19S yournal of American Folk-Lore.
The rhyme which affirms that
A rainbow in the morning Will give a sailor warning, A rainbow at night Is the sailor's delight,
has something of a scientific basis. The morning light reflected and refracted from drops to the westward causes the rainbow. In the afternoon the drops have passed by toward the east, and hence a rainbow in the east shows that the storm has passed, as all our storms in the temperate regions travel from west to east.
Aratus says : " If there be a single red circle about the moon, it betokens a storm ; if two circles, a severe storm ; and if three, a very severe storm." In a part of this statement, he undoubtedly has reference to a corona, which is very near the sun or moon, and shows prismatic colors, but he must also intend to include the halo of twenty-two degrees radius. The popular saying is that the number of stars within the ring around the moon shows the number of days before the storm. The halo, being due to the presence of crystals or much vapor, is a fair precursor of a storm, but the addition relat- ing to the number of stars is fanciful, as the storm will come within thirty-six hours if at all.
H. A. Hazen.
Washington, D. C.
Editor's Note. — Henry Allen Hazen, the author of the preceding paper, died in Washington, D. C, January 22, 1900, at the age of fifty-one years. He was born in Sirim, India, being a son of Rev. Allen Hazen. In 1881 he entered the Signal Service at Washington, and in July, 1891, was attached to the Forecast Division of the Meteorological Bureau. He was the author of a great number of publications, scattered through periodicals, a complete list of which would extend to several hundred titles. Mr. Hazen, who was greatly interested in the study of weather signs and traditional weather lore, had made collections looking to a classification of these; but although his preparations had made such progress that he had undertaken to seek a proper medium for the publication of his mate- rial, his death left the work in a state too incomplete to permit the use of his notes. The paper here printed was given in the form of an address before a sci- entific society.
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