114 



POPULAR SOTEKCE NEWS. 



[August, 1S89. 



Up to this point it has sufficed to operate 

 exactly according to our directions, and no 

 difficulty has been met with. But here is 

 where the operation becomes ticklish. It is 

 a question, in fact, not only of removing the 

 pieces, B, C, D, arid E, serving to chock the 

 vertical pieces that are alone to support the 

 structure, but also to free the two pieces, A 

 and K, that the pieces, i, 2, 3, and 4, hold 

 prisoners. How shall it be done? Let us 

 first get rid of the pieces, B, C, D, and E, 

 and, having formed the sixth row with them, 

 let us occupy ourselves with the two prisoners. 



Upon the plan to the left remark the figures 

 5 and 6, pla(;ed alongside of two parallel 

 dotted lines. These lines represent the 

 oblique position which it is necessary to give 

 the pieces, 2 and 3, temporarily, by deftly 

 turning them with the finger. The piece, K, 

 being no longer supported, falls upon A, and 

 the two pieces, A and K, can be withdrawn 

 through the space thus created between 2 and 

 3. Having placed A and K upon the sixth 

 row, and in the centre of it, return 2 and 3 to 

 their original position, and cap the whole 

 with the two dice boxes of the game of back- 

 gammon, one inverted over the other and 

 supporting the two dice. 



A similar experiment can be made with a 

 box of dominos, the problem being to stand 

 every piece upon its point without the aid of 

 any foreign object. This is accomplished by 

 arranging them in a circle, as shown in the 

 upper part of the engraving, the first dominc* 

 being kept in position by resting it against 

 another one which lays flat upon the table. 

 When the circle is almost completed, the two 

 ends are carefully steadied with the hands, 

 and the recumbent domino raised to an 

 upright position, forming, as it were, the key- 

 stone of the structure. This is tlie only part 

 of the experiment requiring any care, and, as 

 is shown in the engraving, the greatest sta- 



bility is obtained by giving the dominos such 

 an inclination that the top of each rests 

 against the middle dividing line of the suc- 

 ceeding one. 



By another method it is even possible to 

 arrange the dominos in a straight line. To 

 do this, the cover of the box is used as a sup- 

 port for the first piece, and the others are 

 placed in the same order as in the previous 

 experiment, taking care to make the inclina- 

 tion somewhat less. After all are in place, 

 the ends are steadied by the hands and 

 pressed together, while the line of dominos is 

 gently worked back and forth until the desired 

 stability is obtained, when the box cover may 

 be removed, and the dominos left standing by 

 themselves, mutually supported by each other 



upon their points. 



«♦» 



[Original in The PopuUir Scievce N<toti.] 

 THE WEATHER. » 



BY M. J. GORTON. 



The free play of forces, the shock electric of the 

 surcharged energies, or the perfect calm of a daj in 

 June, harmonious in rhjthm as the music of the 

 spheres, is Nature dealing according to her own 

 natural resources, keeping time by those pulse-beats 

 accurately attuned to unvarying measures. 



By accurate observation, it is found that one sub- 

 ject is ever regarded as trite and commonplace, about 

 which — as the comfort, the prosperity, and well- 

 being, or the discomfort and disasters, of mankind 

 depend — there must be much inquiry and many 

 tests of the law of its conduct, — and that is, "The 

 Weather." 



So obscure is this subject that it is evident that 

 climate is often mistaken for it, and the phenomena 

 of the weather — its changes and its peculiarities — 

 are attributed to climatic influences; so that, not- 

 withstanding daily discussion and inquiries, and the 

 records and reports of the Signal Service Bureau, 

 there are still very indistinct ideas and predictions 

 on this very unstable element. There are persons 

 who assert that when a season occurs out of the 

 usual way, unfavorable to the growth and ripening 

 of the crops, that a national punishment, undoubt- 

 edly deserved, has been incurred. It therefore fol- 

 lows that fine seasons are regarded in a practical 

 sense as natural and normal, and bad seasons as 

 marvelous exceptions. 



Weather in temperate and frigid zones, and in 

 most places in the tropics, must change; but a long 

 average of weather at the same point constitutes 

 climate. The climate of a locality may change, but 

 the weather invariably does change. Tlierefore, it 

 may be stated as an axiom, that weather is very 

 changeable and that climate is very regular. 



The prognostications and changes of the weather 

 liave always been noted as things of importance in 

 the affairs of mankind, and science has tried to 

 forecast the probabilities of certain near periods in 

 the future, by the invention of instruments for the 

 purpose, and by keeping skillful observers to note 

 and record the phenomena of the wind, sun, sky, 

 clouds, and states of atmosphere, to aid in the solu- 

 tion. 



In the lore of the country, the change in the 

 weather will be obtained by observing the habits of 

 animals. The hushed silence and .scurrying flight 

 of birds and insects, the movements of cows and 

 horses in the fields, or of the domestic pets about the 

 house, foretell a coming change. Invalids, and 

 those who suffer from neuralgia or old wounds, all 

 suffer from the change of weather. All these phe- 



nomena are the result of laws which, if the causes 

 were understood, would be capable of observation 

 and tabulation. They are dependent upon the 

 density or rarity of the atmosphere, the temperature 

 of the air — not only at sea-level, but at a// altitudes, 

 — the state of moisture, the rainfall, the clear or 

 cloudy state of the upper air, the force of the wind, 

 the electric conditions, and the magnetic forces of 

 the earth. Instruments are in use by which such 

 phenomena can be recorded. But the reason for 

 the conditions of these many different elements, 

 that produce such-and-such states of weather upon 

 such-and-such days, is yet to be found out by accu- 

 rate observations. When the causes are determined, 

 accurate prognostications can be made, without 

 doubt, which can be relied upon. It is of this vast 

 field for accurate scientific research, that should be 

 investigated, — and is being investigated, — that one 

 word more may be said. 



Faraday discovered the e.xact laws ruling the rela- 

 tion of particles of gas. What force rends the par- 

 ticles of gas.' What is the attraction that causes 

 them to rush into combination.' What invisible 

 force ranges the particles into rank and file, hollow 

 squares, and triangles.' Again, tlie whole rank and 

 file, without warning, will change position and 

 form anew. The obscure laws governing heat were 

 also unravelled by him, as the result of scientific 

 observation. 



Laws governing the natural phenomena contained 

 in the changes of the elements in producing cori-e- 

 sponding changes in the weather, are now known 

 to be governed by similar conditions to those which 

 Faraday discovered in the kindred field of research, 

 amidst chemical affinities and repulsions. Instru- 

 ments are now in use by which most of this class of 

 phenomena can be recorded. The barometer, which 

 weighs a column of air to the very top of our atmos- 

 phere, tells the pressure of the air at the moment of 

 observation. The thermometer, also, is of great 

 value as a weather indicator. The direction of the 

 wind, and the coincidence or dissidence from the 

 average of many years' observations at the given 

 time or period, is an important observation. The 

 flashes of the aurora borealis, indicating electrical 

 disturbances and magnetic storms, are usually fol- 

 lowed by lowering weather. But the relation be- 

 tween the phenomenon and the result is very 

 imperfectly understood. To properly carry these 

 researches into regions where the laws are imper- 

 fectly understood, there must be accurate observa- 

 tions, and they must be compared by standards that 

 are fixed. The instruments must be used systemati- 

 cally, — always and everywhere at the same hour of 

 the day, — and the widely separated observers must 

 compare notes, and that with some degree of 

 exactness. There must be no indifference and no 

 forgetfulness in the work, and these observations 

 must continue some time to be able to produce 

 results that shall be of any use in arriving at a sci- 

 entific solution. This would include the study of 

 rain and shine, of cloud and clear, of fine weather 

 and foul, of calm and storm, of squall and tornado, 

 of frost and heat, of hail and snow, of drouth and 

 flood ; it requires the study of cloud-forms and sun- 

 set glories, of halos of rainbows, and of the ghostly 

 phantasm of the northern lights. 



To those who know liow inaccurate the predic- 

 tions of the National Weather Bureau are, would it 

 not seem good advice to hint that, instead 01 

 increasing the number of predictions, as is now the 

 case, that it would seem more advisable that the 

 service enter upon a more profound and thorough 

 investigation of the elements.' Then, out of the 

 confused jumble of theories, predictions, prophecies, 

 and some record of notable changes of weather, can 

 be gathered facts and a reliable record. 



