The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-22 00:00:00

MEMORANDUM I.

The maritime commerce of nations having spread over
the world to an unprecedented extent, and competition
having arrived at such a point that the value of cargoes
and the profits of enterprise depend more than ever on the
length and nature of voyages, it has become a question of
the greatest import:um to deterrqihe the best try for

IPRICE SD.

ships to follow, in order to make the quickest as well a
the safest passages.
The employment of steamers, in such numbers—the
general endeavour to keep as near the direct line between
two places (the arc of a great circle) as the intervening
land, currents, and winds will show—and the improvements
in navigation, now so prevalent, have caused a demandfor more precise and readily available' information respect-
ing all frequented parts of the oceans.
Not only is greater accuracy of detail required, but much
more concentration and arrangement of very valuable
though now scattered information.
Besides which, instrumental errors have vitiatedtoo many
results, and have prevented the greater portion of the
meteorological observations hitherto made at sea from
being considered better than approximations.
"It is one of the chief points of a seaman's duty," said
the well-known Basil Hall, " to know where to find a fair
wind, and where to fall in with a favourable current ;"
but, with the means at present accessible, the knowledge
of such matters can only be acquired by years of toil and
actual experience, excepting only in the greater thorough.
fares of the oceans, which are well known.
Wind and current charts have been published of late
years, chiefly based on the great work of the United States
'Government, at the suggestion of, and superintended by,
Lieutenant Maury; and by studying such charts and
directions, navigators have been enabled to shorten their
passages materially.
In many cases as much as ono-fourth, in some one-third
of the time or distance previously employed.
Much had been collected and written about the winds
and currents by Rennell, Capper, Reid, Redfield, Thom,
Piddington, and others, but general attention was not
attracted to the subject, however important to a maritimei
country, till the publication of Lieutenant Maury 's admi-
rable observations.
Encouraged by the practical results obtained, and in-
duced by the just arguments of that officer, the principal
maritime powers sent duly qualified persons to assist at the
conference held at Brussels last year, on the subject of
meteorology at sea.
The report of that conference was laid before Parlia-
ment, and the first direct result of it was a vote of money
for the purchase of instruments, and discussion of obser-
vations.

All the valuable meteorological data which had been
collected at the Admiralty, and all that can be obtained
elsewhere, will be tabulated and discussed in this new de-
partment of the Board of Trade, in addition to the con-
tinually accruing and more exact data to ba furnished in
future.

A very large number of ships, chiefly American, are
now engaged in observations ; stimulated by the advice,
and aided by the documents so liberally furnished by the
-United States Government, at the instance of Lieutenant
Maury, whose labours have been incessant.
Not only does that Government offer directions and
charts, gratis, to American ships, but also to those of our
nation, in accordance with certain easy and just con-
ditions.

In this country, the Government, through the Board of
Trade, will supply a certain number of ships which are
going on distant voyages with " abstract logs" (or meteo-
rological registers), and instruments, gratis, in order to
assist effectively in carrying out this important national
undertaking.
In the preface to slate edition of Johnston's " Wind and
Current Charts," published last June, at Edinburgh, Dr.
Buist says :—" It has been shown that Lieut. Maury's
charts and sailing directions have shortened the voyages of
American ships by about a third. If the voyages of those
to and from India were shortened by no more than a
tenth, it would secure a saving in freightage alone of
250,0001. annually.
" Estimating the freights of vessels trading from Europe
with distant ports at 20,000,0001. a year, a saving of a tenth
would be about 2,000,0001.. and every day that is lost in
.bringing the arrangements for the accomplishment of this
into operation occasions a sacrifice to the shipping interest
of about 6,00 C/., without taking any account of the war
navies of the world."

It is obviousvthat, by making a passage in less time,
there is not only a saving of expense to the merchant, the
ship-owner, and the insurer, but a great diminution of the
risk from fatal maladies ; as instead of losing time, if not
lives, in unhealthy localities, heavy rains, or calms with
oppressive heat, a ship properly navigated may be speed-
ing on her way under favourable circumstances. There is
no reason of an insuperable nature why every part of the
sea should not be known as well as the land, if not indeed
better than the land, generally speaking, because more
accessible and less varied in character. Changes in the
atmosphere, over the ocean, as well as on the land, are so
intimately connected with electric agency (of coursein-
cluding magnetism), that all seamen are interested by
such matters, and the facts which they register become
valuable to philosophers.
Meteorological information collected at the Board of
Trade will be discussed with the twofold object in view, of
aiding navigators, or making navigation easier, as well as
more certain ; amassing a collection of accurate, and well
digested observations for the future use of men of science.

MEMORANDUM 11.
As soon as the estimate for meteorological expenses had
passed, steps were taken to organise a new branch depart.
ment at tho Board of Trade.
On the Ist of August, Captain Fitzroy was appointed to
execute the duties of this new office, referring to Dr. Lyon
Playfair, of the department of science and art, and to Ad-
miral Beechey,Fof the marine department for such assis-
tance as they could render.
As soon as registers and instruments are ready, and en
office prepared, Captain Fitzroy will be assisted by four or
five persons, whose duties will be superintended.
It is expected that several ships will be supplied with
"abstract logs" (meteorological registers) and instruments
in October, and that the office will bo in full work next
November.

The Admiralty have ordered all the records in the Hy-
drographical Office to be placed at the disposal of the
Board of Trade for a sufficient time. All other documents
to which Government has access will be similarly available,
and the archives of the India House may likewise be
searched. There will be no want of materials, though not
such as would have been obtained by using better instru-
ments on a systematic plan.
Captain Fitzroy ventures to think that the documents
hitherto presented by Lieut. Maury present too much de-
tail to the seamen's eye; that they have not been ade•
quately condensed ; and therefore are not, practically, so
useful as is generally supposed. His instructions, or sailing
directions (the real condensed results of his elaborate and
indefatigable researches), have effected the actual benefits
attained by mariners.

Reflecting on this evil, which increasing information
would not tend to diminish, Captain Fitzroy proposes to
collect all data, reduced and meaned (or averaged) in a
number of conveniently arranged tabular books, from
which, at a subsequent period, diagrams, charts, and
" meteorological dictionaries," or records, will be compiled,
so that, by turning to the latitude andlongitude, all in-
formation about that locality may be obtained at once, and
distinctly.

I cannot doubt the spirited merchants and shipowners of
England will not be slow to follow the example of their
brethren in the United States, and will lend their heartiest
assistance to a work so useful. Great facilities will be
afforded them in the way of instruments of tested accu-
racy ; and the increasing number of scientific seamen,
which is resulting from the local institutions of education,
and the system of examination of masters and mates for
certificates, will furnish them with observers in every part
of the ocean fit to be intrusted with such instruments and
skilful in their use. Let not the practical man think lightly
of such matters when he is reminded of the great services
of the barometer in forewarning of the coming storm, that
the ascertained temperature of the sea which his ship is
traversing will inform her master whether he is engaged
in one current or another, and announce to him the ap-
proach of the dangerous iceberg which is not discoverable
by any other means.

I will now, with your permission, proceed to the consi-
deration of some other departments of our work, such as
geography, ethnography, and statistics, which are more
connected with my own pursuits, which, affected as they
are by the character of man, the uncertainties of his will,
the accidents of his physical' and moral nature, and thus
being less the subject of direct and pure experiment—seems
at first sight to be hardly reducible to those fixed laws
which it is the object of science to investigate and ascer-
tain. For these reasons, indeed, among others, these
branches of study formed at first no part of the scheme of
the British Association, and there was some doubt about
their subsequent admission.

Nevertheless, I rejoice that they were so admitted. The
apprehension that they must introduce the spirit of party
into our proceedings has been most, honourably disap-
pointed ; and, as one who, in the capacity of a member of
the Legislature, have to act from time to time on the sub-
ject of some of their inquiries, I cannot but express my
gratitude for the assistance which they have afforded, both
by informing and forming the public mind on many im-
portant questions ; and, above all for the lesson they have
taught on the importance of testing by a patient collection
and impartial discussion of the facts ; in a word, for
having imparted the spirit of science into what, in the
largest sense of the word, may be called politics, instead
of importing the spirit of politics in its narrower sense
into science.

What is more important than to rescue questions of this
nature, such as finance and political economy, for in-
stance, in some degree at least, from the domain of party
contention ? And how can we better contribute to that
desirable result than by discussing the carefully collected
facts in a scientific spirit on an arena, within which no
party passion is excited, no party allegiance is acknow-
ledged, no party victory has to be lost or won, and when
men are at liberty to convince and be convinced without
risking a charge of treachery or a change of ministry as the
consequence ? But, in fact, these studies could not fairly
have been excluded from our peripatetio university of
science.

Who shall separate political altogether from the influ-
ences of physical geography, or ethnology from physiology,
or the destinies of man upon this globe from the study of
his physical nature ? By its employment of the doctrine of
probabilities one branch of statistics is brought into imme-
diate contact with the higher mathematics, andthe actuary
is thus enabled to extract certainty in the gross out of un-
certainty in the detail, and to provide man with the means
of securing himself against some of the worst contingencies
to which his life and property are exposed. In fact, sta-
tistics themselves are the introduction of the principle of
induction into the investigation of the affairs of human
life, an operation which requires the exercise of at least the
same philosophical qualities as other sciences. It is not
enough in any case merely to collect facts and reduce them
into a tabular form. They must be analysed as well as
compared ; the accompanying circumstances must be
studied (which is more difficult in moral than in materiial
investigations), that we may be sure that we are—that is
to say, in reality calling the same things by the sa names—treating of the same facts under the same circum-
stances
; and all disturbing influences must be
becarefully got at
eliminated before any such pure experiment cand satisfae-
as can fairly be considered to have established .11
i others.
tory conclusion. In some cases this is easier than
and steam-
In an age of gas and steam, of steam-engines,torsobs, the im-
portance of railroad' and telegraphs, and pke Ais r„ truism, a
of science is no longer questioned
commonplace. The demands of sciences the favourite
too severe to
make it likely that it should ever b
study of the many. In art and literature the mind of the
a
student is often comparatively p ,
vs, state of almost
in
prepared for him by
pueixe enjoyment of the boortt