, it would be 

 tedious to point out all the errors into which Theophrastus 

 fell. He was apparently not the kind of man to substitute 

 patient and exact observation for the assertion and teach- 

 ing of authority, or we might have had to hail him as 

 the founder of exact meteorology. One example will 

 suffice to illustrate his success as an original investigator. 

 We select the subject of annual or periodic winds 

 (fTijo-Kii), which Mr. Wood renders not very happily 

 by •' monsoons." The origin of these winds our author 

 teaches us is to be traced in the melting of the snow. 

 As the sun breaks up the frost, it sets the air in motion, 

 giving rise to the " monsoons," and inasmuch as the 

 thaw does not proceed with perfect regularity, so the 

 wind varies in constancy. At night, when the action of 

 the sun is less powerful and the thaw does not proceed, 

 the wind ceases to blow, but under e.xceptional circum- 

 stances the thaw may be so rapid that the wind is 

 perceived at night. Did none of his pupils seek to 

 verify these statements .' 



The attempts at weather forecasting are naturally not 

 more happy than those dealing with meteorological 

 science, as now generally understood, but possibly quite 

 as accurate as many of the predictions -quoted in our 

 days, having for their object the determination of the 

 weather for a considerable period in advance. Certainly 

 they rest on a foundation quite as sound, and doubtless 

 assume an equal ignorance in_the public, that circulate 

 them from mouth to mouth, or it may be from nev\-spaper 



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