1 20 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



should rarely have any information. In the report published 

 in 1877, we note the record of ice in or near Newfoundland, 

 and full details of a tornado and water-spout, August 18, 



1876, at St. Paul's Island. 



Mr. Maxwell Hall has drawn up a well-considered scheme 

 for the establishment of a meteorological system of stations 

 and storm warnings throughout the West Indies, having its 

 central office at an observatory near Kingston, Jamaica. 

 According to the Philosophical Magazine^ he hopes for con- 

 tributions and support from all the West Indies and the 

 United States. (The United States Signal Service has for 

 many years maintained a small number of telegraphic re- 

 porting stations in the West Indies.) 



The meteorological bulletins of the Central Observatory 

 at Mexico are published at irregular intervals, in the Anales 

 del Ministerio de Fomento, and begin with the month of 

 March, 1877, which is published in the Anales for December, 



1877. The first number of the Bulletin gives a history 

 of the establishment of the Observatory its location, offi- 

 cers, and apparatus and the methods adopted therein. All 

 observations are made hourly, and seem to correspond to 

 the requirements of exact science. The staff consists of 

 the director, Barcena, and two assistants, Reyes and Perez. 

 The principal meteorological observations that have been 

 made in Mexico previous to the establishment of this na- 

 tional observatory are mentioned in the Bulletin as follows : 

 by Humboldt Burckhardt (in 1839 and 1840),Bevard (1838 

 and 1839), Dr. Berlandier (1830 to 1851), Moral, Leon,Mier, 

 Teran, Sartorius (1854 to 1870), Nieto (1858 to 1864), Ibar- 

 rola (1857 and 1858), Poey (1867), and Cornejo (1863 and 

 1865). In 1874 the Meteorological Observatory of the Med- 

 ical Department was established, and afterwards removed 

 to the School of Agriculture. The Observatory of the De- 

 partment of the Interior, under Barcena, is in longitude 

 i, 36 m 27 s W. from Greenwich, and latitude 19 26' N. ; its 

 altitude is 2290 m . 



The Central Office contributes to the Daily Bulletin of the 

 Minister of the Interior an astronomical and meteorological 

 chapter, in which latter are published the complete record of 

 the hourly observations at Mexico, the telegraphic bulletin 

 of simultaneous observations at about thirty stations in that 



