828 CLEVELAND ABBE. 



Signal Officer and when, in 1891, the transfer of our Government 

 meteorological work to the Department of Agriculture was accom- 

 plished, Abbe continued as professor of meteorology in the Weather 

 Bureau. Through six changes of his administrative chiefs, until 

 his resignation in August, 1916, Abbe kept on with his work, often 

 under conditions which, to his sensitive nature, must have been trying 

 in the extreme. Patient; uncomplaining; devoted to his studies, 

 he continued faitlifuUy at his post. 



Abbe's remarkable knowledge of the literature of his science served 

 him well in the preparation of his " Treatise on Meteorological Appara- 

 tus and Methods" {Appendix 1^6, Annual Report of the Chief Signal 

 Officer for 1887), a practical and historical report of enduring value, 

 and of "A First Report on the Relations between Climate and Crops" 

 {U. S. Weather Bnremi, BvUetin 36, 1905), as well as in his contribu- 

 tions to the "Bibliography of Meteorology" (U. S. Signal Service, 

 1891), a valuable but comparatively little known publication. The 

 many duties of his position in Washington left Abbe little time for 

 original investigation. As a partial substitute for such work on his 

 part he brought before English and American readers an important, 

 and indeed for working dynamical meteorologists an indispensable, 

 collection of translations of important foreign memoirs ("Short 

 Memoirs on Meteorological Subjects," first collection. Annual Report 

 of the Sviithsonian Institution for 1877; "The Mechanics of the 

 Atmosphere"; second collection, Smiihsonian Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions, 843, 1891; third collection, Vol. 51, No. 4, 1910). By the pub- 

 lication of his "Report on Standard Time " (1879), Abbe became one 

 of the leading -promoters of the introduction of standard time in the 

 United States. 



It is as the editor, for many years, of the Monthly Weather Review^ 

 that Abbe will doubtless be longest and best known. In that position, 

 his extraordinary grasp of meteorological literature, and his remarkable 

 memory, made him invaluable. Not only did he himself write a 

 very large number of articles, but he made frequent and helpful com- 

 ments on the contributions of others, which added greatly to the value 

 of the Revieiv and made it one of the leading meteorological Journals 

 of the world. In his capacity as editor. Abbe carried on an enormous 

 correspondence, a good deal of it written with his own hand. He was 

 always ready generously to assist all who came to him for information 

 or for advice. Of peculiar interest to him were all questions that 

 concerned meteorological education. He was keenly alive to every 

 opportunity to ad^'ance and to improve meteorological teaching in 



