358 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



REPORTS AND STATISTICS OF THE METEOROLOGY OF THE 

 CITY OF OAKLAND, FOR THE YEAR i! 



By Dr. J. B. Trembley. 



Meteorology as a subject of observation, from the earliest history of the 

 human race, has always exercised a potent influence over the welfare of 

 mankind. 



Observations made of meteorological phenomena, which portended the 

 future forecasting of the weather, have been and are at the present time 

 mostly traditionary among all peoples of the earth, from the most savage 

 and ignorant to the most civilized and intelligent. 



What is strange in the past history of the world is, that nothing more 

 tangible, nothing more definite, has come down through the centuries gone 

 by, until quite recent, of that which influenced men in all relations of 

 life, and to which they ever have been obliged to do homage. The winds 

 would blow; the storms would come; the heat would vitalize; the cold 

 would freeze; and the various seasons would pass, irregardless of what 

 man could do or say, as warnings, of the weather on the morrow. 



Meteorology did not really begin to assume anything like positive knowl- 

 edge, and something that observers could depend upon in forecasting 

 weather, in the various and constant changes that take place in the atmos- 

 pheric envelope that surrounds the earth, until science had proven by 

 actual demonstration that there were substances and forces constantly in 

 existence, and action of gases, gaseous compounds, heat, electricity, mag- 

 netism, gravitation, and the universal ether, which to our senses were 

 imponderable, although possessed of force beyond computation. 



The barometer weighs the atmospherical column; the thermometer meas- 

 ures the units of heat; the hygrometer determines the amount of relative 

 and absolute moisture existing in a cubic foot of air; the anemometer 

 shows the course of the winds, velocity of movement by pressure in weight. 

 These instruments, properly placed their readings, are axiomatic of the 

 atmospherical conditions, and from these readings deductions are made. 

 So at the present time a person instructed in the working of meteorological 

 instruments, as are in use by the Signal Service of the United States Army, 

 can make forecasts of what the weather will be, with scarcely a failure, in 

 any locality where the observations were taken. The Chief Signal Office 

 at Washington, with the material it daily accumulates, is able to verify its 

 predictions over large areas of the United States east of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains, almost to a certainty. What has been done by the General Govern- 

 ment in meteorological observation to aid commerce and assist agricultural 

 pursuits in a meager way, has proven the practicability and utility of a 

 il State Weather Service," which can be made subservient and pecuniarily 

 advantageous to small portions of the country as well as large. 



Recognizing this fact, a number of States have given legislative aid to 

 establish " State Weather Service," which works in conjunction with the 

 United States Signal Sendee, from which they receive much help and many 

 courtesies in various ways. Other States have, through their Boards of 

 Health, and by tacit consent of volunteer observers, partially organized 



