THE CLIMATOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 47 



already mentioned, that is, the relation existing between 

 the members of the solar system. If a sympathy exist be- 

 tween the sun and the earth, it must also exist between 

 the sun and the other planets, and if changes in the sun 

 affect these it is not unreasonable to suppose that they in 

 turn may exert some influence upon the sun, and if they 

 ever do, we should expect the effects increased when the 

 superior planets occupy such positions with regard to one 

 another as they have within the last five years. Now 

 after these superficial observations, I will refer to my for- 

 mer statement that the characteristic climates of the dif- 

 ferent sections in the United States which I have described, 

 have not within the last few years been in their normal 

 condition. As an example the dry season in California 

 has been growing shorter, the rains have continued later 

 into the spring, and commenced earlier in the fall, and 

 light showers have occurred in June and last summer a 

 light one occurred the first of July, and in some localities 

 in the state thunder and lightning accompanied it, a remark- 

 able event for that region. A Spaniard who had resided 

 in Monterey most of his life stated that he had never seen 

 lightning until two years ago. The Californians boast 

 of their freedom from thunder showers ; light ones occur 

 though very rarely but the state is subject to eight or ten 

 earthquake shocks a year. These, however, are generally 

 light, and in the majority of cases are scarcely noticeable, 

 and the residents prefer them to thunder showers. In 

 support of this preference they bring up the undeniable 

 fact that in twenty years only forty deaths from earth- 

 quakes have occurred in the state, and these mostly 

 by the falling of old adobe houses, while in the rest of the 

 United States subject to thunder showers the deaths by 

 lightning amount to nearly one hundred and fifty a year, 

 and if the deaths by tornadoes be added, the total would 



