REPORT OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON METEOROLOGY 



To the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institution. 



Gentlemen : The problems of future research in meteorology can 

 be best appreciated after considering the past history of our knowl- 

 edge of this subject. 



The ancient history of meteorology ends with the establishment 

 of a system of observing stations in southern Europe in 1653 by the 

 Grand Duke of Tuscany, These stations were supplied with ther- 

 mometers, barometers, hygrometers and wind vanes. From that 

 time until the establishment of the Mannheim society, about 1780, 

 local climatology was the principal study, but that society organized 

 a sj^stem that was intended to cover the world as far as possible, and 

 stimulate the study of the atmosphere as a whole. The observations 

 published by it afforded Brandes in 1820 an opportunity to chart 

 the atmospheric conditions for Europe day by day ; this was the 

 beginning of the study of storms and local atmospheric movements 

 in Europe. About the same time Redfield began collecting and 

 collating the logs of vessels at sea, and laid the foundation of our 

 knowledge of Atlantic ocean hurricanes. Very shortly after this, 

 Espy began collecting and charting observations in the United 

 States and Canada for the study of the characteristics of tornadoes 

 and the general rains of this country' . In 1867 Eeverrier began 

 publishing his charts of Europe, America and the Atlantic Ocean 

 under the title of the International Atlas. In 1875 General A. J. 

 Myer began the publication of the Signal Service Bulletin of Inter- 

 national Meteorological Observations, with an accompanying atlas, 

 showing the conditions over the whole northern hemisphere, for 

 each day of the years 1 875-1 884 ; this was continued as a monthly 

 summary until 1889. Up to this time observations had been 

 restricted generally to the earth's surface and sea level, except for 

 an occasional balloon ascension and the regular observations of the 

 clouds. In 1790 Alexander Wilson at Edinburgh, and in 1882 E. 

 D. Archibald at Eondon, used kites to get temperatures and wind 

 velocities at considerable altitudes. About 1885 Mr. William 

 Eddy, who had become famous for the use of kites to carry heavy 

 objects high in the air, was asked by me to turn his attention toward 

 the application of the kite to meteorology by way of carrying up 

 self-recording apparatus. Since that time this use of the kite has 



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