158 Prognostics of the Weather. 



2nd Rule. If cloudy, and the clouds soon decrease, 

 certain fair weather. 



These rules may be extended to all the heavenly bodies ; 

 for as their rays pass through the atmosphere, the vapours 

 in the air have the same effect on each. 



When the farmer, therefore, sees the sun or moon rise or 

 set red and fiery, or sees the clouds and horizon of that 

 colour, he may expect wind and rain, owing to the unequal 

 distribution of the vapours, or to their being already col- 

 lected into watery globules by some preceding cause. 



But if, according to the second rule, the sun rises cloudy, 

 and the clouds soon decrease, the vapours are more equally 

 distributed in the atmosphere ; which equal distribution is 

 also promoted by the warmth of the rising sun. Hence we 

 may account for an observation adopted into all languages : 



" The evening red, the morning grey, 

 Are sure signs of a fair day." 



For if the abundance of vapours, denoted by the red 

 evening sky, falls down in dew, or is otherwise so equally 

 dispersed in the air that the morning shall appear grey, we 

 may promise ourselves a fair day, from that equal state of 

 the atmosphere. 



If, in the morning, some parts of the sky appear green 

 between the clouds, while the sky is blue above, stormy 

 weather is at hand. 



The great Lord Bacon gives us the following rules to 

 judge of the ensuing weather, from the first appearance of 

 the moon ; and it is said that these rules of his have never 

 been known to fail : 



" If the new moon does not appear till the fourth day, it 

 prognosticates a troubled air for the whole month. 



" If the moon, either at her first appearance, or within a 

 few days after, has her lower horn obscured or dusky, or 

 any ways sullied, it denotes foul weather before the full ; 

 but if she be discoloured in the middle, storms are to be 

 expected about the full ; or about the wane, if her upper 

 horn is affected in like manner. 



" When the moon, on her fourth day, appears fine and 



