Prognostics of the Weather. 149 



Observations on Change of the Moon. 



THE late Marshal Bugeaud, says the " Emancipation," when 

 only a captain, during the Spanish campaign, under Napo- 

 leon I, once read in a manuscript which by chance fell into 

 his hands, that from observations made in England and 

 Florence during a period of fifty years, the following law 

 respecting the weather had been proved to hold true. 

 " Eleven times out of twelve the weather remains the same 

 during the whole moon as it is on the fifth day, if it con- 

 tinues unchanged over the sixth day ; and nine times out of 

 twelve like the fourth day, if the sixth resembles the fourth." 

 From 1815 to 1830 M. Bugeaud devoted his attention to 

 agriculture ; and, guided by the law just mentioned, avoided 

 the losses in hay-time and vintage which many of his neigh- 

 bours experienced. When Governor of Algiers, he never 

 entered on a campaign till after the sixth day of the moon. 

 His neighbours at Excideuil and his lieutenants in Algeria 

 would often exclaim " How lucky he is in the weather !" 

 What they regarded as mere chance was the result of ob- 

 servation. In counting the fourth and sixth days, he was 

 particular in beginning from the exact time of new moon, 

 and added three-quarters of an hour for each day for the 

 greater length of the lunar as compared with the solar day. 



Signs from the Dew. 



IF the dew lies plentifully upon the grass after a fair day, 

 another fair day may be expected to succeed it ; but if after 

 such a day there is no dew upon the ground, and no wind 

 stirring, it is a sign that the vapours go upwards, and that 

 there will be an accumulation above, which must terminate 

 in rain. 



Signs from the Face of the Shy. 



IF those vapours which the heat of the day raised from the 

 earth, are precipitated by the cold air of the night, then the 

 sky is clear in the morning ; but if this does not happen, 

 and they remain still in the air, the light of the morning 

 will be coloured as it was in the evening, and rain will be 

 the consequence. 



