WILLIAM BAB COCK HAZEN. 115 



the House on Expenditures of the War Department : " At the begin- 

 ning of the work of the Signal Service, the duty of giving notice of 

 the approach and force of storms and floods for the benefit of com- 

 merce and agriculture throughout the United States implied that the 

 notices should be correct, reliable, and timely, as none others could 

 possibly be of benefit ; it was, therefore, absolutely necessary to pro- 

 vide for the careful study of the atmosphere. On my accession, I 

 found every evidence, from popular criticism, that still further prog- 

 ress in weather predictions was expected. I therefore emphasized 

 especially the necessity of the study of the instruments and methods 

 of observing and the investigation of the laws of the changes going 

 on in the atmosphere. ... It is evident by these successive steps that, 

 in addition to knowledge gained for current work, the office is power- 

 fully contributing toward the establishment of a deductive science of 

 meteorology which will eventually give us a solid, rational basis for 

 predictions, thereby improving on the empirical rules by which pre- 

 dictions have generally been made hitherto." And he adds that he 

 was led more especially to assist in the researches on the sun's heat 

 by reason of the encouragement given him by the late President Gar- 

 field, whose " last words to me were, ' Give both hands of fellowship 

 and aid to scientific men.' " 



As a further illustration of General Hazen's appreciation of the 

 scientific needs of the office, must be noted his appointment of Pro- 

 fessor William Ferrel as meteorologist, and of Professor T. C. Men- 

 denhall as electrician ; to the latter, all matters relating to standards, 

 instruments, and instrumental research were also committed. Nor did 

 he stop here, but, by appointing several younger men to positions as 

 junior professors, he largely increased the amount of study and re- 

 search that the office was able to perform, and, by publishing a series 

 of professional papers and smaller notes, he took the final steps neces- 

 sary to stimulate every man to do his best. Laboring in this same 

 direction, he sought to elevate the intelligence and scientific train- 

 ing of the Signal Corps proper, by enlisting college graduates as 

 far as possible, by extending the course of instruction for observers, 

 and by establishing a course of higher instruction for commissioned 

 officers. 



In still another direction General Hazen showed his affiliation with 

 scientific interests, namely, by his desire to conform as thoroughly as 

 possible to the recommendations of the International Meteorological 

 Conferences. These recommendations, as soon as received in the 

 printed minutes of the conferences, were, by General Hazen's orders, 

 carefully examined, and instructions at once prepared calculated to 

 introduce methods of observation and publication in conformity 

 with the recommendations of the leading meteorologists of the 

 world. 



Among the items specially noteworthy, wherein General Hazen de- 



