Abstract
GEOPHYSICAL MEMOIR NO. 70 of the Meteorological Office, by C. E. Britton, is entitled “A Meteorological Chronology to A.D. 1450”. It is a symposium of various compilations of historical references to the weather of the British Isles, and a full bibliography of these is given at the end of the memoir. The main body of the work is in diary form, each year for which any notable meteorological event has been recorded appearing in turn, with particulars of such events. The first year is 2668 B.C., but it is pointed out that these very early dates, derived from such sources as the Iiish Chronicles, are “largely legendary”, being probably in the nature of oral traditions. The events chronicled in these years are chiefly the overflowing of various Irish lakes and rivers. The traditional period is followed by the Roman period, and the author points out that the very large number of meteorological events assigned to those times by various annalists and chroniclers do not appear to have been recorded by any contemporary writer; many indeed appear for the first time on record in the eighteenth century, with no information from the chronicler as to where the information was obtained. A typical specimen of this class of record is that of Dr. Thomas Short of Sheffield, who published a “General Chronological History of the Air, Weather, Seasons, Meteors, Etc.” in two volumes in 1749 a work that occupied the worthy doctor for fifteen years. Without disputing the interest attaching to a work of the character of this symposium, one may doubt if its scientific value for meteorology is appreciable. It is amusing to notice the sobering of the record in its later years—the gradual dying out of such events as several days' downpour of blood, for example with its suggestion that a very large part of the events before, say, A.D. 1000, are pure inventions or unrecognizable distortions of happenings not so very different from those of modern times.
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A Meteorological Chronology. Nature 139, 996 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139996a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139996a0