December lo, 190S] 



.VA TURE 



173 



piaiLc Miuuiu Qisappcar. Of course it is theoretically 

 possible that average length should decline without average 

 weight, owing to tne reduced competition for food attend- 

 ing a thinning of the population — though in that case the 

 utility of a size-limit is not obvious — but in all probability 

 the discrcp:mcy is due to paucity of data in one or the 

 other of the areas, and will disappear with the collection 

 of more information. The point does, however, emphasise 

 the importance of testing the adequacy of samples of fish 

 used for statistical purposes, a matter which is dealt with 

 in another paper of the volume on the Ymuiden plaice 

 measurements. 



The secretary concludes his official record of the con- 

 ference with a reference to the reception of the council 

 by the King, and with pleasant, if a little quaint, ex- 

 pressions of thanks to the institutions and gentlemen who 

 constituted themselves hosts, and to the clubs which 

 " opened their hospitable localities " to the members. 



The second volume before us is devoted to the seals of 

 northern Europe. The material used was collected by 

 Hjort and Knipowitsch, and is of the most diverse 

 character, ranging from zoological literature to the journals 

 of sealing vessels. The intention in dealing with this data 

 was to give accounts of the biology, economic value, and 

 influence on fisheries of seals, and to arrive at conclusions 

 on the question of their extermination. The first of 

 these purposes is admirably carried out by Dr. Wolle- 

 ba;k in a paper well illustrated by charts and plates, 

 the account of the distribution and migrations of the 

 seals being especially interesting. The report is in two 

 parts, a Norwegian and a Russian, and it is evident 

 that the value attached to sealing by the Russians 

 prevents their sympathising greatly with Norwegian 

 projects for the extermination of these animals. 

 The charges against the seals are that Phoca vitulina 

 damages the salmon fisheries, which is generally admitted, 

 .-ind that P. Qroenlandica, P. foelida, and P. vitulina also 

 damage the fishery for the cod which follow the " Lodde " 

 (Mallohis villosus) to the coast of Finmark, in exceptional 

 years causing its complete failure. The damage done by 

 hordes of fish-eating seals in the exceptional " seal " years, 

 such as 1002-3, must be very great; yet the report would 

 undoubtedly have gained in value had more attention 

 been paid to the admitted possibility that the exceptional 

 rnnditions which brought the seals also drove off the fish. 

 The hydrographic conditions of the years in question were 

 so exceptional that they may well have determined the 

 failure of the fisheries ; yet they receive but brief recogni- 

 tion, and the resulting impression is somewhat that of a 

 trial confined to speeches for the prosecution. One feels 

 (hat, wore the seals eliminated, the Lodde fishery would 

 possibly still be liable to sudden failure. 



The third publication under notice is one of a series 

 issued at fairly regular intervals, and contains the detailed 

 hydrographlc and plankton observations made bv the 

 vessels employed in the international researches during 

 Ihe first quarter of iqoy, together with illustrative charts 

 .•md sections. The periodic prep.iration of these bulletins 

 must be a severe tax on the time and energies of the 

 workers, but Ihe resulting records should be of great 

 utility to those studying the North Sea and English 

 f'hannel. 



THE DAWX OF METEOROLOGY.^ 

 TV/T ETEOROLOGY as a science is young, but as a 

 br.-inch of knowledge very old, perhaps as old as 

 mankind. Indeed, the beginnings of meteorologv are to 

 be found with the origin of human civilisation. In those 

 I emote times, man living as hunter or agriculturist mostlv 

 in the o])en air was more influenced by, and more depend- 

 ing on. the weather than we are ourselves at present, and 

 he was therefore forced to watch atmospheric phenomena. 

 He did so. of course, not in order to study the atmosphere 

 .-It d to discover its laws, but to derive immediate 

 advantages for himself. He was anxious to learn how to 

 protect his house against the inclemency of the weather, 

 how to foresee the best atmospheric conditions for his 

 ' Ahridgixl from a lecture deliv-r-cl bffre tlic Royal At'teoroloiii'-al 

 Society bv Prof. G. Hellm.inn, and printed in the Quarterly Journal of the 

 Society, October, 1908. 



2041, VOL. 70] 



undertakings, or how to find out the most favourable 

 clmiatic situations for his fields. 



The experience of the more intelligent men in this re- 

 spect was handed down, and at the same time auginenled, 

 trom generation to generation, and formed very early an 

 essential element in the knowledge of the people. 



It was the popular weather-wisdom which is still living 

 nowadays, and will never die. This weather knowledge 

 soon assumed the form of short proverbs, or rather absolute 

 rules, because thus they were easily committed to inemory. 



It would, therefore, be wrong to imagine that the rich 

 store of weather-lore found in the Bible, especially in the 

 Book of Job, in the poems of Homer and Hesiod, that 

 is, in writings of the eighth century B.C., originated then 

 in Palestine or Greece. On the contrary, the familiarity 

 of the people with the sayings and rules concerning the 

 weather, revealed to us by these writings, shows clearly 

 that they must be considered even then as a primeval 

 stock of culture. Indeed, there is every reason to believe 

 that the origin of a great deal even of the modern weather- 

 lore can be traced to its Indo-Germanic source. 



People attribute a good deal of prognostic signification 

 to the so-called " twelve nights " (or " twelve days "), 

 which formerly were counted from the beginning of the 

 year, but later, under the influence of the Christian Church, 

 from Christmas. People believe that the weather of these 

 twelve nights (or days) corresponds with that of the twelve 

 months of the following year — indeed, a rather simple fore- 

 cast of long range if it were true ! This superstition is 

 met in the whole of European literature back to the 

 fifteenth century, and still earlier in many MSS. Also the 

 Venerable Bede mentions it ; and the Byzantine-Greek 

 work on agriculture, called " Geoponica," which was col- 

 lected in the sixth century a.d., tells us that even Demo- 

 critus, in the fifth century B.C., was familiar with it in 

 pretty much the same form. On the other hand, we learn 

 from the Sanskritists that the old Indian or Vedic texts 

 reveal the same belief in the twelve nights as a symbol 

 of the following twelve months. But this superstition not 

 only spread westwards with the Indo-Germanic race, it 

 migrated also eastwards to China, where on New Year's 

 Day a custom is still in use which is based on the same 

 Indo-Germanic conception. 



.Another superstition concerning the weather leads us to 

 old Babylonia. Many European chapbooks of past cen- 

 turies, and a little Swedish book, " Sibyllas Prophetia," 

 which is sold to-day at fairs, contain forecasts of the 

 weather and fertility of the whole year deduced from the 

 thunder heard in each of the twelve months. These sigiia 

 touitrni can be followed up in MSS. until the Middle Ages, 

 and go back apparently to the rich literature of thunder- 

 almanacs or brontologies, in the composition of which in 

 the fourth and fifth centuries even Byzantine emperors 

 have taken part. In a similar chapter of the already cited 

 Greek book " Geoponica " this doctrine is attributed to 

 Zoroaster. Though this may not be the real author, yet 

 his name indicates its Oriental origin ; and, indeed, I 

 found in the works of the .'\ssyriologists — Sayce at Oxford 

 and Li^normant in Paris — some translations of cuneiform 

 tablets proving the Chaldaic origin of this superstition 

 concerning thunder. 



The state of meteorology in the old Babylonian culture, 

 namely, three to one thousand years B.C., shows quite 

 another character than it did in those primeval times in 

 which the weather proverbs originated. 



."^fter having been formed into the beginnings of a 

 learned profession by the priests, the atmospheric pheno- 

 mena were brought lay them into connection with the con- 

 stellations of the heavenly bodies, and a complete system 

 of consequences and combinations was established which 

 gave rise to the astro-meteorology. It even formed an 

 integral part of the Assyric-Babylonian religion. 



The meteorological observations of the Chaldeans were 

 apparently of a quite selective nature, referring above all 

 to optical phenomena, especially to the halos. They dis- 

 tinguished clearly the small halo of 22° diameter, called 

 " tarbasu," from the greater one of 45°, called " supuru." 

 Besides, they paid much attention to clouds, winds, 

 storms, and thunder ; but a good many of these observa- 

 tions served more for a general prophecy of good and bad 

 things, or omens, than for the forecast of the weather. 



.NO. 



