enlighten and cheer the long dark nights of winter
in high latitudes, the clouds that float in, or are
driven through the air, the winds that drive
them, the electric storms that from time to
time violently disturb them, the rains that fall,
and the dews that are deposited;—all these and
many other natural appearances come under the
general definition of meteors, and are treated
of by meteorology. Observation having shown
that the aurora is an indication of certain changes
or disturbances in the magnetic currents that
traverse earth and air, not unlike those electric
disturbances marked by thunder and lightning,
the great subject of earth-magnetism is also
regarded as a part of meteorology.

In all young sciences a vast multitude of
facts have to be acquired and arranged, and
their results very carefully tabulated and
compared, before any reasonable or trustworthy
deduction can be expected. In the case of
meteorology these facts can only be recorded by
figures, diagrams, and the driest and most
uninteresting of accounts. No accurate science is
popular until people have begun to generalise
from the facts, and then the wider and more
inclusive the generalisations, the more interest
do they possess. But the early generalisations
of meteorology were neither very accurate nor
very interesting.

Although, however, we have only very lately
been enabled to comprehend and bring into
definite shape the facts of this science, which
for some half-century have been in course of
accumulation, infinite gratitude is due to those
who laid the foundation on which we now rear
the imposing structure of modern meteorology.
The man who foresaw the interest and importance
of mere observations of the weather, and
not only stored up facts but deduced important
conclusions from them, was eminent enough in
other respects to justify a short notice before
we proceed to give an account of the science of
meteorology as it now exists.

Dr. Dalton was one of the hardy race of yeomen,
or small landed proprietors, occupying the
deep valleys of the West Riding of Yorkshire,
Cumberland, and Westmoreland, and locally
called "statesmen." His parents were Quakers,
and he retained throughout his life most of the
peculiarities of that sect. In his early life he
taught mathematics, first to himself as a
pursuit, and afterwards to others as an occupation,
varying this employment, however, by occasional
farm-labour. When only nineteen years of age
he became the principal of a school at Kendal,
and, with his brother only to assist him, he
managed this establishment for eight years,
lecturing occasionally on natural philosophy. In
the year 1793 he removed to Manchester, where
he resided for the remainder of his long life.

Among Dalton's amusements at this time was
that of propounding and answering queries and
enigmas that appeared in the periodical
publications of the day, and it is interesting to
notice that in the year of his removal to
Manchester (his age being then twenty-seven) he
drew out a query on the subject of the mists
seen in calm evenings over meadows, &c. In
the following year appears an answer by himself,
giving a clear and satisfactory explanation of a
meteorological phenomena then by no means
generally understood, and leading to important
conclusions. In the same year appeared the
first edition of his Meteorological Essays, in
which he treats with remarkable clearness and
knowledge of the barometer, thermometer, and
hygrometer; proves the relation of the aurora to
magnetism, and puts on record numerous
observations on wind, rain, and storms, and the
mutual relations of all these phenomena.

In the year 1837 he suffered two attacks of
paralysis. He had previously contributed
valuable memoirs on various departments of science.
His great and best-known work was the
establishment of the atomic theory, which must
always be regarded as a most important step in
chemical science, and one which, more than any
other, has brought about accurate knowledge
in that department of physics. Dalton died
universally respected in the year 1844.

Our atmosphere, he taught, is never still. If
it were composed only of that mixture of dry
gases which form its principal and essential
ingredients and always had an equal temperature
over different parts of the earth, it might obtain
a position of stable equilibrium and revolve with
the earth without relative motion; but this never
can be, for the sun's rays heat it irregularly, as
different parts of the earth in succession come
under their influence, so that currents of heated
and cooler air are in incessant circulation.
Vapour of water rising from the sea also mingles
with the air, and acts as a disturbing cause.
Hence arise those alternatives of rain and
drought, of calm and tempest, of heat and cold,
which have so powerful an influence on all living
beings, and above all on man. From age to age,
from the very earliest period of which we have
any account, these changing and shifting
conditions have been the subject of more or less
remark, but it is only lately that men have thought
of seeking for a rational cause, by carefully
observing and recording the exact nature of the
changes and the times at which they take
place.

To predict changes in the weather, and favourable
or unfavourable seasons, with any certainty,
was long the work only of the superstitious, the
foolish, and the ignorant. But means have been
obtained, since Dalton's time, by which many of
the most essential changes can be well seen,
hours and even days before they come to pass,
in any particular spot of sea or land, and the
course of great storms is now a matter of as
strict calculation as the path of a planet in the
heavens. The careful navigator sees a storm
coming when there is no little cloud, even of the
bigness of a hand; he knows how and when it
will reach the place where he is, and what he
must do if he would escape from its violence.
The day may come when, from data equally
exact, we may be informed of the probable
weather a still longer time beforehand, but
many more observations must be made, and their