108 DISCOVERY CH. 



cause of the variations from year to year has yet to 

 be found. Ancient astronomers were able to predict 

 eclipses with fair accuracy, because they knew the 

 eclipse cycle, though they did not understand the true 

 relationships existing between the sun, moon and earth 

 as members of the solar system, or the law of gravitation. 

 The discovery of this law was the key to all cycles caused 

 by the movement of members of our system, and in the 

 light of it predictions of eclipses are now made. On 

 the other hand, no master-key has been found which 

 will enable the, cycles extricated from meteorological 

 records to be seen as consequences of natural laws. 



The sun is responsible for the great movements of the 

 atmosphere which circulates around the solid earth. 

 The various kinds of messages which its rays bear to 

 the earth are being accumulated in solar observatories, 

 and persistent efforts are being made to understand 

 the code in which they are written. Little by little 

 the language of the sun is being pieced together, but 

 we still await the discovery of an inscription which will 

 provide a key to solar influences, as the Rosetta stone 

 did for Egyptian hieroglyphs. When this key has been 

 found, it will be possible to predict the seasonal weather 

 from year to year in advance ; but that time is not yet. 



To an observer unfamiliar with the game of chess, 

 the movements of the different pieces upon the board 

 by the players are unintelligible. A master of the game 

 sees, however, not only the disposition of the pieces at 

 a given moment, but also for several moves ahead. As 

 regards weather prediction, meteorologists are at present 

 in the position of a spectator knowing one or two simple 

 moves in the air and these limited to a small portion of 

 the board. They do not see the whole board at one 

 time, though this is essential for an estimate to be made 



