208 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



As in many other walks of life, it is a good thing to utilise 

 what you have got. Even if the meteorological data which 

 we possess are restricted mainly to this bottom atmospheric 

 layer, even if they do not extend over a great number of 

 consecutive years, and, lastly, even if they are not homo- 

 geneously distributed over the earth's surface, they should be 

 co-ordinated and discussed, and, if possible, working hypotheses 

 based on them. Year by year more facts will be gleaned, and 

 the hypotheses will be strengthened or rejected according as 

 the new observations corroborate or render them untenable. 



The beginning of the present century marks an important 

 step in the progress of meteorology, an advance which is 

 necessarily the result of the steady accumulation of facts by 

 workers scattered all over the world. Up to about the end 

 of the last century, each of the national meteorological insti- 

 tutions of all countries had been busy in organising, extend- 

 ing their services, and in gathering into their own particular 

 net meteorological observations. They studied the changes 

 which were occurring in their own immediate areas, and by 

 means of these data improved their forecasts as to the kind of 

 weather which might be expected on the following day, week, 

 month, or season — as the case may be. In fact, meteorology 

 was then "national" or "parochial." 



Some of these institutions had already found that their own 

 areas were too limited in extent to give them the necessary 

 data for successful forecasting work, so they entered into a 

 mutual compact with neighbouring countries for the exchange 

 of certain pieces of meteorological information. From "national," 

 meteorology then became, so to say, " continental." 



The present stage of meteorological investigation has, in 

 the last few years, indicated that even this mutual help of 

 neighbouring countries, each working for its own immediate 

 ends, is not sufficient. It is imperative not only to know 

 what is occurring in the neighbouring countries, but also in 

 the Antipodes, the most distant part of the world possible. 

 In fact, the new meteorology — namely, " World Meteorology" — 

 has dawned. 



In the present article it is proposed to lay before the reader 

 a general idea of the steps which have led to this broad-minded 

 view of the meteorological problem, and, if possible, to point 

 out the general trend of research in the future. 



