CHAPTER VII.

Meteorology — The art of foreseeing rain, storms, and the direction of the winds ; this is converted in the minds of the vulgar into the power of granting or refusing rain, and favourable winds — Magical ceremonies for conjuring a hail storm.
Difficult to be foreseen, and followed by results still more difficult to be repaired, are the crumbling of mountains, earthquakes, and all great convulsions of nature ; but they are happily rare. Such is not the case, however, with many atmospheric phenomena, attendant upon the course of the seasons, the months, and the days; phenomena the occurrence, the repeti- tion, and the variation of which promise to mankind en- joyments or privations, and the laws regulating which, although formerly inscrutable, have yet been at length par- tially revealed to persevering and reflective observation. The knowledge which has been acquired on this subject constitutes meteorology ; a branch of science destitute of fixed principles, and without particular truths, but which has been, in all ages, most powerful in acting on the
160 METEOROLOGY A SOURCE OF PREDICTION.
credulity of mankind.* It influences the fate of the labours of the year ; of the subsistence of the morrow ; or that of to-day ; and, stimulated by present suf- ferings, or by anxiety for the future, the curiosity which awakens the desire to know what may be ex- pected from atmospheric phenomena, becomes excuse- able to man when we consider his hopelessness ; the intensity of his fears ; and the excess of his gratitude under such circumstances. Every menace would be
* The limited extent of information in meteorology, and the laws which regulate aerial phenomena and perturbations, is morti- fying to the pride of science. When atmospheric changes occur of a violent and desolating nature, man becomes conscious how little he is acquainted with their causes ; and how inadequate his means are even to shield himself from the fury of elements which he cannot control. He is forced to tremble upon his hearth, the slave to the apprehension of anticipated evil ; and powerless to await the spontaneous lulling of the sweeping tempest, and the driving hurricane. It is, however, gratifying to know that, of late years, some progress has been made in the philosophy of storms ; and we must, therefore, hope that a more effectual investigation into the origin and laws of these overwhelming disturbers of atmo- spheric quiet, may lead to some practical means of evading their fury, and foretelling their approach. Some progress, indeed, has been made in the latter : for example, in the hurricane which de- solated Barbadoes in 1831, Mr. Simons, of St. Vincent, before it reached that island in its passage from Barbadoes, observed a threatening cloud in the north, of an olive-green colour, which indicated an approaching aerial conflict. He hastened home, and, by nailing up his doors and windows, saved his habitation from the general calamity. If the power of predicting atmospheric con- flicts formerly existed, when ignorance contemplated every acquirement which was not universal as a direct gift from Heaven, we can scarcely wonder that those who possessed meteorological knowledge were regarded as little less than divinities. — Ed.
METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC. 161
listened to with religious submission ; and all prognostics that call for salutary precautions against great disas- ters, or in pressing urgency, reanimate almost extin- guished hope, would be hailed as celestial inspirations.*
" The Cape of Good Hope is famous for its tempests and for the singular cloud that precedes them; this cloud appears at first like a little round spot in the sky ; and sailors call it the bull's eye. In the land of Natal, a little cloud also forms itself like the bull's eye of the Cape of Good Hope, and from this cloud there seems to issue a terrible wind, that produces the same effects. Near the coast of Guinea, storms are also announced like those of the Cape of Good Hope, by a small black cloud ; whilst the rest of the heaven is usually very serene, and the sea calm."f Is it requisite to direct the attention of the reader to the consideration of the marvellous predictions produced by the knowledge of these symptoms of ap- proaching storms, and the astonishment thereby created among men who could have no cognizance of them ; or ask him if he would be astonished at Anaxagoras and Democritus in Greece, and Hipparchus at Rome, all three accustomed, no doubt, by observation, to judge of the state of the atmosphere, having in fine weather predicted abundant rains, which of course, when they fell,
* Many valuable observations on the statistics and philosophy of storms are contained in the Treatises of Lieutenant- Colonel Reid, of the Royal Engineers ; and those of Mr. William C. Red- field, of New York ; and there is much reason for hoping that the foundation having been laid by these able observers, a superstruc- ture may be raised, honourable to science, and practically beneficial to the human race. — Ed.
t Buffon. Hist. Nat. Preuves de la Théorie de la Terre, art. xv.
VOL. II. M
162 METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC.
justified the clear-sightedness of the three naturalists ?# When a drought had lasted a long time in Arcadia, the priest of Jupiter Lycasus addressed prayers and offered a sacrifice to the fountain Hagno ; and then touched the surface of the water with an oak branch. Suddenly there arose a vapour, a mist, and a cloud, which soon dissolved into abundant rain. The priest, no doubt, did not attempt to operate the assumed miracle until promising circumstances guaranteed success. Thus in modern Europe, the priests never carry the shrines or images of saints in procession, or order solemn prayers for the restoration of fair weather or for rain, until they are able to reckon on the near approach of the one or the other. Many atmospheric phenomena exercise so great an influence on agricultural labours, that to the art of fore- seeing the one is naturally joined the hope and the possibility of divining the success of the other.f There
* Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xvm. cap. xxviii. Diogen Laert. in Thalet. Cicer. de Divinat. lib. i. cap. ni. Aristot. Polit, lib. i. cap. ii. — Hipparcbus was an astronomer, who flourished between the 154th and 163d Olympiads. He predicted the times of eclipses ; discovered a new star, and also the procession of the equinoxes, and the parallcex of the planets. After a life of labour in the cause of science, he died 123 years before the Christian era. — Ed.
t Simple observation alone is often sufficient to enable such predictions to be successfully advanced. Sir Isaac Newten, one fine morning, taking an accustomed ride, was accosted by a cow- herd, and assured that he would soon be overtaken by a shower. As the sky was cloudless and the sun brilliant, Sir Isaac disre- garded the remark and rode on : but, before he had proceeded far, a heavy shower fell. The philosopher immediately rode back to ascertain the foundation of the prediction. " Well, Sir," replied the countryman, " all I know about it is this — my cow always twirls her tail in a particular way before a shower." — Ed.
METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC. 163
is nothing at all improbable in a fact related both by Democritus and Thaïes, who, it is said, were able to foretell what would be the produce of the olive-trees. These philosophers only made use of their success to prove to the detractors of study how science might lead to wealth. If they had pretended, however, that heaven had revealed its secrets to them, they would have been listened to with greater admiration. Science, cultivated by the followers of learning, or by the disciples of the priesthood, has been able to extend its foresight still farther ; and, consequently, observations on the habitual course of the winds and tides of certain latitudes, would enable either an oracle or a philosopher to announce the success or unfortunate issue of a voyage. Thus, in the present day, such issues have been predicted many years previously, by anticipating what obstacle the movement, which carries the icebergs to the east or to the west would oppose to the attempts of navigators to reach the Arctic Pole; and that as long a time as they would take for sailing from the west to the east would be required also for the voyage. But to an ignorant people, only accustomed to regard the physical sciences environed by the marvellous, these circumspect announcements of learned foresight would not have sufficed, in order to satisfy impatient desire; it was, therefore, necessary to transform these prognostics into positive assurances. Thus the priests of Samothrace* promised to those who came to consult
* Samothrace is situated on the Thracian coast, and peopled by Pelasgians. It was so celebrated for its mysteries, that it ob- tained the name of sacred ; and its shrines were resorted to by pilgrims from every country. — Ed.
M 2
164 METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC.
them, favourable winds and a happy voyage. If the promise was not realised, it was easy to exculpate the Divinity, by alleging (whatever might have been the faults of the candidate, or the harm done to his boat,) that he was guilty of some crime, or, what was worse, some want of faith.
The Druidesses of the isle of Sena also pretended to the power of appeasing waves and winds ;# and, doubt- less, it was by the same artifice they preserved their title to infallibility.
Empedocles and Iamblicus only repeated the language of the temples, when the one, in his verses, boasted of being able to teach the art of enchaining or loosing the the winds, exciting the tempest, and calming the hea- vens ;f while the other ascribed to Abaris and Pytha- goras a power no less extended. {
Such promises were too flattering to credulity not to be taken in the most literal sense. Contrary winds were at Ulysses' return shut up in a leather bottle by Eolus, and liberated by the imprudent companions of the hero. The Laplanders believe that their magicians pos- sess the power attributed by Homer to the God of the winds. Do not let us mock their ignorance ; at least, it does not render them unjust or cruel.
The belief that endowed the adepts of philosophy with the power of arresting and enchaining the winds, existed in the fourth century, even among men enlightened by
* Pomponius. Mela. lib. hi. cap. vi.
f Diogen. Laert. lib. vin. cap. lix. S.Clement. Alex. Stromat. lib. v.
% Iamblich. Vit. Pythagor. lib. i. cap. xxvm.
METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC. 165
Christian knowledge. Constantinople, encumbered with an immense population, suffered from famine. Vessels freighted with corn were stopped at the entrance of the straits ; they could only pass them by a south wind, and they still awaited this propitious gale. Jealous of the favours which the philosopher Sopater# received from Constantine, the courtiers accused him of having en- chained the winds, and caused the famine ; and the weak Emperor had him put to the torture, and murdered.f It mattered little whether the denouncers themselves believed in the truth of the accusation ; it is clear that the Prince and the people regarded the thing as possible, and as a fact of which many examples were already known.
We shall no longer doubt this, when we find that in the eighth and ninth centuries, among the number of magicians proscribed by Charlemagne, some were desig- nated by the name of tempestarii, or those who regu- lated storms, tempests, and hail.j
Did this superstitious belief, and the agitation excited by it every where disappear before the progress of civili- zation? We believe not. On one occasion, when excessive rains were unpropitious to the labours, and destroyed the hopes of the agriculturist, the long conti-
* Sopater was a native of Apamea, and like his master, Iambli- chus, pretended to possess supernatural powers ; so that, in some degree, he may be considered as having brought his death upon himself. — Ed.
t Suidas, verbo Sopater. Photius. Bibliothec. cod. cli. Euna- pius, in Aedesio, Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. v.
% De Auguriis et aliis Maleficiis. — Capitul. lib. i. cap. lxxxiii. (in 12mo. Parisiis, 1588.) See also Ducange. Glossar. verb. Tempestarii — Tempestuarii.
166 METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC.
nuation of these evils were attributed by the multitude to the sorceries of a woman who had arrived in the country to exhibit the spectacle, a hundred times re- peated, of an aerostatic ascension. This persuasion spread and acquired so much force, that the aeronaut was obliged to take precautions for her safety ; or to run the risk of being burned alive by men about as enlightened as those who formerly applauded the murder of Sopater. Who, we may inquire, were these men ? They were peasants in the environs of Brussels, and the inhabitants of the town itself; and the date of the event was so recent as 1828.* The same case may again occur in another century, or in three centuries hence, or as long as those who, pretending to the exclusive right of instruct- ing the people, make them believe in magic and sorcery. Those who have accorded to the wonder-worker the power of inflicting plagues, attributed to them, with not more reason, that of being able to cure those produced by nature. In order to confirm an opinion so favourable to their credit, it is only necessary to remark, that the possessors of sacred science have disguised more than once the most simple operations under a magical veil.
They ordered, for example, the husbandman who desired that in the season his fruit trees should be laden with fruit, to cover them with a band of straw on the night celebrated by the Polytheists as the renewing of the invincible sun ; and in the Christian church, as the coming of our Saviour.f The night when the sun, supposed to be en- chained for ten days by the winter solstice, begins to arise again towards the equator, and on which we often
* Le Moniteur Universel of the 23d August, 1828. t Froraann. Tract, de Fascionatione.^. 341 — 342.
METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC. 167
find cold suddenly and intensely developed. Experience has proved that this precaution will effectually protect trees from the hurtful effects of frost.
In the present day, natural physics are consulted for preservatives against hail : magic formerly was consulted for that purpose. The inhabitants of Cleone in the Argo- lide, imagined they could distinguish, from the appearance of the sky, the approach of frost that would endanger their crops ; and immediately they endeavoured, by offer- ing sacrifices to the Gods, to avert the evil:* other nations sang sacred hymns for this purpose.f These were only acts of piety ; like the secret, taught by some theologians to avert the hail supposed to be conjured by witchcraft, which consisted in making signs of the cross, and such long continued prayers, that in the interval, the rain might have time to cease, f
But, in ancient Greece, men pretended to obtain by enchantments || what elsewhere was only asked through the mercy of Heaven. § Pausanias even declares that, he himself witnessed the successful issue of their magical
* Senec. Qucest. Nat. lib. iv. cap. vi.
f Carmina. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxviii. cap. n.
% Wierius. De Prcestigiis Damon, lib. iv. cap. xxxn.
|| St. Justin. Qucest. et Respons. ad Orthodox. Qucest. 31.
§ The inhabitants of Methana, in Argolis, when a strong south- east wind blew up the Saronic Gulph, defended themselves from it by the following spell. They took a white cock, and having cut the bird in halves, two men seized each a part, and then standing back to back, started off in opposite directions, made the tour of the vineyard, and returning whence they set out, buried the re- mains in the earth. After this the wind might blow as it listed since it possessed no power to injure any man's property within the consecrated circle. Pausan. n. 34. 2. quoted in St. John s History of the Customs, &;c. of Greece, vol. n. p. 339.
168 METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC.
operations.* Until positive experience has proved the still doubtful efficacy of the paragrales,f we shall think that if the men who boasted of success of this kind have sometimes appeared to obtain it, hail would not have fallen whether they had recourse or not to magical cere- monies for conjuring it. It is not undesignedly that we place modern attempts and ancient opinions in juxta- position. In the eighth century, they hoped to avert hail and storms by pointing long poles towards the skies. This measure reminds us of what was recently proposed, and, fifty years ago, was accredited by Berthollon, the naturalist. But, as at the end of the poles just men- tioned, pieces of paper inscribed with magical characters were affixed, the custom seemed to be tainted with sorcery, and was consequently proscribed by Charlemagne.
Did the sorcerers of that age then, we may inquire,
* Pausanias. Corinthiac. cap. xxxiv.
t In a Report read to the Académie des Sciences, in 1826, their efficacy is represented as somewhat doubtful. — These instruments, more properly called Par agrandines, are intended to avert hailstorms; and, according to Signor Antonio Perottiand Dr. Astolfi they have succeeded in averting hail as efficiently as conductors in obviating danger from lightning. Signor Perotti reports that, having fixed up several of them on a piece of land containing 1 6,000 perches, both his corn and his vines were protected, although fourteen hail storms had occurred in the current year, which did great mischief in the neighbouring fields ; and in an official notice to the Government of Milan, by the Gonfaloniere of St. Pietro, in Casale, a very favourable account, also, is given of these protectors from hail. They are formed of metallic points and straw ropes, bound together with hempen or flaxen threads. If we admit that the ancients were acquainted with the use of lightning conductors, we may imagine that they were also aware of the value of the para- grandines, and employed them. The protection from the effects of hail of certain fields by their means, might have been readily passed off as the result of supernatural influence. — Ed.
METEOROLOGY AN AID TO MAGIC. 169
only revive the belief, and, perhaps, the practice, adopted in preceding ages ? We may certainly reply in the negative. But what appears decided to us is, that processes, tending to the same ends, were very anciently described, written in hieroglyphics; and, what is still more remarkable, they gave rise to an error already exposed by us.# The ignorant man, deceived by these emblems, imagined that by imitating, well or ill, what they represented, he should obtain the effect procured by the success of the prescription which they served to dis- guise. We may thus explain two very ridiculous examples of Tuscan ceremonies that, according to Columella,! the husbandmen, instructed by experience, employed to appease violent winds, and calm the tempest. Gaffarel furnishes us with a third example, in a magical secret, supposed to be efficacious in averting hail.J It is the heighth of absurdity ; yet, such is the point to which man's credulity will ever conduct him, that whenever the results of science only, without its principles are presented to him, and displayed as the effects of supernatural power, and not as the ideas acquired by the union of reason and experience, he believes and confides in the apparent miracle.
* See chap, viii., vol. i.
t Columell. lib. x. vers. 341 — 345. Farther on the author mentions a plan, probably efficacious for preserving the seed in the ground from the approach of insects. It is the employment of a mixture of the juice of bitter plants with the grain together with the lees of ashes. (Ibid. vers. 351 — 356.) But directly after this, he relates a ridiculous secret for destroying caterpillars — a secret which the same author (lib. xi. sub. finem.) pretended was taught by Democritus, but which is probably only an hieroglyphic put into practice.
* Gaffarel. Curiosités inouïes, chap. vu. § i.
170 ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA