New Orleans Republican., 1873-06-22
ssOld Probabilities.0

George Alfred Townsend, in q latelerter
to the Chicago Tribune, devotes an inter
esting column TO the mysteries of the signal
service bureau, and to Colonel Albert J.
Myer, its chief:
Z Your attention is invited to my friend
Probabilities. He is not a difficult person
70 know, for he opens his conversation III
the usual way, about the weather and gets
on that theme with difficulty. His amuse-
ments are simple, cultivating bulbs and
flying kites and the roof of his house is
covered with toys which excite the envy of
all the neighboring boys. His home is an
old fashioned house, with head put on 1T
of Mansard, and rough-coated, and the back
stairs lead down into yard where outhouses
are strewn about full Of good naturcd work
men making maps. 1t is a queer place alto
gether. Wires go over the nelghborlnS
houses, pouring into it; weather-vanes-
some old-tashioned, some made OF hollow
cups turned sidewise-swing and yeer upon
the roof. 1t looks like a watch factory.
And yet it is close by the great Office of the
Secretary of War; to whom Probabilities
must report himself three times a day; and
as, IL ancient times, commanders never
went to battle without looking for signs,
flying birds or Indications OF some kind.
war again consists of watching the weather
and seeing how PhGbus sets his cloudy bat
tallions.
The name of Probabilities, with the mys-
terry removed. is Albert j. Myer. He is an
otiicer-like, cleanly-cut man, young and
trim, with a light complexion and pair of
intelligent eyes, and sort of reasoning ad-
dress. His head is rather small than other
wise. and the forehead inclined. He enter
ed the army as a surgeon from the region
OF Buffalo, New York, in 1854, and was
transferred to tie line as 1860 as major and
chief signal officer. His present rank is
Colonel in the regular army, and Brigadier
General by brevet. He organized the sig
nal corps of the army, and, after the war,
with rare expansiveHess, adapted and ex-
tended the theory of signaling to civil uses,
and projected a system of observation and
prognostication which should serve the uses
OF agriculture, navigation aud the comfort
of society.
Tie telegraph was to be the transmitter
of simultaneous observations over the great
area of the country, upon temperature,
moisture, wind and clouds; and, by the
known laws Of meteorOlOgy, the effect of
these influences could be computed with
some degree Of probability by the educated
judgment OF constant prcgnOsticatOrs at the
central office. Thus the signal otfce-now
called BY the public the weather bureau
aims to produce the wisest and most pleas
ing economy ever contributed by science,
mechanics and government to people. 1t
addresses the picnic party and the feet
captain, the old woman drying clothes, and
the General of expedition, the miller on the
brook and the coaster on the Gulf. The pos
slbllities OF this office in the human econ
Omy are bOundless; for what we call the
weather is the invisible, but systematic
government of the world, the chemistry
and exhalation. the docility and the express
sion, the obedience and the act, OF the
globe. Man has gotten out OF the bed for
thousands Of years with one stocking and
one suspender and damned the appearance
Of the morning. For the first time in the
history OF our species, he is not now re-
4uired to look out of the window, and show
the violence of his temper and the degree
OF his ignorance. He may lather his face.
and with that eye which has not been
soaped, regard the bottom Of the column in
his morning newspaper, and exclaim, like a
sovereign, that since the weather reports
began, there has been nc news.
Said to General Myer:
General. you should write over Your
door: The Weather Bureau: Prophets and
priests desired it long, but died without the
sight,"
OH said the General, sthe Bible is
great weather book. Tho wind bloweth
where it Gsteth, and thou canst
not tell whence it ccmeth and whittier il
gOeth;' but We do. We look in the East
and see that it is red, and we get a newer
deduction from that. Yes, the people and
the press of the country have supported
this bureau with an appreciation and
unanimity which have overridden the
colder opinion OF men professedly states
men and savans. The usefulness Will not
cease at the present mark; but civilization,
by the cable system, will, in a few years,
mount guard over the armament in every
corner OF the earth, and anticipate the
movements there before they are well com
pounded. l want to get few stations III
that very important part of our hemisphere,
the West Indies"
The interior of the signal office building
discloses the newest fruits in the arts OF
photography, printing and instrument max
ing. The camera Is employed to note the
slightest gradations in barometric, thermO
metric, or anemOmetric movements: and.
turned upon the clouds themselves, il is
beginning to deal with then. as Lavater
might have drawn his system of physiognO.
my. The establishment of the weather
bureau has sharpened the human wits
i'll this direction, and every week develops
an improvement or suggestion by
which young certainty advances over old
probability. There is a great glass case
VI SlOuuo Ill buC OulCCs AOIucO VI raw
cotton drawn out in the form of stratus,
cirrus, cumulus or nimbus; and this, with
the delicate and involved instruments. and
the daily prognOsticatiOns, form the work
Of two or three West Pointers, who nightly
write their lesson without consultation. and
bring it up to compare with the weather
regimen Of next day. AS fascinating IN
pursuit as old astrOlogy, and more CRAFTY.
ing in result. the science of meteOrology, in
tal
a development hitherto unknown; and, bv
the dispersion of stations over the country,
each a mission in itself. the rising genera.
ton will be drawn to natural philosophy
like the housewife to her Yankee clock.
Notable about the weather bureau is The
simplicity and civil straightforwardness OF
.he apparatus and the corps. The ;nstru-
ments dispatched to distant stations are
the best, but of the plainest and most port
able description: and the renowned maps,
which make, when bound. weather b;s-
tory. are printed in cOlOrs by one die setter
On single adjustable steel plate.
Out of this office may arise the direct in.
:erposition OF man and government in the
management OF the weather. which is the
next step beyond accurate prOgnOsticaton.
The influence of timber. bOgs, etc. in modi.
flying climate is beginning to be understood
by common people; but an organization like
the signal cfhce has the ablllty to play chess
with the weather, and anticipate operations
beyond the horizon. dealing with whole de.
grees Of latitude and longitude, like squares
on the board.
Noticeable, also, as fortuity, perhaps a
consequence OF this establishment. is the
rise of popular science as social force IL.
all parts OF the country. A prOuder testi-
mOnial a scientific man has never received
than Professor Tyndall from the American
cities. The Pop"2ar Science Moathly. edited
by DR.. Youmans, the indefatigable pionee.
in that cause. is successful publication,
and is attracting contributors like Herbert