New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-04-13
progress of the inquiry. they will nothing eI-
tenuate nor set down aught IN malice.
WEATHER sCIENCB IN ENGLAND.

! WEATHER SCfENCE IN BNuLhND.
| Parliamentary inquiry has recently been
instituted to ascertain how and with what re-
| mlt Great Britain spends some $4,000 per
wear on weather observations and storm warn
ines TIE report of the committee OF inquiry
ia published in Blue Book. Parts of the re-
mort have almost the Obscurity OF London
fog, especially those in which the question is
discussed as to what ought to be done Win
the growing mass of meteorological observa-
TONS It is certain that the whole business OF
weather reports is regarded with far less favor
in England than here. Nobody can read the
report without perceving that the advocates
| of weather science in Great Britain are yet en-
| gagged in fighting for its position; it is not
there, as it is in this country, quite secure both
in popular favor and scientific recognition.
Perhaps one reason for the want of apprecia-
ton of the weather service in England Is its
inferior success. In President Andrews's adj
dress before the British Association for the
| Advancement of Science he stated that four
out of five of the storm warnings were jnstl-
| fed but the list of the few storms for which
no warnings had been given inclnded some
of the heaviest gales of the period. He
expressed belief that most OF the
storms of Great Britain originate east OF
Newfoundland, and that disturbances which
cross the Atlantic become much altered during
transit. The recent success of The New- York
Herald in sending advice Of storms from this
country to Europe may call for modification
of that belief. But il is evident that the po-
sition of the British Islands must always place
their weather service at a great disadvantage
compared with ours. The record of the U. ).
Signal Service in respect to storm warnings Is
very much better than the foregoing, aud i'm
proves with every year. The TRIBUNE's daily
weather predictions, though under the disad-
vantage of being made for very restricted
locality, show a still higher percentage of cor
RICHNESS Of course, however, there is
greater margin for error when the range OF
prediction il narrowed to single city and its
vicinity, than when it applies to large dis
hict, such as group of States. storm, for
instance, which partly trave,scs such DIS
irict NAV entirely fail to show itself at a spec-
fled locality therein.
The report of the Parliamentary commission
is highly complimentary to the u. ). Signal
Service. both AZ to the practical and the sclen-
tine value of the work pcrformed IL the
English system there are in addition to IL large
number of ordinary observing stations that
send kilograms 10 Il central Office at London,
seven stations whose observations are made
nv automatic recording Instruments. There
seens TO be much doubt whether the automatic
records are trustworthy. One practical meteor
oIogist testilies that eye observations secure
more accuracy. The self-rccOrding instru-
ments in England operate by photographlng
at intervals on a continuous strip OF paper
moved by clockwork. More uniform results
could b. attained as to tho balrmeter, by means
of an automatic record such a. ,hat used Ill
The TRIBUNE office, given by the movement
of float on the column of mercury. Nature
uttnrs a SUSPICION that if the recoros aiken
automatically at Kew and at Greenwich were
compared, they might be found not to 90
Together as well rs Admiral Fitzroy's weather.
glass and an ancloid barometer" The records
! of air-prcssurc Given in the London daily
| newspapers are taken from self recording an
| c70d Instruments. As bar0mcteYS OF this kind
are made wholly Of metal and operated by
| springs, leas dependence can he placed on their
indications than on those of the mercurial
column.
| But the Investigation of the Parliamentary
commission went deeper than into questions
OF the value of instruments. Sir George b.
| Airy. the Astronomer Royal, was asked
whether he regarded mcteorolOgy as a science,
! and he replied in the negative. When further
! questioned his answer was even more definite I:
1T is net in scientific condition at all,
| Think The commissioners then asked Sir
| George why the Greenwich Observatory,
| under his direction, had undertaken to do
| meteorological work This was evidently
supposed to be puzzer; his explanation was
that he undertook, the work because nobody
"clse did" What troubles the sagcs of
| England il that M immense mass IF registered
! observations on the weather has accumulated
| and Is constantly growing, and there is nobody
! with "a capacity for digcsting it. They want
men Zone man is not enough with talent for
things OF that sort" TO devote themselves to
examining the observations and turning them
" over in I'LL conceivable ways more sreciii-
caliy, it is "a man of genius that is needed
Ito try and get something out of the obscrya-
Z" tions.n Sir William Thomson thought it
would he best to set a young man mot any
| one in particularly, fresh from college, at the
task; but the Astronomer Royal did met
think that would be d safe thing" With
such hay notions about the merits of the
science and the work 10 be performed, it is
not surprising that the commission wound up
by saying that what they propose is only
" tentative:" they recommend another inquiry
and report " at the end of (say) five years"
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NUTSANCFS MEYER ABATED.
There are numberless wellrecOgnized abuses