A COLONIAL WEATHER SERVICE. 333 



bureaus, the taking of observations simultaneously. Tliis, if 

 established, removes the palm of priority from Le Verrier and 

 France to our own country. True, no map was issued ; but a cen- 

 tury before either Le Verrier or the Signal Service, the principle 

 which makes the map possible was thought out and tried with 

 the best agencies at hand. Had the telegraph been in existence, 

 there is no telling what these acute-minded colonists would have 

 attempted. 



Madison was by training and inclination a man of science, and 

 no one can disparage Jefferson's activity as an observer. It was 

 the practice of the latter to read his thermometer every day either 

 at sunrise or at nine in the morning, and at sunset or four in the 

 evening. Even the calls so frequently made upon him for active 

 service elsewhere, while interrupting the Monticello records, did 

 not prevent his taking observations as he journeyed. In his pri- 

 vate expense account * we find records of temperature, rainfall, 

 and weather jotted down with as much care and detail as expendi- 

 tures. In some pages at the end of the book, the title-page of 

 which reads, " The Philadelphia Newest Almanac for the Year of 

 our Lord 1776, being Leap Year, . . . By Timothy Telescope, Esq." 

 Jefferson has noted for the years 1776, 1777, and 1778 his personal 

 expense items and detailed systematic records of temperature and 

 rain. We turn the pages of this rare old diary slowly and there 

 are some entries on which the eye lingers, while one wonders 

 why these pages have not received the attention of historian and 

 meteorologist. 



On July 4, 1776, he jotted down among his expenses : 



pd. Sparhawk for a thermometer 3 /15 



pd. for V pair of women's gloves /27 



gave in charity 1/6 



And on July 8th the same year : 



pd. Sparhawk for a barometer 4 /lO 



pd. 2 dinners at Smith's 18/6 



Sparhawk, I surmise, was an instrument-maker, and the price 

 paid for the thermometer indicates an instrument of high order. 

 From intimations in various places one can almost believe that 

 the purchase of this high-priced instrument was regarded by Jef- 

 ferson as an act of self-indulgence. Whether it served to relieve 

 the mental strain incident to the doings of that ever-memorable 

 week, or whether he was simply eager to study the new acquisi- 

 tion, certain it is that the entries are more than usually frequent. 



* These MSS. are in the possession of the family at Edge Hill, Va., to whom I am 

 indebted for manv kindnesses. 



