248 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



tain effects which we term thunder storms, tornadoes, etc., but to locate them 

 exactly or to say that they will positively occur seems most absurd to prophesy. 

 Yet with all this intelligence and undeniable facts people even suggest and seem 

 to believe that the sensational weather prophets must have some knowledge, some 

 secrets of the weather patent to themselves which have not as yet been discover- 

 ed even by the Weather Bureau, and many seem to have the idea that the 

 Weather Bureau is well enough in its way for daily indications, but that the 

 " weather prophet " system is better for forecasting the weather weeks and months 

 in advance. They would, as it were, make a compromise between the two. 

 Such remarks only prove ignorance of the subject on the part of those who make 

 them. 



In this connection it must be borne in mind that the daily "indications" is 

 only a part of the work of the Weather Bureau. The main work, whether real- 

 ized or not, is to gain a knowledge of the meteorology of the world, and only 

 through such efforts have we gained our present knowledge, in comparison with 

 which all the knowledge of the "great weather prophets" of the world is as 

 nothing and mere boy's play. Instead of the "prophet" system being superior 

 to that of the Weather Bureau, it is in self impractical, unscientific and worthless, 

 for the reason that there is no dependence in the idea that the weather periodi- 

 cally repeats itself. The changes are endless, and there are so many powers 

 and counter-powers at work, for them all to work together to produce results 

 twice alike is absurd and unwarranted the by facts by the best authority accumu- 

 lated in this department of science. 



The friends of one of the "weather prophets" claim that he can tell what 

 the weather will be for a year in advance, even to the month and day. Let any 

 intelligent person consult the almanac of this "prophet" for t88i and note the 

 prophecies for the first half of the year and compare them with what has actually 

 taken place. For the month of June nothing could be more reversed. Seeing, 

 however, that the month of May was prematurely warm he issues another state- 

 ment quite the reverse of his first— evidently founding it upon the idea that pre- 

 mature heat at this time of the year will be followed by cool rather than warm 

 weather. All of these attempts, however, were of no practical value or any 

 nearer the mark than any person could do who knows about what kind of weath- 

 er is most likely to occur during the different months of the year. According 

 to this man we were to have a fearful storm throughout the west and east on the 

 2oth of June, but the map for the day previous was clear as to the west, with only 

 a probability of a local thunder storm or two in the east. But then it does not 

 seem to matter how far from the mark this man comes; "great things" are 

 claimed for him. Claims, it would seem, that the intelligent people of the world 

 would have little respect for. The only reason that there is respect for such 

 prophecies lies in the simple fact of want of knowledge of the weather system. 

 Let this subject be understood as well as the other sciences of the world and we 

 will have an entirely different order of things in this department. We will have 



