440 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



When the air is clear bad seeing is due to atmospheric inequalities 

 which the free mixing caused by winds will eliminate. When the 

 moon's horns, then, appear sharp, that is, when the seeing is good, we 

 know that these inequalities do not exist, and the natural inference is 

 that they have been smoothed out by strong overrunning winds, which 

 later may reach the surface of the earth. 



Stars 



' ' The prudent mariner oft marks afar 

 The coming of tempests by Bootes's star." 



— Aratus. 



The stars, like the sun and the moon, have furnished a number of 

 proverbs concerning the weather, and, while most of them are only 

 nonsense, a few have decided merit, as, for instance: 



"When the stars begin to huddle, 

 The earth will soon become a puddle. ' ' 



This proverb furnishes, in general, a correct forecast. It also af- 

 fords a curious illustration of the ignorance that once was — perhaps it 

 would not be far wrong to say still is — so prevalent in regard to stars. 



When a mist, due to the beginning of condensation, forms over the 

 sky the smaller stars cease to be visible, while the brighter ones shine 

 dimly with a blur (really a faint corona) of light about them, each 

 looking like a small confused cluster of stars. Hence the idea, as above 

 expressed, that stars can huddle together at one time — before a rain — 

 and be scattered asunder at another. 



There is also some ground for the proverb that declares the number 

 of stars within a lunar halo to be the number of days before a storm, 

 for the nearer the storm the denser the condensation, and therefore the 

 smaller the number of stars seen through it. However, as an entire day 

 is a pretty long unit of time to use in sign forecasting, it would be better 

 simply to say that the fewer the stars within the ring the nearer the 

 rain; though even in this form it is, not very trustworthy, owing to the 

 fact that the brighter stars are unevenly distributed. 



An entirely different star phenomenon that has given rise to a few 

 proverbs is twinkling, or the irregularities with which they shine. This 

 fluctuation in their light is caused mainly by irregular refraction due to 

 numerous inequalities in the distribution of temperature, such as neces- 

 sarily accompanies the over and under running of air currents of dif- 

 ferent temperatures and different humidities, a condition that often 

 precedes a storm. Hence the justification of the prosaic proverb that 

 says: 



' ' When stars flicker in a dark back-ground rain or snow follows soon. ' ' 



