Genre:

Letter; Extract, Table

Subjects:

Meteorology, Prognostication, Agriculture, Astronomy, Animal Behaviour, Discovery, Piety, Instruments

People mentioned:

William Rogerson , Robert White

Publications cited:

Nautical Almanac Coelestial Atlas Temporis Calendarium

    Clarke relates his early experience of meteorological prognostication as a child brought up on a farm. He observes: 'I believe Meteorology is a natural science, and one of the first that is studied; and that every child in the country makes, untaught, some progress in it' (456). Introduces a table, based on one which was 'variously published' about twenty years before, 'purporting to be the work of the late Dr. Herschel', containing lunar prognosticators of the weather. Reflects: 'I have often been led to glorify God for the principle on which the Table is constructed'. (457) Introduces an expanded version of a poem by Erasmus Darwin which includes 'most of the signs of approaching ill-weather'.