Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/69

 Memoirs of the American Folk- Lore Society. 61

before Christ, the Greek Theophrastus produced a treatise "concern- ing signs." This writer was himself a person too illuminated to give much light on the real folk-lore of his day ; but he reports concerning the expectations of the weather sufficiently to show the presence of endless beliefs on the subject. The hedgehog, he says, is a prophetic animal, who makes his hole with openings north and south, and closes, before a storm, the exposed opening. In Ameri- can weather-lore the ground-hog appears as a prophet, but his activ- ity is more complicated.

An interesting Introduction to the collection has been contributed by the husband of the editor, Mr. J. Y. Bergen, well known as a biologist. Mr. Bergen points out that animal and plant lore must have constituted an important part of the earliest folk-lore of the world. He examines the character of the animal weather signs, with some inclination to believe in a foundation of fact.

But there is great diversity of opinion among those who have studied and written concerning animal weather-lore in very recent times. Dr. C. C. Abbott, our New Jersey naturalist, is decidedly sceptical as to the power of animals in general to forecast the weather. While he admits that spe- cial meteorological conditions may influence the actions of animals, he denies to the latter that prophetic power with which they are so often credited in regard to coming weather changes. " I have gathered," he says, " a host of sayings referring to birds and the weather, and have tested them all. Often they hold good, frequently they do not."

On the other hand, Charles St. John, who must certainly be reckoned an intelligent naturalist and good observer of out-of-door life, in his "Wild Sports in the Highlands " says, " There are few animals which do not afford timely and sure prognostications of changes in the weather." St. John credits wild-fowl, grouse, ducks, fish, field-mice, pigs, and sheep with knowledge of coming weather changes, and believes that they indicate the character of the changes by their behavior.

In his " Animal Intelligence," George J. Romanes cites as a remarkable case of instinct an interesting account of the manner in which a swan raised her nest, containing eggs, two and a half feet the very day before a tremendous fall of rain, which by flooding did great damage in the neigh- borhood.

For myself, I am somewhat credulous in regard to the whole matter, and doubt not that in a general way many of the weather proverbs that have arisen from observing the behavior of animals are to be trusted.

The book contains a gleaning of items relating to folk-medicine, which will interest readers of the medical profession. Respecting this material Mr. Bergen observes : —

Folk-medicine is one of the most important subjects in American ani- mal and plant lore. Medicine is so largely empirical, it is so difficult to be

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