Evening star., 1900-07-23
WORK OF METEOROLOGISTS
VALUE OF LABOR PERFORMED By
THE WEATHER BUREAU.
Extension of Its Observations From
First Merely FOrecastinE
the Storms.

The Department OF Agriculture mas Iidu
nrensrad oansr on the work of the me-
-. -, oar,o,,,tyre
teoroloSist' ior 'he peheii' VI -
commerce and navigation
After giving a brief history of the iegisla-
tion which resulted in the establishment of
-. ,,,,-o,,, ~ ,,o,,ar s+.t.s that q
'iie "'''i'i ''' "N NV -
was only after long agitation 'he purpose
of which was to persuade Congress that
forecasts of the weather were practicable
in the United States. and that an organized
systematic effort to give the public due
warning of the approach of storms was
worth a trial. At first, it is stated. the ser
vice was for the benefit of navigation on the
seacoast and on the great lakes, but 1t was
soon extended so as to include the interior
districts and the great rivers of the central
valleys.
Climate and crop conditions were de-
manded for the farmer and observations
and warnings for the public and for rail-
road and water carriers. Hence, it soon be
came necessary to enlarge the scope OF the
service as to include agriculture ana
commerce as well as navigation. ara 10 ex-
tend the sphere of the meteoroloSist to cover
the study not only Of the dynam:cs ant,
motions of the atmosphere, but OF clmatoi-
ogy Ghe prevailing temperature ana ram
fa!D. together with thelr e1ectS upon nu-
man life. Accordingly. on July /, 1S,l. the
signal service of the War Department was
relieved of its meteorological duties and
lne weather bureau bi llit lptpdI VI
Agriculture was organized and charged
with the future of meteorology in the United
States.
In the latter administrative department OF
the government the civilian and scientific
methods predominate, though II must ne
said that the spirit OF subordinatlon inner
tied from the army discipline stlll continues
and tends to make the organization or the
weather bureau more efhclent ana homo-
geneous than 1t otherwise could be.
EnrIy Efforts Made.
r, ,,.., -. 49,. ,,..,
ui iiS 'iie eisiteeii'ii 'eh'''S Du' i''ie
progress vas made in detecting any sort
of regular sequence in the apparently err
ratio nhenomena knov,n as the weather
I,,1,Iir no., ,,s.oo;.o, .ha. ,o,. ,,,o,..5
" MIN ii'' pc 'i,"t S'oi ihs '''
norlh' dStWdru from 1nllauelpna toward
New England which view was the result
9l ms ooseryatlonS ana private correspoh-
oehce regarding the exact utne "hen the
InaALiilurll M. seVerHS OF storms was lei, at
uil lSIeht pIaces- lhoinaS JeHersofl. az Mofl-
burg. in Virginia. had taken some simuIta
neous observations in the years 1712-lI7.
ana certain conclusions We're urawn from
annns, st,IdartS Of ,ba d. io,b in 49,
lea and in Europe. that storms had a pro-
gressive movement and whirling motion
aDou' 'he center LaNolS!er ana Borda IN
i,rse tarrtor, sod e~anira ~
mems racor5s IN orjar =, Ia,aa, ~ - ~ rs
storms NitrbrII in Ar,erfca. Ca,,nr IN
india. I.anpforj for the W., Ini;as md
Pra n5es md Doya IN E1,ro,,a had o,,.i,,
uted certain notions on the subiact sona
holding tb.t rtnrr,c ara ,,.b;rI. - ~ -.
n,osrhere tbnrpb ,-e,,a,,rI,. ~ -, -, ,,,e . @
expressed ,hat tbev are straiab, -1ine s,,Ias
Charts of yarious kinds Iyere constrTctad
nv different individuaI. and tho n,,Iricatio,
of ,b.,a at la,ott, ,,Iaa,I - =. - " "
sitinn IN bapin fh4. s,ov, d,,ca -, -, a
bynntbe-icaI corioct,,rnc ra,,.r5i, - ~ ~ -
tfons Of the air IN the defnita sciartisc
Knowledge Of the laws which We nossess
today /, ;s o,,ita ra,,arl,atIa -. -, -
extenf to- which American S,,,dal. ba,a
been pioneers in these ma.anroIoa,;cai 'iI rsl
searches. their ideas having been Confirmed
or elaborated rather than originally sug-
InrirG tbn ni,,e.,itt 'tio ~ ,''1,I' tuunie,;
seryations of atmosnheric nhnnnmana b.ye
been enormously multiplied all over the
world and a correct classification of them
aioui!u i! IUiiuaiilehal al laWs mas proceeded
-
i"'. hehr!s WORK
After referring to various other matters
in connection with the develonment ,f the
,,,,,,,.1,,,e,e 30 .,,o.,oul,,,,.,. ~
A''o" 'euse VI 'iie'eoi"i "iosS' ''ie paper soes
on 10 say tHal III 800 weather chartS were
displayed every day by the Smithsonian In
stitution in this CITY under the e;irec,inn of
I,.x. ~ -
t3 ;I.otI Si ttppi 'i'i .'$ee III.
@ pols i,IuIJa'tu 'ne s'd'e oi ~ "I.oSph'
,,i, - Ir,,,ir,,lI t;II ~, ,a,,.i ~, -
pan pan Mas toii,di.ueu % till litetr rupteu D! tile
cEA "af' III lSol- Lev errIeI' the great 's-
Ironomer OF france In ls.i studied the
r-uIoPtdh rePniIs ie'tlNeu coiicef ihnS 'lie
Wtatner. IN 10" ne submitted pan 10
tile emperor ior me- @Int!eoro,oslcai ne" WORK
over France. IN 1870 ne began 10 make
maps with system OF thirteen telegraph
ana eleven post stations In 1871 he pub
hshed an lnternatonai bulletin. In ls,S II
became dtlly bulieuh. In lS"t ne hrSt
made productions Tor ports. ON September
II. ls6'f' ne printed the weather map for
the DAY, ana II mas not been dlscon inued
since that time. 1t is thus seen that to
France Is due the credit of hrst issuing a
permanent set of daily maps with forecasts
10. p, .,,
"- '"" 'A""P'e".