THE PASSING OF ''LOW" BAROMETER. 107 



edge, comes forward and does what an honorable man would do under the 

 circumstances — acknowledge that there are things in meteorology which he had 

 not, up to that time, dreamed of. 



I have here suggested meteorological clubs — I would not have them expensive 

 institutions. I would have the people of America take hold of this subject in a 

 wise, common sense American way. 



I will repeat that I do not speak ex cathedra for the weather bureau. I simply 

 here speak in the interest of science, enlightenment, and right. I believe it to be 

 for the best interests of all good and wise American citizens — indeed the citizens of 

 the whole world — to be familiar with this questioa, at least as familiar as they are 

 with natural philosophy, geography and the arts. 



Let the people of the country understand the Passing of Low, be able to com- 

 prehend its meaning and the technical meaning oi High and Low, and the weather 

 bureau will no longer be the insignificant and almost contemptible thing that it is. 

 It will not have to go a begging for a mere existence. Its friends and patrons 

 will spring up in every township, and hosts of friends will be glad to do it service, 

 fight its battles and protect its honor. 



A careful daily study of the weather maps — noting the movement of storms 

 — how an area oi low is picked up in the West, on a high or low line of latitude — 

 how it travels eastward — the line, the course and spread it takes — how rapidly it 

 moves at one time, how slow at another — how it varies with the seasons — how it 

 readjusts temperature — how it generally works to the north as the sun rises in 

 the ecliptic, and how high a line it reaches at times even when the sun is along 

 the lower line of the ecliptic — how January thaws are produced — the cause of the 

 peculiar weather which makes the seasons; the severe cold of winter, the warm 

 spells of mid-winter, the cold spells of mid-summer — the high winds of February 

 and March, the warm spells of May and Jnne, the hot and dry spells of July and 

 August — the cause of that peculiar condition of weather which we term "Indian 

 Summer," the climax of the year when Nature, especially here iu America, ap- 

 pears in her most resplendent colors, when the harvest-moon is in all his glory and 

 the fruits of the year are being gathered for the benefit and comfort of man and 

 beast through the long winter. To be able to understand such things — to know 

 how to account for them. It would seem that such knowledge was well worthy 

 the interest of the wisest, instead of being their contempt or indifference. 



The world Httle dreams of the interest centered in these maps. . To neglect 

 them longer, is to remain in willing ignorance, and this, it would seem, was not 

 the part of wise men to do. There is much poetry, as well as good common 

 sense, in the full understanding of the Passing of Low, to comprehend it is to gain 

 much wisdom on a subject that is full of beauty and of great practical benefit to 

 mankind. 



