Psychic Effects of the Weather

Author(s): J. S. Lemon
Source: The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Jan., 1894), pp. 277-279
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1410953
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 PSYCHIC3fF'SS OF E WEA1'HER.

BS J. S. LXlSON.

Psychology is now studied from many points of view, but the

relation of psychic processes to weather has never received much
attention. The subject opens a field a# large as it is new in which
the writer has for some years been collecting materials. lFhe follow-
ing note may sufflce to show the scope of the subject, till a fuller
and more systematic presentation I hope to make ere long
That all the world is interested in the weather is showll ill the
forms of salutation in every language I have been able to learn of.
This interest was, of course, deeper when the race lived more out
of doors; but we shall never be independent of thermometer# and
barometers. Things in general remain fised but weather i8
variable. What attracts attention first daily is sttll for most neople
the sky, clouds, wind, etc. What we term "weather" is a product of
several variables-moisture, temperature, pressure, ozolle alld elec-
tricity at least. Several of these usually change together if not all,
so that to study man as a weather indicator, we need no; go to the
hospital or sick room, nor consider e2rceptional phenomella like
tornadoe#, cyclone# and hurricane#. " Weather " i# mo#t promi-
nent in the temperate sone#, where the quantum of change# in all
the#e Variable# i# greate#t and mo#t frequent. Every long hot or
cold term, or other e2rceptional #tate, affect# the death rate. Un-
#easonable or anti-#easonable change# are e#pecially fatal.
Many #avage and ancient people believed deitie#, friendly and
unfriendly to man, contended in hot and cold, moi#t and dry, and
strove to appease #torm and wind gods From very early time#,
prediction# have been e##ayed, and weather prophet# have won
renown. Some of the great cri#e# of human history have been
determined by weather. So that it i# no wonder omen# have been
sought and held in high favor. That the #un play# so great a role
in weather change# i# one cau#e of the prevalence of #olar myths
description# of #torm# a# battle# of ho#tile deitie#, the lightning
myth# Edhne ha# collected, ana from those time# dosvn to the
modern #un bathXblue gla## craze, hot and cold bath#, ozone ill-
halation#, electrlcity, weather factor# have entered prominently
into therapeutic#. So out of the range of human control have been
balmy wind# and lovely #kie# and #un#hine, that it i# not #trange
that religiou# people in Ghri#tian land# and age# have beell moved
to #eek the help of (Iod for propitiou# weather. We notice in the
last ren#ion of the Epi#copal Prayer Book that prayer# for favor-
able weather, for rain, for safe voyage#, for protectlon from light-
xiing2 etc., have been retained. So the Roman# #ought skyey
au#plce#, and the Athenians prayed for rain. Atheists often becomc
qu;% orthodozc in #torm#, and the super#titions of seamen are well
known. Once, when it was thought bad weather was due to 13atanic
278 LEMON:

influences, Pope Innocent had a manual prepared to be used by the

clergy in unfavorable weather, and for the expulsion of demons
Seneca attributed weather to certain inesorable beings and left no
place for appeal to deity to change it. Very likely one difficulty
monotheism has constantly had against it at every stage, is the
difliculty of conceiving how one deity could produce such diverse
and opposite kinds of weather.
Sidney Smith wrote: "Very high and very low temperatures
establish all human sympathy and relations. It is impossible to
feel aSection above seventy- eight degrees, or below twenty
degrees F. Human nature is too solid or too legend beyond these
limits. Man lives to shiver and perspire." Seneca said: "The
empire of the world has always remained in the hands of those
natures who enjoy a mild climate. Those who dwell near the
frozen north have uncivilized tempers." Some think clothing,
which has so profoundly modified man's moral and physical con-
stitution, was due, not to modesty chiefly at least, but to weather
extremes. We seem more delicate, and less able to bear weather
than our ancestors, without modern protection
Dr. Farr, of England, and Dr. Stark, of Edinburgh, almost lead U8
to think morality is registered on the thermometer, so surely does
it measure certain kinds of criminality. S. A. Hill, of India, be-
lieves forty-eight per cent. of crimes of violence disappear in
cold weather. I shall dwell at length later upon the psychic eSects
of weather on the insane and idiotic, and upon certain forms of
disease. Certain tendencies are repressed and counter influences
set at work or made dormant. A sudden rise of temperature pre-
disposes those liable to an attack of mania. Some patients are
so sensitive to and dependent on the weather that they anticipate the
thermometer and barometer. One sign of growing neurotic
diathesis is inability to keep at the top of one's condition and in
good tone in unusual weather. On suicides the eSects of the weather
are well known. The interesting little book of weather proverbs,
published by the weather bureau, iB a psychological treasure-house
upon all this subiect.
Nearly all vocations some, of course, more than others-are
affected by weather. Men of science are often as much subject to
weather as seamen. Some writers must have the weather fit the
mood, character or scene, and can do nothing if they are at
variance. An adverse temperature brings them to a dead halt.
If one will but read poetry attentively, he will be surprised to flnd
how much of it bears weather marks, scattered all through it. A
popular writer thinks weather often affects logic, and that manv
men's most syllogistic conclusions are varied by heat and col4.
Diverse weather states may be one cause of 80 much diversity and
even disagreement in thought processes, usually regarded as
scientific. I havc collected opinions of many experienced teachers
and nearly all think there should be modification of both schooi
work and discipline to cotTespond th weather. Animals respond
to it promptly and with no restraint, and almost constitute a sort
of wesbther signal service if obscrved. Ancient prognostics were
based here. Dunwoody, e. g., gives lists of animals which become
restless before rain.
The fact that now ollr property a# well as our comfort depend on
the weather has give3n weather a new power as an excitant which
dwellings and clothing had le#sened. Jesus, Mat. 1B:23, rebukes
over-sensitiveness to weather. Man should be joyful or deprered,
optimstic or pessimistic over other things than this. The aiety
expreesed by the directors of the world's fair about the weather of
 tturoto
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279

Pthe
ening
o day wa# a #train which #uggested suffering. Some have
said that a certain very famou# criminal was acquitted la#t August
solely becau#e the #tiIling air of the court room made it impo##ible
to follow a #evere logical argument. The weather bureau doe# a
great work in economic psychology.
We have gathered a long list of ejaculatory expre##ion# and un-
premeditated remark# concerning weather, which furnish data of
intere#t. Commercial traveler# often make much account of it.
The head of a factory employing 3,000 workmen #aid: "We reckon
that a di#agreeable day yield# about ten per cent. le## work than a
delightful day, and we thu# have to count thi# a# a factor in our
profit and lo## account." Accident# are more numerou# in factories
on bad days. A railroad man never propo#e# change# to hi# #uPerior
if the weather i# not propitiou#. Fair day# make men acce#sibie and
generou#, and open to con#ider new problems favorably. Some #ay
that opinions reached in be#t weather state# are safest to inve#t on.
" I never," #ay# one, " make any important agreements or bargains
when the #un #hine# and I am at my best." Mo#t remark# about
the weather are made in the morning, then we #ettle to it a# an ac-
cepted fact. Women accept the weather, and, unlike men, very
rarely expre## indignation if it i# not to their mind.
Nothing i# more curiou# than the way these idea# have been
wrought into de#cription of heaven and hell, whether in heathen,
cla##ic or Chri#tian writings. Hell i# very hot or cold, and aggravates
pain# of all di#ea#e#. The l}ies Irg wa# a day of wrath #uggested
by a day of #torm and earthquake. Read the well-known hymn#
beginning, "Hark, hark my #oul, "O mother, dear Jeru#alem,"
"Jeru#alem, the golden," and many, many others.
Laboratory inve#tigation of the #ubject meets at the out#et the
difflculty of di#tingui#hing re#ult# of weather change# from #imilar
state# otherwi#e cau#ed. Thi# difflculty i# no greater than are many
other topic# of re#earch and we believe will not invalidate our
method# and re#ult#. All our #en#e# put U# in rapport with the es-
ternal world. The knee-jerk #eemf3 proven to have a weather
factor. It i# not strange if the eye, e. g., which want# the normal
stimulu#, in long dark weather cau#e# other change#. Chang-
ing moi#ture in the air change# odor#, and many appetites are
aiTected, a# touch i# #till more obnou#ly. Tea ta#ter# work be#t on
fair day#.
a UrAVBRBrrYX JU1Y, 1893.