WEATHER WISDOM.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 158, 22 January 1864, Page 2 (Supplement)

WEATHER WISDOM.

Iw connexion with the recent meteorological disturbances, and the extraordinary gales and floods'whiclfhave prevailed throughout the Au s . tralian'colonies, the following notes will not .be without interest. It’,would be curious if we should receive intelligenco'of similar [phenomena having occurred simultaneously in Great Britain and other countries. Equally so will it be if Mr. Saxby’s predictions with reference to the ensuing 3 months are verified. It will be noticed that these forewarnings are’based upon purely scientific observation and induction It seems that the good people on board the Great Britain were quite aware, from the day they left Liverpool, that they would be in for a « gale of wind of no ordinary character on the loth December. In a paper on board was contained the following prognostic, which, published two months beforehand, certainly furnishes a remarkable illustration of the value of accurate meteorological observation. We regret to be obliged to infer from the paragraph in question that the atmospheric’disturbance will extend over the whole world, ancf that for months to come we must expect to hear of disaster consequent upon such phenomena : —“ Science has again and again proved that popular superstition were philosophical facts. Another instance of this is recorded with regard to the weather. It is, perhaps, the most generally credited of popular beliefs that the weather is influenced by the moon. Scientific men are now coming forward to prove that this is actually the case, and they tell us that the nearer the moon is to the earth, the more disturbed the weather will be. Thus, in December next, the moon will be 1,800 miles nearer to the earth than she is now. This, a correspondent predicts, will cause extraordinarily high tides andrough weather. In this prophecy he confirms a previous prophecy by Lieutenant Saxby, who has declared that between December 12th and Isth we shall be visited on by one of the severest storms over known in England. Another writer holds that not the moon only, but other heavenly bodies influence our meteorology. ‘ For example,’ says Mr. Pearce the advocate of this theory, ‘Saturn—a body one thousand times as large as our earth—crossed the equator on the Ist January last; and again on the 16th of that month, being stationary on the same day, and the sun ninety degrees from Jupiter on that day also; consequently, the new ushered in with a gale, and on the 16th gales commenced which lasted till the 20th. Saturn again crossed the equator on the 2nd of September last, and accordingly another stormy period occurred. The solar conjunction of both Saturn and Mars; on the 2nd of the present month, again demonstrated the power of those bodies—they having been conjoined on the previous day. A confirmation of their influence will be found when we remember that the Great Eastern was disabled in a fearful gale on the 11th September, 1861, these planets being in conjunction on that day. Now, as to the storm period of December 10 to 13. Let Mr. Saxby observe that, on the 10th, the earth will pass between Mercury and Uranus, and on the 15th between the sun and Uranus. These positions have for years been observed to produce heavy gales.’” ■ — Argus.