428 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



Mexico to Canada could be informed of the situation — of the meteorological con- 

 ditions of the whole country. 



The intelligent people of the world at least will readily become familiar with 

 " High " and ' ' Low," and it will afford them an infinite amount of satisfaction and 

 be most profitable to them to watch and study the changes of nature, and in 

 many ways be of great practical value to them in forewarning and giving them 

 timely notice of the changes that are to occur — and as it were taking them up 

 into a high mountain and showing them the meteorological conditions of the 

 whole country. It would seem that a plan that could easily accomplish this was 

 worth putting into execution. Let this be done and the Weather Bureau will no 

 longer remain in the background with few to do it reverence. Let it once be 

 thus placed in bold-relief before the public and it will take a new lease of life — 

 indeed its past will be very tame and quiet beside what its future will be. The 

 public will then begin to appreciate the work of this Bureau, and will more readily 

 "lend it a hand" and advocate its claims. 



Bear in mind, the weather-map is the geography of the aimosph9re. By it we 

 have been instructed in the factors and phenomena of meteorology as never before. 

 By it we have been brought face to face with the great revelations of nature. 

 Present this map every morning to the eyes of the whole country in a form suita- 

 ble for practical purposes and the whole country will comprehend its practical 

 value and sound forth its praise. 



Only in a skeleton form can it be made thus valuable and universal. Soon- 

 er or later this idea must prevail, and when it does th'e factors and phenomena 

 of meteorology will be more completely revealed, and through this revelation the 

 world will the better be enabled to comprehend the mysteries of nature in this 

 department and the better understand how to derive practical benefit from its 

 meteorological knowledge. 



Washington, D. C, August 26, 1882. 



WEATHER PROGNOSTICS 



S. A. MAXWELL. 



From time immemorial the people of all countries, savage or civilized, have 

 quoted proverbs in relation to the weather whose origin belonged in the dim 

 and distant past. 



Some of these can be traced back, and some of them it seems had more than 

 one origin, if we may use such a paradoxical expression — the same proverb being 

 found current coin in the languages of distinct and widely separated races. When 

 this is the case there must be of course more or less truth connected with it. It 

 is customary to accept these weather proverbs as facts, never looking carefully 

 within to see whether truth or falsehood is clothed with their sober garb. It is 

 probable that more than one-half of the trite sayings in regard to the weather are 



