xxii GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



factory investigations of the general features of atmospheric 

 movements. In the practical application of meteorological 

 science to the forewarning of storms, the highest perfection 

 has probably been attained by our own American system 

 the well-known Weather Bureau of the Army Signal Service. 

 The tri-daily bulletins of this office include weather forecasts 

 of all kinds, as well as storms, and are considered a daily ne- 

 cessity to a large class of our citizens. 



The number of observers and stations has been constantly 

 increasing, and several new ones have, been quite recently 

 started at points on the coast as well as in the interior. At 

 the session of Congress for .1871-72 a resolution was adopted 

 instructing the War Department to do what it could in the 

 interest of agriculture, which has been responded to by di- 

 viding the United States into about seventy districts, with a 

 central station in each, to which the weather probabilities 

 are to be telegraphed as soon as made up in Washington, 

 and from which they are to be distributed by the mails, when 

 printed oif, to all the post-offices within the district acces- 

 sible before the close of the day. The postmasters, on the 

 reception of these notices, are to post them in a conspicuous 

 place, so that all who have a desire to know what the weath- 

 er is to be, can ascertain the fact by visiting or sending to 

 the office. A few of these stations are already organized, 

 and the arrangement will be extended throughout the United 

 States as soon as possible. 



Still another development of the system consists in having 

 stations on the sea-coast, with special reference to indicating 

 the probabilities for the benefit of fishermen, to include in- 

 formation as to the occurrence of schools of fish along the 

 coast, so as to concentrate attention to them. 



The meteorological work of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and of the Medical Department of the Army, also to all light- 

 houses and life-saving stations on the coast, has also been 

 kept up. Here the phenomena of the weather are entered 

 upon blanks, and transmitted by mail each month. Although 

 not available for forecasting the weather, as in the telegraph- 

 ic system of the signal-office, these records are even better 

 adapted to determining the general climatology of the coun- 

 try, in consequence of the much larger number of stations 

 and the lengthened period of time over which they extend. 



