THE STORM CENTER AND WEATHER PROPHETS. 731 
mer:when it is on a very low line, and times in winter when it is on a very high 
line. It seldom, if ever goes over exactly the same ground, though it often takes 
a Similar course- and after running on one general line for a few times in succes- 
sion, there will be a change to some opposite or extreme line, higher or lower, as 
the case may be. : 
So when fall sets in, the area of low-barometer creeps down relatively with 
the sun, and then as the sun advances north, this area of /ow goes north with it, 
yet all the while, with the changes herein spoken of intervening, making in sum- 
mer north winds, and relatively cold days, and in winter southerly winds and rela- 
tively warm days. When one becomes familiar with these motions of Jow, or the 
concentration of the sun’s heat, studies the causes, which day by day, week by 
week and month by month it follows—its regularity and irregularity—how steady 
at times it follows just where it would seem it ought to go, and how capricious at 
other times, as though it was determined to surprise man by both its regularity 
and irregularity; when we become cognizant of the laws which this department 
of nature follows; how it would seem bent on defying us to say when and where 
“it will go, and when and where it will notsgo; when our senses perceive this, 
then and not until then will we realize the absurdity of the attempt to revive the 
old method of guessing at the weather for months in advance, or putting confi- 
dence in any person’s attempt to indicate what the weather will be, from any pre- 
tended calculation of the movements of the moon or stars. 
We all know that itis cold in winter and warm in summer, and that in the spring 
we will have blustering weather, cold winds and rain, and as the spring approaches 
summer, have what are known as “April showers’ —sunshine and rain suddenly and 
closely interspersed. A little later, hot sultry days—long and protracted dry spells, 
with sudden changes and violent storms, accompanied with thunder and lightning. 
As the season advances, more evenly distributed areas of rain—days when it is 
quite cold and it would seem that winter had come, but it has not, for following 
this are those delightful hazy days inautumn, October and November, which are 
known in this country as ‘‘ Indian Summer,’’ for the reason that the first settlers 
thought on the first approach of cold weather, that winter had come, but the Indi- 
ans told them that there would follow quite a spellof mild pleasant weather before 
the cold of winter really set in, and so it did and hence the name ‘‘Indian Sum- 
mer.’’ In those days the cause of this could not be explained, but to-day it can, 
and in former papers has been explained. Following this ‘‘Indian Summer” is 
the cold of winter, earlier in northern than in southern latitudes, (north of the 
equator). All this general knowledge of the weather of the months we know and 
knew before a weather bureau was established, or thought of, but we did not 
know the causes of the changes and their peculiarities. 
There is no wisdom in any one telling us thatit willbe cold in winter or warm 
in summer, or generally that ‘‘July will be hot, with thunder storms,” or ‘‘ Decem- 
ber cold, with heavy falls of snow,” for these are the things or conditions which 
naturally follow, and if they do not follow, form an exception in the weather of 
