MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 27 



without taking any account of the war navies of the world. It is obvious 

 that, by making a passage in less time, there is not only a saving of ex- 

 pense to the merchant, the shipowner, and the insurer, but a great diminu- 

 tion of the risk from fatal maladies, as, instead of losing time, if not lives, 

 in unhealthy localities, heavy rains, or ealras with oppressive heat, a ship 

 properly navigated may be speeding on her way under favorable circum- 

 stances. There is no reason of any insuperable nature why every part of 

 the sea should not be known as well as the land, if not indeed better 

 than the land, generally speaking, because more accessible and less varied 

 in- character. Changes in the atmosphere, over the ocean as well as on 

 the land, are so intimately connected with electrical agency,) of course in- 

 cluding magnetism,) that all seamen are interested by such matters, and 

 the facts which they register become valuable to philosophers. Meteoro- 

 logical information collected at the Board of Trade will be discussed with, 

 the twofold object in view of aiding navigators, or making navigation 

 easier, as well as more certain, and amassing a collection of accurate and 

 well-digested observations for the future use of men of science. As soon 

 as the estimate for meteorological expenses had passed, steps were taken 

 to organize a new branch department at the Board of Trade. On the first 

 of August, Captain Fitzroy was appointed to execute the duties of this 

 new office, referring to Dr. Lyon Playfair, of the Department of Science 

 and Art, and to Admiral Beechey, of the Marine Department, for such 

 assistance as they could render. As soon as registers and instruments are 

 ready, and an office prepared, Captain Fitzroy will be assisted by four or 

 five persons, whose duties he will superintend. It is expected that several 

 ships will be supplied with ' abstract logs ' (meteorological registers) and 

 instruments in October, and that the office will be in full work next No- 

 vember. The admiralty have ordered all the records in the Hydrographi- 

 cal Office to be placed at the disposal of the Board of Trade for a sufficient 

 time. All other documents to which government has access will be simi- 

 larly available ; and the archives of the India House may likewise be 

 searched. There will be no want of materials, though not such as would 

 have been obtained by using better instruments on a systematic plan. 

 Captain Fitzroy ventures to think that the documents hitherto published 

 by Lieutenant Maury present too much detail to the seaman's eye ; that 

 they have not been adequately condensed ; and therefore are not, practi- 

 cally, so useful as is generally supposed. His Instructions, or Sailing 

 Directions, (the real condensed results of his elaborate and indefatigable 

 researches,) have effected the actual benefits obtained by mariners. Re- 

 flecting on this evil, which increasing information wotild not tend to 

 diminish, Captain Fitzroy proposes to collect all data, reduced and meaned, 

 (or averaged,) in a number of conveniently arranged tabular books, from 

 which, at a subsequent period, diagrams, charts, and ' meteorological dic- 

 tionaries,' or records, will be compiled, so that by turning to the latitude 

 and longitude, all information about that locality may be obtained at 

 once, and distinctly." 



