SKETCH OF INCREASE ALL EX LAP HAM, LL. D. 839 



suggested, in 1847, that the telegraph might he used in aid of such a 

 work ; and the Cincinnati Observatory had issued a daily weather 

 bulletin and chart in 1868 and 1869 ; but Dr. Lapham's efforts were 

 the ones that bore fruit in the shape of national action on a national 

 scale. In 1842 he published, for information and as a stimulus to harbor 

 improvement, a list of marine disasters on Lake Michigan ; in 1858 he 

 suggested to a railroad manager, who was building a line of steamers 

 for a lake-ferry, the importance of procuring a knowledge of coming 

 storms. The manager answered, politely, that he had more confidence 

 in the size and speed of his boats than in storm-signals. He afterward 

 addressed a lake-captain on the subject, and the sailor replied that he 

 had " little time to investigate meteorological papers, and had never 

 been impressed with the opinion that our changeable and fickle climate 

 could be put under any rules by which mariners might be guided with 

 any certainty or much profit." The idea, however, was gradually 

 commending itself to the moneyed men of Chicago, when, in 1869, 

 Dr. Lapham met the Hon. E. D. Holton, who was just about to go to 

 attend the meeting of the National Board of Trade, at Richmond, Vir- 

 ginia, and explained his scheme to him. Mr. Holton secured the pas- 

 sage, by the National Board of Trade, of a resolution which Dr. Lap- 

 ham had drawn up, commending the project to the consideration of the 

 Government. A bill, introduced by General Paine, of Wisconsin, for 

 the establishment of the Weather Service, was passed, and on the 15th 

 of March, 1869, " Old Probabilities," as the office was for a long time 

 nicknamed, was installed. Dr. Lapham was appointed in November, 

 1871, Assistant Signal-Officer at Chicago, and had the pleasure of send- 

 ing home, at the end of a month, a draft for " the fix-st considerable sum 

 I have ever received as salary for any scientific work." The amount 

 was $166.67. 



In 1873 Dr. Lapham was appointed, in accordance with an act 

 constituting the Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Chief Geologist, with 

 authority to select his subordinates. The fitness of the appointment 

 was universally recognized, but by some oversight the nomination was 

 not sent to the Senate for confirmation. The work was prosecuted by 

 him with great energy and most fruitful results for nearly two years, 

 by which time "the political aspect of the State had changed, and 

 there had been an upheaval of strata of which our geologist had taken 

 no notice." He first learned through the newspapers that he had been 

 superseded. Nearly a month later (March 21, 1875) he received a letter 

 from W. R. Taylor, Governor, notifying him that " all authority (if 

 any possessed by you), as Chief Geologist, ceased and was annulled on 

 the 16th day of February" previous. 



On the 14th of September, of the same year, Dr. Lapham, having 

 retired to his farm on Lake Oconomowoc, had just finished a paper on 

 the capacity for fish production of that and other small lakes of Wis- 

 consin. Then he went in his boat upon the lake. He was found a few 



