n6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



observation, that Captain Hoffmeyer has left his mark on the 

 science these principles being the relations of winds, tempera- 

 ture, and rainfall to the distribution of atmospheric pressure. In 

 working out the weather problem of Europe, no country occupies 

 a more splendid position for the observation of the required data 

 than does Denmark with its dependencies of Faroe, Iceland, and 

 Greenland. Denmark was slow to occupy the field, nothing hav- 

 ing been done by the Danish Government prior to Hoffmeyer s 

 appointment as Director of the Meteorological Institute. In a 

 short time these important regions were represented by ' stations 

 in Greenland, Iceland, and Faroe. The meteorology of Denmark 

 proper was pushed forward with great vigor." 



Of this work Mr. E. Ersley said, in an address to the Danish 

 Geographical Society on the occasion of Hoffmeyer's death: 

 " Hoffmeyer saw very early and clearly that our little country 

 was of great importance in meteorology ; for it lies between two 

 seas, the North Sea and the Baltic, and exhibits a peculiar divis- 

 ion of land and water, while storms sometimes originate in its 

 precincts. For that reason we ought to endeavor to establish as 

 many observing stations as possible. His efforts to accomplish 

 this were embarrassed by the scantiness of the means allowed the 

 Institute. But his practical sense came to his help, and he en- 

 gaged a large number of private persons to erect stations where 

 daily observations might be taken at most of them without pay, 

 and also at many without instruments except such as were privately 

 furnished. In this way our country has been planted with not 

 less than two hundred minor meteorological stations. He also 

 saw that our further possessions, which were as good as unknown 

 meteorologically, might be made members of extreme importance 

 in the series of weather observations. He therefore secured 

 meteorological stations in them six in the Faroes, twenty-three 

 in Iceland, and fourteen in Greenland, besides using his persuasive 

 conversational powers to induce many ship-captains to take in- 

 struments on their voyages, especially on those to Iceland and 

 Greenland." 



Hoffmeyer labored at the Institute twelve years uninterruptedly 

 for the advancement of meteorology, and, although suffering 

 much in his later years from the effects of his rheumatic fever 

 on his heart, with irrepressible energy. 



In 1873 Hoffmeyer began the publication of the monthly 

 Meteorological Bulletin of the North, and shortly afterward the 

 issue of a daily meteorological chart for his own country, Nor- 

 way, Sweden, and northwest Russia. To this chart was added 

 an explanation for the use of subscribers. The work was found 

 valuable by English meteorologists, because it supplemented their 

 own daily weather charts and those of the Bulletin International, 



