“I now beg to state with regard to 1869 at 7 A.M. October 5th, the Moon
will be at the part of her orbit which is nearest the Earth. Her
attraction will be therefore at its maximum force. At noon of the same
day the Moon will be on the Earth’s equator, a circumstance which never
occurs without marked atmospheric disturbance, and at 2 P.M. of the same
day lines drawn from the Earth’s centre would cut the Sun and Moon in
the same arc of right ascension (the Moon’s attraction and the Sun’s
attraction will therefore be acting in the same direction); in other
words, the new moon will be on the Earth’s equator when in perigee, and
nothing more threatening can, I say, occur without miracle. The earth it
is true will not be in perihelion by some sixteen or seventeen seconds
of semidiameter.
“With your permission I will during September next (1869) for the safety
of mariners briefly remind your readers of this warning. In the meantime
there will be time for the repair of unsafe sea walls and for the
circulation of this notice throughout the world.”
It seems that Saxby had made other similar forecasts. Commenting on one
of his predictions, a London newspaper, the _Standard_, said:
“Saxby claims to have been successful in some of his predictions, and he
may prove either lucky or clever on the present occasion. As the
astronomical effect will operate over the entire globe, it is
exceedingly likely there will be a gale of wind and a flood somewhere.”
The extraordinary fact is that a citizen of Halifax, Nova Scotia,
disturbed by Saxby’s prediction for October 5, 1869, wrote to the local
newspaper the week before:
“I believe that a heavy gale will be encountered here on Tuesday next
5th October beginning perhaps on Monday night or possibly deferred as
late as Tuesday night, but between these two periods it seems
inevitable. At its greatest force the direction of the wind should be
southwest, having commenced at or near south.
“Should Monday the 4th be a warm day for the season an additional
guarantee of the coming storm will be given. Roughly speaking the warmer
it may be on the 4th, the more violent will be the succeeding storm.
Apart from the theory of the Moon’s attraction, as applied to
Meteorology—which is disbelieved by many, the experience of any careful
observer teaches him to look for a storm at next new moon, and the state
of the atmosphere, and consequent weather lately appears to be leading
directly not only to this blow next week, but to a succession of gales
during next month.”
Actually the fourth began as a warm day in New Brunswick and later in
the day the storm became violent, as predicted by the Halifax citizen,
named Frederick Allison.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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