NOTES 311 



Before taking his M.A. degree in 1859, he spent a couple of years in Germany, 

 where he studied at Berlin and at Munich, principally Chemistry, Physics, and 

 Mineralogy, and incidentally attended a set of lectures by Prof. Dove, of Berlin. 

 In 1862 he was appointed Keeper of Minerals to the Royal Dublin Society and 

 during the five years that he held this post he contributed several articles to 

 scientific journals on the minerals of various districts, especially Donegal, in 

 addition to a manual of Volumetric Analysis. Being desirous of keeping up his 

 German, he also published in 1863 a translation of the second edition of Dove's 

 Law of Storms, knowing something of the author's views and style. It is interest- 

 ing to note that his last contribution to scientific literature was also a translation 

 from the German of Lenard's article on " Rain " in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift 

 for 1904. To the translation of Dove's work, dedicated to Admiral FitzRoy, who 

 had translated the first edition, is generally attributed Scott's appointment to the 

 Meteorological Office ; but, though Sabine probably used it as an argument in his 

 favour, it is likely that something was due to his work in Dublin at a subject in 

 which method is almost everything and imagination all but useless ; moreover, 

 Sabine most likely had previous knowledge of Scott, a T.C.D. man like himself, 

 and whom he afterwards appointed as his executor. An autograph letter of Sabine, 

 preserved at the National Portrait Gallery, proves that he, at any rate, felt sure that 

 Scott's appointment would be a success. 



Henceforth Scott's main interest lay in his new work, though he did not quite 

 abandon mineralogy, and did, in fact, serve a term as President of the Mineral - 

 ogical Society. But the work of the newly constituted Meteorological Office was 

 rapidly growing. Storm warnings were soon resumed in deference to the pressure 

 of public opinion, and before the end of 1868 six new observatories were in opera- 

 tion, the triangle for England being completed by the addition of Falmouth and 

 Stonyhurst, while Scotland was represented by Glasgow and Aberdeen, and 

 Ireland by Armagh and Valentia. Moreover, the growth of the observatory work 

 soon induced Balfour Stewart to give up to Scott the duties of Secretary to the 

 Meteorological Committee. In 1874 a new inquiry was held, and as a result the 

 responsibility for the Office was vested in the Meteorological Council, Scott being 

 now called Secretary to the Meteorological Council, and this arrangement remained 

 in force until after his retirement in 1900. Forecasts were reintroduced in 1879, 

 the arrears of work in the Marine Department were gradually cleared off, the 

 number and value of reports — weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual — steadily 

 increased ; and these with many subsidiary investigations, for which, in a great 

 measure, Scott was personally responsible, form the history of the Office and the 

 result of Sabine's policy. But much of the progress made in modern meteorology, 

 which now seems ancient history, took place too late for Scott to have had any 

 real share in it. 



In 1870 he was elected F.R.S., and in 1871 he joined the Meteorological 

 Society, and was almost immediately appointed its Foreign Secretary, a post 

 which, except for the short intervals 1880-1, when he served as Secretary, and 

 1884-5, when he was President, he held until the day of his death. He attended 

 the International Meteorological Congress at Vienna in 1874, an d for a quarter of 

 a century, until his retirement, acted as Secretary of the International Meteoro- 

 logical Committee then formed. Dublin University honoured him in 1898 with 

 the degree of D.Sc, and he was a corresponding member of several foreign 

 academies. His Weather Charts and Storm Warnings, published in 1876, which 

 explained the use of Synoptic Charts in forecasting, and his Elementary Meteorology, 

 published in 1883, are his best-known works, the latter having attained to five 



