468 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1896
which is Qo above the freezing point. That other circumstances must be combined with the cold to produce frost, is evident from this also; on noli kiiown as “ looming,” which is frequent a t sea but rare on land ; but as jeffersoll says :
plains-on wbich they stand, frosta do not appear so early by a eonsider- able s ce of time in autumn and go off sooner in the spring than in the p &a . I have known frosts 80 severe as to kill the hickory trees round about Yonticello, and yet not injure the tender fruit blossoms then in bloom on the top and higher a r k of the mountain, and in the course of forty years, during which i t i a s been settled, there have been but two instances of a general lose of fruit on it, while in the circum- jacent countr the fruit has escaped but twice in the last seven years. The plants oltobacco, which grow from the roots of those which have been cut off in the summer, are frequent1 green here at Christmas. This privilege against the frost is undoubted;y combined with the want of dew on the mountains. That the dew is very rare on their higher parte, I may sa with certainty from twelve years observations having scarcely ever, furin that time, seen an unequivocal proof of its exist- ence on them at a d during summer. Severe frosts in the depth of winter prove that the region of dews extends higher in that season than the top of the mountains, but certainly, in the summer season, the vapors by the time they attain that height are become so attenuated aa not to subside, and forni a dew when tlie sun retires. may make a circle appear elliptical, raise or depress a cone, but by none of its laws, as yet developed, will it’make a circle appear a square, or a One more extract from the On the State Of
showing Jefferson’s close observation of the optical phenome- cone a sphere.
At Monticello it is familiar. There is a solitary mountain about 40
miles off in the south, whose natural shape, as presented to view there, is a regular cone, but by the effect of looming it sometimes subsides almost totally in the horizon, sonietimes it rises more acute and more elevated, sometimes it is hemispherical, and sometimes ita sides are perpndicular, ita top flat and as broad as its base. I n short, it assumes at tiines the most whimsical shapes, and all these perhaps succeseively in the samemornin The Blue Ridge of mountains comes into view in the iiortheast at atout 100 miles distance, and approaching in a direct line passes by within 20 miles and goes off to the southwest. This henoinenon begins to show itself on these mountains at about 50miles xistance and cuntinues beyond that as far as they are seen. I remark no particular state, either in the weight, moisture, or heat of the at-
mosphere, necessary to produce this. The only constant circumstances are its appearance in the morning only, and on objects at least 40 or 5@
iiiiles distant. In this latter circumstance. if not in both, it differs from the looming on the water. Refraction will not account for the me& morphusis. That only changes the proportions of the len h and breadth, base and altitude, preserving the general outlines. qhus, it
NOTES BY THE EDITOR.
METEOROLOGY IN THE PUBLIU SUHOOLS.
Among the improvements in methods of education none is more rational and practically successful than that. which in-
sists on requiring the pupils, from the youngest to the oldest,
to observe natural phenomena and make their own personal
records and deductions. For. a century paet the favorite field
of u nature-study ” has been that of botany, and a visitor to the beet primary schools will find the children bringing in
quantities of leaves, buds, and flowers, which they compare
and study, and thus quicken their habits of observation and
generalization. Almost equally attractive is the elementary study of the soils, rocks, and minerals. In regions where
birds and insects are accessible these also afford fine objects
for study. The whole tendencyof modern pedagogy is to stimulate the study of nature in every field, especially those
moat easily accessible. In October, 1882, the present Editor
had occasion to give a series of talks to the students of the
Normal School in Washington, and to maintain that as we have the weather about us every day it constitutes an admi.
rable subject for youthful observation and study. In accord- ance with the principles that were then taught a t that Nor-
mal School it was necessary for each member of the class tu record and analyze her own observations on the subject under consideration, in order, by this personal training, to obtain
the experience that is neceesary to successfully conduct the
classes of children that must eventually conie under her care,
Accordingly, the present writer prepared an elementary printed
form for the use of the class in which each member kept a
personal diary of the weather, in so far as that could be done
without instruments. Specimens of these diaries and an ex- planation of the whole system were exhibited at the New
Orleans Exposition in December, 1884, in the division of
Subsequently the accomplished principal and founder of
the Nornisl School a t Washington (Miss Lucilla E. Sniith) was called to take charge of a part of the work of the Train-
ing School for Teachers in Brooklyn, N. Y. In such a loca-
tion where botany and geology are not so easily studied she again had occasion to adv0ca.t.e the observation and study of
atmospheric phenomena as a means of training the perceptive
faculties of the pupils. This idea, which was a t first so novel,
has. been practically carried out during the past two years, and
many have testified that not only the scholars but the teachers
pedagogy -
themselves have profited greatly by this drill. Each child is
expected to keep a record of the wind and weather, and the
discussions that take place are rapidly disabusing the chil- dren’s minds of erroneous ideas that are widely dissemi-
nated. The trite weather sayings that have been current for
centuries, and that have no real basis of fact, yet are handed down like myths and legends viva voce, from parent to child,
are now daily brought to the test of actual experience, and a
healthy stimulus is given to the study of nature. The chil-
dren, and even the teachers, begin to wonder a t t.he numerous erroneous uotions formerly entertained and to admire the
clearer vision that they are now rapidly attaining. This fea-
ture in the study of nature was advocated before the Brook-
lyn 1nstitute.in 1893, and the teaching of meteorology in the schools has since then received enthusiastic endorsement.
Probably Miss Sniith was the first in this country to intro-
duce this study, first into the Normal School and then into
the public schools of all the lower grades. The future devel-
opment of meteorology in this country will largely depend
upon the extent to which it is taught in the public schools. The special meteorologists of future generations will, un-
doubtedly, look back to the time when, as school children, their attontion was first seriously directed to this study.
THE GENEX%AL CIRUULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE.
Ori several occasions the Editor has in the MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW enforced tlie principle that the important
peculiarities of any season depend upon what is called the general circulation of the earth’s atmosphere. That is to say,
an unusual drought or a rein-arkable series of rains, or the
so-called apparent secular change in the general climate of
any locality is not a t all to be considered as dependent, even to the slightest extent, upon the destruction of forests, the
cultivation of the surface of the ground, the local evapora- tion, the presence of lakes or rivers, etc. Even great forest
fires have been shown to have little influence on the subse- quent weather. All these phenomena affect the air that is
temporarily a t the surface of the earth, but as soon a8 this
air is raised and carried oti into the cloud region, it is mixed
with such a large mass of otherair that its special influence
becomes greatly diminished, and i s felt, if a t all, in some far distant region and at some distant time. It is very easily
shown that the strong winds, and with them the temperature