New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-01-25
4DVANCES IN FEATHER SCIENCE.

dDVANCES IN WEATHER SCIENCE
Paris now has public barometer. 1t is a
large one of the aneroid kind, with dial Of
nearly five feet diameter which is Illuminated
at night 1t is placed in prominent position
in the market-house. The expectation is that
the people who come thither to sell their
country produce will be greatly edited when
the long pointer slowly sweeps around the dial
and points to "Fair" or Change" Perhaps
some enteIprisng correspondent Will cOllate
the views of the danes de Ia Halle after they
have made "a few weeks observations. 1t will
be interesting to learn whether the men and
women who cultivate caulitlower and Berlin
sprouts i'll the outskirts of Paris have good
opinion of the aneroid. We confess to mis-
givings, not as to the instrument, but az to the
observers There would ne no occasion for
surprise if they should conclude that some OF
the old methods of fOrecasting weather were
good enough for them IA for their fOretathers,
and conclude to fall back on the old
rule, Sow peas and beans in the wane OF
"thc moon; Who sOwctb them sooner, sOweth
d" too soon" For barometer is not, like a
clock, to be consulted at a glance. The ques-
ton i not alone where the index now points,
but also where it has been pointing. l. is the
movement of the air-wave from low TO high, or
the reverse that indicates the weather; lot the
mere hight at single point of time. This Is
of course no news TO TRIBUNE readers, who
are familiar with It's daily diagram OF the
barOnetric movement, some OF them being
already sufficiently expert III its Use to Judge
of the probabilities Of the weather for them
selves by merely SlancIg at the curve. With
the diagram in hand they are better fitted to
form such u judgment than they would be by
staring at a five-foot dial.
The United states has taken the lead in
practical meteorOl0gy, and is well in advance.
The recent order of the Navy Department re-
curing that the officers OF our Government
vessels shall take part in the sy stem of stimuli
taneous observations of the weather through
out the Northern Hemisphere, may be accepted
as evidence that this nation will not fall be-
hind in the race. But we may soon have
rivals The extension of the weather service
in France has been within the past year very
rapid The Government there takes pains to
have the daily reports bear special reference
to agriculture. Every Department of France.
it is expected, will before long come into the
scheme, which contemplatcs separate weather
bureau for each. communicating with the cen
trail Office ut Paris Storm warnings to farm
crs, which here have not yet passed the
stage of project and experiment, have
there taken shape in system. In
England there have been several improvements
made in the method OF communicating weather
signals British newspapers have awakened TO
the importance of the subject. and many of
them make display of weather paragraph
with some kind of diagram. Nature, the lead
ing scientific periodical, gives considerable
space to the meteorological notes which it
has lately made special feature. One of
these notes" recently criticised the baro-
metric observations at Kew with great sever
ity. The figures there are taken from two
sclf-rccordmg Instruments, and it seems that
the records did not tally. Photography is
used TO obtain the observations, and that is
said to give inaccurate results. The data of
one of the most remarkable storms of recent
years, that of March -, 1876, are said to be
worse than useless Some of the work Of
our Signal Office, in filing ont by averages"
the intervals between observations, is handled
with mildcr manner but essentially simiar re-
suit. Both these criticisms Indicate the value
of an accurate sef-rccording barometer, and
also the growth OF interest in such subjects in
Great Britain.
Holland made an exceptionally fine display
of meteorological apparatus last Summer at
Philadelph Prof Won Baumhaucr, who was
one of the Centennial judges, has, since his
return to HARLEM, issued, as Secretary of the
Dutch Society of Sciences an offer of a gold
medal for the best essay upon the connection
between earth's metcorology and magnetism
and the spots on the sun. When the posi-
bility Of connection between sun spots and
earth weather was first suggested, it met with
abundant ridicule Even within few months
writer in The English Mechanic anxious to
show contempt for an opponent, declared that
he ought to be appointed chief of an observa-
tory for observing sun spots in order to fore
tell the weather. But the conception has
passed beyond the reach of ridicue. Prof.
Langley of Allegheny Observatory has latterly