30 THE CLIMATOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



contained a great deal of matter more or less interesting 

 and instructive in regard to the weather, agriculture, etc. 



Mr. Wiggin, who has been connected with the finance 

 department of the Canadian Government at Ottawa, is an 

 astronomer, and though not devoting so much time to me- 

 teorological work as did Mr. Vennor ; yet he has made a 

 number of predictions, some of his earlier ones proving 

 correct and creating for him quite a notoriety. His pre- 

 dictions, however, are based not on the recurrence of 

 weather changes, but upon the influence exerted upon the 

 earth with its elastic envelope of atmosphere by the su- 

 perior planets and other heavenly bodies. Without doubt 

 there is much in such a system and although we might not 

 be able to rely upon it entirely, yet not only the sun and 

 moon, but the other heavenly bodies, exert an influence to 

 a greater r less extent upon us, or the earth and air. 

 The chief difficulty with which we should meet would be 

 the reduction of these general facts to any practical sys- 

 tem. In order to use them, we should know how much 

 influence is exerted under certain conditions, and how 

 that influence would manifest itself. In making predic- 

 tions, weather prophets, on whatever system they work, 

 refer to conditions which have not at the time begun to 

 manifest themselves ; whereas the Signal Service, as a gen- 

 eral rule, draws indications of the increase and progress 

 of conditions already developed. 



Having now considered the principal features of our 

 eastern climate, and the operation of the Signal Service, 

 we will cross to the Pacific and note some of the peculiar- 

 ities of that climate. After crossing the Rocky Moun- 

 tains we find ourselves in what is called the great enclosed 

 American basin, a plateau of 4000 to 5000 feet elevation, 

 extending westward to the Sierra Nevada range. This 

 region is mountainous, dry and barren in general, with a 



