232 MEMORIES OE MY L1EE 



many previous attempts to represent the distribution 

 of the weather in a form suitable for printing with 

 movable types. With the aid of Mr. W. Spottis- 

 woode I had types cut for me of appropriate forms, 

 and casts from them were used in the set of my 

 published charts based on the above-mentioned data 

 (Meteorographica (Macmillan), 1863) [17], but these 

 were not a success. Later I tried the plan of cutting 

 curves and arrows in soft material by a drill panta- 

 graph, whence casts might be taken for printing. A 

 drill pantagraph is made like an ordinary one, except 

 that the pencil is replaced by a drill, which is rotated 

 by a string that passes over the joints and does not 

 hinder the movements of its arms. I do not know 

 whether this plan of making the weather maps is still 

 adopted. It was submitted to the Times by the 

 Meteorological Council, through their Secretary, and 

 I still have the first trial stereotype that was cast on 

 this principle. I heard that there was trouble at first 

 in finding a suitable soft material better than plaster 

 of Paris and the like, but that this difficulty of detail 

 was soon overcome. 



I have already mentioned Admiral R. FitzRoy 

 ( 1 805-1 865). He was captain of the surveying ship 

 The Beagle, whose name became familiar to the 

 public through Charles Darwin's Voyage of the 

 "Beagle." He had always been most zealous 

 in the advancement of weather forecasts and 

 storm warnings. The "cone" was his device. A 

 Meteorological Office was established under his 

 superintendence in 1854, entirely owing to his 

 exertions, but it was on a very small scale. His 

 publications unfortunately failed in scientific solidity, 



