122 OBSERVATIONS ON THE WEATHER. 



England, where these calculations were made, it is m some 

 respects different. 



" From my earliest childhood I was bred up on a little 

 farm which I was taught to care for and cultivate ever since 

 I was able to spring the rattle, use the whip, manage the 

 sickle, or handle the spade, and as I found that much of our 

 success depended on a proper knowledge and management 

 of the weather, I was led to study it ever since I was eight 

 years of age. I believe meteorology is a natural science^ 

 and one of the first that is studied ; and that every child in 

 the country makes untaught, some progress in it ; at least, 

 so it was with me. I had actually learned, by silent obser- 

 vation, to form good conjectures concerning the coming 

 weather, and on this head, to teach wisdom to those who 

 were perfect, especially among those who had not been 

 obliged, like me, to watch earnestly; that what was so 

 necessary to the family support should not be spoiled by the 

 weather before it was housed. 



Many a time, even in tender youth, have I watched the 

 heavens with anxiety, examined the different appearances of 

 the morning and evening Sun, the phases of the Moon, the 

 scintillation of the stars, the course and colour of the clouds, 

 the flight of the crow and swallow, the gambols of the colt 5 

 the fluttering of the ducks, and the loud screams of the 

 seamew — not forgetting the hue and croaking of the frogs. 

 From the little knowledge I had derived from close observa- 

 tion, I often ventured to direct our agricultural operations 

 in reference to the coming days, and was seldom much mis- 

 taken in my reckoning. 



The following table, purporting to be the work of the late 

 Dr. Herschel, has been variously published. I have carefully 

 consulted this table for years, and from a conviction, that no 

 rules could be devised liable to so few exceptions ; I have? 

 by a little alteration in its arrangements, prepared it for pub- 

 lication, illustrated with such further observations as may 

 be deemed interesting to the general reader." 



