Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Controversy, Observatories

    Reports that three out of five conversations open with the subject of the weather. Notes that the ancient Greeks built a 'Temple of the Winds' and boasted a playwright (Aristophanes) who wrote The Clouds. Notes the number of people who are trying to raise the wind and that, despite scientific discoveries, the exact composition of the clouds remains unknown. Distinguishes morning from night dew and insists that since there are 'four quarters of the wind' there should be two halves, but adds that nothing is known of this at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.