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storm of thunder or lightning be approaching, it 
will be exceedingly agitated, and express its 
feelings in violent convulsive starts at the top of 
the glass. It is remarkable, that however fine 
and serene the weather may be, and to our senses 
no indication of a coming change, either from 
the sky, the barometer, or any other cause, yet, 
if the leech shifts its position, or moves about 
sluggishly, the coincident results will undoubt- 
edly occur within twenty-six hours.” 
Prognostics by Air and Sky—A whirlwind in- 
dicates settled fair weather. A wind blowing 
from the north-east during three days without 
rain, indicates a continuance of fair weather dur- 
ing eight or nine days. A wind veering hastily 
about to several points of the compass, indicates 
the rapid approach of rain; yet such a wind is 
regarded by some observers as indicating foul 
weather only when it veers in a course contrary 
to the sun, that is from west to east, and as in- 
dicating fine weather, when it veers in a course 
from east to west. Any wind which makes a 
whistling or howling noise is as sure a prognostic 
of rain as wind can afford. A south wind gene- 
rally brings rain; but a brisk south wind is 
usually dry. The rising of a wind is prognosti- 
cated by the divergence of the clouds as they 
come forward on the horizon; and it may be ex- 
pected either from the point where the diver- 
gence takes place, or from the point opposite to 
that. A southerly wind during a week of fair 
weather, indicates a continuance of drought; an 
easterly wind during the former part of summer, 
indicates a dry summer; and a westerly wind 
during the latter part of summer, indicates a dry 
autumn, Winds from the points between the 
north-west and the north-east, are generally ac- 
companied by fair weather; and winds from 
points between the south-east and the south- 
west are generally accompanied by rain. But 
the characters of winds, in their relations to 
drought and heat or to raininess and coldness, 
are much controlled by localities of climate, and 
differ very widely in different districts of the 
kingdom, particularly in the eastern coasts and 
the western, and in the highland districts and the 
lowland. But, in a general view, north winds 
are dry, east winds are cold, south winds are 
wet, west winds are warm, and winds between 
any two of the cardinal points partake most of 
the character of that point to which they are 
nearest. Hence the old doggerel rhymes :— 
‘* When the wind’s in the west, 
The weather’s at the best; 
When the wind’s in the east, 
It’s neither gude for man nor beast; 
When the wind’s in the south, 
Of rain there will be fouth; 
When the wind’s still, 
No weather’s ill.” 
When clouds fly in two different currents, 
especially if the lower fly faster than the upper, 
and more especially if they appear in hot weather 
WEATHER. 
or hasty showers of rain. 
641 
in summer, they portend the gathering of a 
thunder-storm. “When small scattered clouds 
appear in clear weather, or when thin, whitish 
clouds fly swiftly in a lower stratum than thicker 
and darker ones above them, they indicate the 
approach of rain. When a general cloudiness 
obscures all the upper part of the sky, and when 
small black clouds drift in the under part in 
fragments and patches like smoke, rain is not 
far off, and will probably be of long continuance. 
When black clouds suddenly arise in the west, 
or when they appear in that quarter about sun- 
set, they indicate the approach of rain. Clouds 
which form like fleeces, dense towards the cen- 
tre, and very white at the extremities, with a 
bright blue sky about them, are of a frosty 
coldness, and will soon fall in either snow, hail, 
When every one of a 
series of clouds rises larger than the preceding, 
and all appear to be in an increasing state, they 
portend heavy rain, and in some cases a thunder- 
storm. When vapours have been copiously ele- 
vated, and large clouds suspended high in the 
sky and assume the peculiar appearances indi- 
cative of great electricity, and when small pieces 
of flying clouds augment and congregate, they 
are certain forerunners of rain, perhaps of very 
heavy rain and thunder-bursts, if they collect 
and spread till they cover the sky, but are equally 
sure symptoms of fair weather if they decrease 
and resolve themselves into air. Clouds with 
white summits and livid bases foretell thunder ; 
and two such clouds rising in opposite quarters, 
or over against each other, foretell a sudden tem- 
pest. Clouds streaming within the canopy, small 
clouds enlarging themselves, large clouds shaped 
like rocks or towers, waterish clouds on the tops 
of mountains, and small rugged, livid clouds near 
the sun, especially at its setting, all prognosticate 
rain. Clouds which form at a great height, in 
thin white trains like locks of wool, indicate the 
approach of wind, and sometimes the approach 
of both wind and rain. Small, white, high, light 
clouds, like dapplings in the upper regions of 
the sky, at a time when all the lower sky and 
the tops of the loftiest mountains are clear, indi- 
cate a continuance of fine weather. When cir- 
rous clouds appear in a clear settled sky, they 
indicate a change in the weather; when they 
unite in a somewhat stratous manner, at a com- 
paratively low elevation, they indicate rain; 
when they appear in a deep blue sky, through 
a broken cloud, after rain, they indicate that the 
rain will continue; and when they extend on 
both sides of the zenith, they foretell a long con- 
tinuance of high wind. When cumulous clouds 
are compact, round, and well-defined, they in- 
dicate settledness of weather; when they are 
broken and ragged on the edges, they indicate 
the approach of rain; when they are curled and 
thrown outward at the edges, they foretell wind ; 
when they are curled inward at the edges, they 
foretell a storm; when they remain and aug- 
28. 
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