So well known now is this little annual cyclopedia of facts in agriculture, manufactures, commerce, politics, literature, science and the arts, that this sixth volume of Our Curiosity Shop needs no preface, except to make due acknowledgments to the many who have aided the editor with information, and to explain to such of its readers as are not yet fully advised of this fact, that these pages constitute but a part of the several columns of questions and answers published every week in the Daily, Semi-Weekly and Weekly editions of The Inter Ocean. To have all such answers for the year, one must be a regular subscriber to, and reader of, the paper. Hundreds of disputes, raised in political gatherings, in debating societies, in Sunday schools, in social and sporting circles, at the village postoffice when waiting for the mail, on railway cars, in club rooms, around pioneer camp-fires, and in all kinds of places are referred to The Inter Ocean for amicable settlement. When none of the several thousand books on the shelves of The Inter Ocean and the Chicago Public Library give response to such questions, original sources of information are appealed to; and, again therefore, the grateful acknowledgments of the editor of Our Curiosity Shop are very heartily made to the Heads of the several executive departments at Washington and many of their chiefs of bureaus, to State and city officials, to his obliging associates of The Inter Ocean staff, and to that daily companion and efficient assistant, his daughter.
Every answer given here is in response to at least one person enough interested to call it forth. Not one started up at the editor’s own bidding, but each of them might use the speech put into the mouth of King Philip of Pokanoket, when summoned to meet the General Court of New Plymouth: “You sent for me, and I am here.” So, being here in response to popular call, the editor hopes this volume will have as cordial a welcome as the public has accorded to its predecessor of last year, of which, already, the second edition is nearly exhausted, and to the still earlier volumes of 1878 to 1882, inclusive. It is now a matter of regret that the volumes of 1878 and 1879 were not stereotyped, as all succeeding volumes have been; since that fact renders it impossible for the Publishers to supply the repeated calls for the entire series of six volumes. Readers will take note that the first two are out of print, but all the others will be supplied as fast as called for.
The Editor.
OUR CURIOSITY SHOP.
NATURE’S STORM SIGNALS.
Recent questions and answers in Our Curiosity Shop about the aurora borealis and the Government Signal Service have moved S. H. Ruple, M., M. D., of Oquawka, Ill., to give the result of his observations as follows:
Falling weather follows the aurora borealis, because the lower stratum of the atmosphere at such a time is sufficiently rarified for the manifestation of aqueous vapor, as is indicated by the evolution or liberation of so great a quantity of electricity as is necessary to produce conspicuous and extensive “northern lights.” A continuous south wind, in most localities, will in a few days cause rain, because by its warmth it rarifies the cooler and denser atmosphere of more northern or elevated localities, and reduces its capability of sustaining moisture. A continuous north wind dispels all rain signs for the time being. This is no new theory. Solomon, 3,000 years ago, put it on record in Western Asia. (Prov. xxv., 23.) And a careful observation during twenty-five years has convinced me that it is true for this age and country as well as for his. Flaky clouds, or low-running ones, from any direction but the north, denote rain or snow. Salmon, leaden, or silvery colored clouds denote falling weather; bright red, clear. When the sunset is followed by bright lances or streaks of light of various hues radiating from the point where the sun disappeared, continuing across the heavens and converging to a common point in the opposite horizon, there exists a storm-cloud in line with the sun, though it may be so distant as to be for awhile entirely hidden from view by the rotundity of the earth. If the rays of light are evenly divided north and south of the line between the observer and the radiating point, and continue so till they have faded out, the cloud is approaching. A few years since the writer, becoming interested in an exhibition of this phenomena, sat up to watch the results of his calculations. About 1 a. m. the storm (a moderate cyclone) reached the Mississippi River, about five miles north of his residence, having, according to telegraphic reports, crossed the State of Iowa in five hours and a half. When “heat lightning” is visible you may be sure that there is a storm-cloud in the same direction, though you may neither see it nor hear the thunder. When the lightning is continuous and very brilliant the storm may be regarded as a violent one. In this event the track of the destructive elements may be from 100 to 200 miles away. Some five years ago the writer’s attention was called, a little after dark, to an extraordinary display of heat lightning in the southern horizon, and he ventured the opinion that a devastating cyclone was traveling eastwardly, probably in the vicinity of St. Louis. Though residing in Oquawka, Ill., fourteen miles above Burlington, Iowa, within twenty-four hours The Inter Ocean, ever watchful and intelligent, was in his hands with telegraphic reports corroborating his theory and predictions. Jefferson Barracks were reported damaged by the cyclone, and across in Illinois a whole village was laid waste and several lives lost. This was, to say the least, pretty accurate guessing. If the old pioneers of Colorado, traveling at the rate of twenty-five miles a day, had to toil from five to seven days after catching their first view of the snow-cap of Pike’s Peak before gaining the mountain foot hills, how far off may not one see the intensely white, dazzling, and flashing illumination capping a cloud that is from three to five miles above the earth.