Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/342

3o8] W E A preceded or followed the vernal equinox, the succeeding summer is in general dry, or at least so, five times out of six. 2. If a storm happen from an easterly point, on the 19th, 20th, or 21st day of May, (he ensuing summer will, four times in five, be also dry. — ^The same event generally takes place, if a storm ^rise on the 25th, 26th, or 27th days of March, in any point of the compass. 3. Should there be a storm, cither at south-west, or at west- south-west, on the 19th, 20th, 21st, or 22d of March, tlie following summer is wet, five times out of 9ix. In England, if the winters and springs be dry, they are mostly cold ; but, if moist, they are gene- rally warm : on the contrary, dry summers, and autumns, are usually hot ; as moist summers are cold. ' Thus, if the humidity or dryness of a particular season be deter- mined, a tolerably correct idea may be formed respecting its tem- perature. — To tliese indications may be added the following max- ims ; which, being the result of observations made by accurate in- quirers, may so far be dependt-d upon, as they will afford a cri- terion of the mildness, or severity, and of the drj-ness or moisture, of future seasons. 1 . A luoist autumn, succeeded by a mild winter, is generally fol- lowed by a dry and cold spring ; in consequence of which, vege- tation is greatly retarded. 2. Should the summer be un- commonly wet, the succeeding winter will be severe ; because the Jieat or warmth of the earth will .be carried off by such unusual evaporation. Farther, wet sum- WEA mers are mostly attended with an increased quantity of fruit on the white-thorn, and dog-rose ; nay, the uncommon fruitfulness of these shrubs is considered as the presage of an intensely cold winter. 3. A severe winter is always in- dicated by the appearance of cranes and other birds of passage, at an early period in autumn ; because they never migrate southwards, till the cold season has commenced iu tiie northern regions. 4. If frequent showers fall in the month of September, it seldom rains in Mayj and the reverse. 5. On the other hand, when the wind often blows from the south-west, during either summer or autumn ; when the air is un- usually cold for those seasons, both to our .sensations, and by the ther- mometer; at the same time, the mercury being low in the barome- ter; — under these conditions, 9 profuse fall of rain may be ex- peded. 6. Great storms, raias, or other violent commotions of the cloud.>, produce a kind of crisis in the at- mosphere ; so that they are attend- ed with a regular succession, either of fine or of bad weather, for some months. I.astly, an unprodndive year mostly succeeds a rainy winter; as a rough and cold autumn prog- nosticates a severe winter. — Sec also the article Clim.^te. WEATHER-GLASS, or Storm-glass. — An ingenious con- trivance of this nature has lately been announced by Wikgleb, in Germany ; and the invention of it is likewise claimed by Mr. Fran- cis Anone, of High HolbOrn : it consists of a glass tube, con- taining a liquor t!iat holds in so* lution a compouod substance, the traa-