SKETCH OF WILLIAM FERREL. 687 



of our rains in evaporation from the South Pacific Ocean, and 

 concerning the northeast-southwest course of the return polar 

 current at great altitudes, still find recent advocacy by those who 

 would persuade us that cannonading will cause rainfall. 



The meteorology of to-day is another science from that of 

 those earlier decades. The store of facts has increased wonder- 

 fully, both from the observations made at sea, in good part as a 

 result of the incentive given by Maury, and from the establish- 

 ment of weather services in many countries following the sug- 

 gestions of Espy, Henry, Leverrier, and others. The hydro- 

 graphic offices of various governments have charted the winds 

 of the oceans ; Buchan has determined the distribution of baro- 

 metric pressure over the world, Loomis has discussed more fully 

 than any one else the features of the cyclonic storms whose action 

 is so well indicated on the weather maps. 



But from whom has the finer spirit of understanding of all 

 these facts been received ? From whom have we now gained an 

 insight into the wonderful correlations that exist among the 

 varied motions of the atmosphere ? We would not belittle the 

 ingenious theories of Espy, to whom greater honor is given with 

 the passing years ; we would not forget the many contributions 

 made by earnest students at home and abroad ; but the fuller 

 appreciation of the system of the winds, both great and small, 

 both in the full sweep of the terrestrial circulation and in the 

 constricted whirl of the tornado, comes from one man — a man 

 lately described by the leading meteorologist of Europe as one 

 " who had contributed more to the advance of the physics of the 

 atmosphere than any other living physicist or meteorologist — a 

 man of whom Americans are justly proud."* Alas that this man 

 is no longer living, and that so few Americans know how proud 

 they may be for having had him for a countryman ! 



William Ferrel died on September 18, 1891, at May wood, 

 Kansas, in his seventy-fifth year. The first half of his life was a 

 struggle against adverse circumstances in uncongenial surround- 

 ings. His later years saw him on the staff of the Nautical Alma- 

 nac, in charge of tidal computations in the Coast Survey, Profes- 

 sor of Meteorology in the Signal Service, member of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, and our recognized leader in scientific me- 

 teorology. Let those of us whose paths of life have been opened 

 by the labors of our fathers marvel at the innate powers of such 

 a man as this, who made his own way through heavy discourage- 

 ments. 



Ferrel was born in Bedford (now Fulton) County, Pa., on Jan- 



* Dr. Julius Ilaim, Director of the Austrian Meteorological Observatory, in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, April 9, 1S9L 



