The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-11-27

posn Piatts ffl q seecHt ftfciej says tint
q The ;pdfs5tj 90 fspa ftIIg know as uid
lprobabfllties III ID young nan about .ortt,
and Is quite good-lookiHg, having q band.
some figure, fine face, with Roman pose
and clear blue eyes; walks with o military
bearing, and takes his glass of wine and jokes
at dinner as II his nights were not given TO
thunder, Lightning, wind, and rain, like unto
the dreadful witch in Macbeth. His real
name is Myer- General, and OF the United
stAtes army. He Is well endowed in harm
ing wire Riia worldly goods. and has house
that is one of the tt1sst attractive In Wash
ington.' This pleasant tiethre is drawn o!
ap officer who has introduced great improve
rieflts In the military science OF the period'
General Myer, when Surgeon Myer, In
vented the signal service now In use in
our army and favy; atld carried it on to
the perfection which may iiow be claimed
for it.. He IS Buffalo boYp and q
graduate Of Geneva College, and one Of The
keeneste#ittsA and clearest:headed men ih
the service, either military OF civil; When
General Myer began to send oht his g proba:
bilities !" he did 1t with hesitation, and tie
people received them with doubt. At first
they were great mystery, but gradually
the public discovered their accuracy, and
were prepared to believe that "Old Proba-
bilities" was the Champion Guesser of the
period. Soon the public were informed
as to the foundation of the weather pre-
the first, taken the public into its conf
dence. The system of charts it had in
troduced, the laws 1t had discovered, the
manner in which predictions were made,
were all explained at length in the news.
papers and magazines, and everybody who
took the pains to read obtained at least a
genera! knowledge Of the working of the
Bureau. More recently the lab6rs Of the
Bureau have been extended. Warning sig.
nails are now displayed at all the principal
sea and lake ports when dangerous storms
are approaching; freshets and low water in
the great rivers are reported; and, last of
all, the approach Of frost was predicted In the
Mississippi Valley and eastern portion of the
United States at the opening of the present
winter, and the law governing great changes
in temperature discovered.
The Weather Office" has won popular
confidence for the average correctness of its
predictions, and it has gained the respect oil
scientific men for the service it has rendered
to science. All over the United States,
wherever there is telegraph station and a
daily newspaper, 4 summary is printed of the
weather for the last twenty-four hours, and
the probabilities for the coming day or
night. These predictions, of which sixty
nine per cent were verified last year, have in
scventy-seven cases in hundred, this year,
proved correct, and mariners and farmers,
and other classes of men whose business is
affected by the weather, have governed
their movements largely by them. A sim
gle illustration will show the practical
value to commerce of these reports.
The observer at Buffalo gave it to the
Board Of Trade rs his opinion, in the after
noon before the severe gale OH the lakes
early in October, that it would be unsafe for
vessels to go out on Lake Erie that night.
Early in the evening orders came from
Washington to display danger signals.
Twenty.three vessels and barscs, ready to
sail. stayed i'm port, and escaped the disaster
which would surely have overtaken some oil
them. The public confidence in the accu.
racy of the predictions of the Bureau is
equally great at all the lake ports rs we'll as
along the Atlantic coast and on the Gulf.
The Weather Bureau has not attained its
present SUCCESS and popularity without sur
mounting great obstacles. Insufficient ap
preparations hampcrcd it for the first year
and limited the field of its operations. Al
unfortunate misunderstanding with the
Western Union Telegraph Company threat
cncd to cause suspension Of Its operations
last summer, and for several months stopped
the reports from many important stations
Tbe.merits OF this controversy, which caused
transfer of the Geographic business OF the
Bureau to a rival company, will probably 81
settled by Congress during the coming ses
sion. Besides all this. young men with nc
knowledge of their duties have had to be Ill
structed in meteorology and taught to make
correct observations. 1t is TO be hoped thai
Congress will deal generously with this Blu
rcau when appropriatins money for lis sup
mott