METEOROLOGY. 



hip of the 



ArUtoile. 



must, in all ages of the world, have attracted the atten- 

 tion of mankind. The diversified appearances of the 

 sky, the changes in the temperature of the air, anil the 

 other vicissitudes in the state of the weather, can hardly 

 fail to strike even the most careless observer ; nor <Ws 

 it require any great intellectual exertion to perceive 

 that these changes have an immediate and po-< erful 

 influence, not only on the feelings and comfort of sen- 

 tient beingi, but also on the vegetable pro luctions of 

 the earth. To men ifl a rude state of society, such 

 phenomena would be peculiarly interesting. Neces- 

 sarily led, from their employments and mode of living, 

 to spend a great proportion of their time in the open 

 air, they would have frequent opportunities of observ- 

 ing the various appearances that preceded any material 

 change in the state of the atmosphere, while, from the 

 want of those conveniences which are enjoyed only in 

 a state of comparative civilization and refinement, their 

 comfort, as well a* their curiosity, would prompt them 

 to recollect every circumstance that seemed to predict 

 the approach of such changes. We find, accordingly. 

 that from the earliest times, these phenomena have ex- 

 cited a general interest in all countries, and in every 

 stage of society ; nor is there any other subject, per- 

 haps, on which popular maxims have been so numerous 

 or so universally prevalent. 



The first attempt to collect and reduce to any thing 

 M i wr ,,. like a systematic form, the various prognostications of 

 the weather, U to be found, we believe, in the writings 

 of Aristotle, and his dimple Theophrastus. Long be- 

 fore their time indeed, the Egyptians, and other easUm 

 nations, had recorded many interesting facts regarding 

 atmospherical phenomena; but they appear to have 

 considered these only as a branch of astronomy or as- 

 trology. Aristotle, in his book dr Mtteont, treats the 

 subject as a separate science, and in addition to the 

 observations of his predecessors, records also a variety 

 of his own, bearing evident marks of all that accuracy 

 and acumen for which he was so eminently di-tin- 

 gntsbed. In as far as observation is concerned, few 

 were better qualified than he was to conduct meteoro- 

 logical researches, and we have only to examine his 

 remark* on rfrw, to perceive how nearly he approached 

 on some subjects, to the diicoveries of more enlightened 

 times. Unacquainted, however, as he was, with both 

 the chemical and mechanical ronttitation of the atmo- 

 sphere, his speculations were often necessarily vague, 

 fanciful, and inconclusive ; and notwithstanding all his 

 ingenuity and industry, santaoruiuu y , as a science, 

 could hardly be said at that period to have had an 

 ssristance. 



The more profound speculations of Aristotle, were 

 succeeded hv the treatise of his pupil Theophrastus, in 

 which he collected, and arranged under distinct heads, 

 the commonly received opinions on the subject of me- 

 teorological phenomena. The work connisted of four 

 general division*, viz the prognostications of rm 

 wind, of storms, and of fair weather ; and it may be 

 inferred from these titles, that if the treatise was les 

 scientific than that of his master, it was calculated to 

 be more popular. The darkness which at time hung 

 over every department of physical science, aP 

 little prospevt, even to the philosophical inquirer, 

 being able eaeeessfmlly to investigate the causes of phe- 

 nomena, so irregsrfar hi their recurrence, and so various 

 in their appearance ; but every nun would feel more 

 or lean interested, m nuking himself acquainted with 

 rules or maxims, however empirical, which, might en- 

 able htm in say degree to predict the approach of such 



TheopbraS" 

 lui. 



phenomena. We find, accordingly, that the writings Meteorolo- 

 of Theophrastus noon became the standard work on 8- v - 

 meteorology, to which succeeding writers on the sub- '""Y~* 

 ject made neither very numerous, nor very important 

 additions. It constituted the groundwork of the Ai- 

 nucrt*, or Prognonticks of Aratus, afterwards translated, Aratin. 

 together with the phenomena of the same author, into 

 Latin verse by Cicero. A fragment of this juvenile 

 essay of the Roman orator, is still to be found among 

 his works, and affords in no very favourable specimen, 

 cither of the poetical talents of Cicero, or of the mete- Cicero, 

 orological knowledge of the ancients. 



It is unnecessary to waste the time of our readers, in 

 attempting to trace the progress of thi- branch of phi- 

 losophy, during the later period of the Human history. 

 In the writings of Virgil, and many other classical Virgil, 

 authors, we find frequent allusions to the subject ; but 

 while popular prognostications were no doubt multi- 

 plying, meteorology, as a science, made little or no ad- 

 vancement. ' A great many facts, indeed, are to be 

 found in I'liny, and Lucretius has attempted to assign Pliny. 

 these to their respective causes; but besides that the '-"cretius. 

 facts themselves are of a vague and general nature, the 

 aturditie* and superstitions with which they are blend- 

 ed render them a fitter subject for the study of the 

 moralist, than the investigation of the natural philoso- 

 pher. 



During the ages that succeeded the fin.il overthrow State of 

 of the Roman empire, it is not to be supposed, that the nieu-urolo- 

 science of meteorology made any sensible progress. ** "" 

 These were, proverbially, the ages of darkness, when not J" 

 only were the lights of ancient literature and science ex- 

 tinguished, but the march of the human intellect seemed 

 to be for a time retrograde. To the irruption of the 

 barbarous nations from the north, lias been ascribed the 

 ruin of all that was most valuable in the monuments of 

 antiquity, while the period of their reign is almost uni- 

 versally regarded as a blot in the history of the hu- 

 man race, on which the historian dwells only in the 

 language of lamentation or contempt. This is no 

 doubt, to a certain extent, true ; and the condition of 

 Europe, for several centuries of the period in question, 

 did certainly present a .striking contrast to the brighter 

 era of the Roman government, when conquest was uni- 

 formly accompanied with all the refinements of litera- 

 ture and philosophy. With the exception, however, 

 ot the llr-t two or three centuries, while Europe was 

 till in an unsettled state, we are not Mire that what are 

 commonly called the dark ages, have been always fairly 

 represented, or that they are in reality worthy of the 

 unmeasured reprobation with which they are gem-rally 

 treated. Were we more intimately acquainted with 

 them, we should perhaps find that not a little of the 

 darkness in whirh they are (opposed to have been in- 

 volved, has arisen from our ignorance of their true cha- 

 racter, and that the origin of many of those sciences 

 which constitute the glory of modem times, may be 

 traced to the very men whom we have been taught to 

 regard as little better than barbarians; But however Mule if- 

 tin- may be, we cannot agree with those who represent f tcd by 

 meteorological science as having suffered largely in the t* 1 * political 

 common rum which the destruction of the Roman em- 

 pire brought on the philosophy of the ancients. Mete- 

 orology, as a science, hnrl, in fact, little to lose, and as 

 to the popular prognostications of atmospherical phe- 

 nomena, which constituted by far the largest and most 

 interesting portion of the subject, even among the Ro- 

 mans, they were just as likely to have been discovered 

 and preserved by the barbarian conquerors as by their 



