A UNIVERSAL METEOROGRAPH, 



DESIGNED FOR DETACHED OBSERVATORIES.* 



By E. H. von Baumiiauer, 

 Permanent Secretary of the Society of Sciences of Holland, Haarlem. 



[Translated from the French, hy Clarence B. Young.] 



Among the prize questions proposed by the Netherland Society of 

 Sciences in 1870 were the two following': 



"The society offers its gold medal and an additional premium of 300 

 florins for a satisfactory plan of raising meteorological instruments to 

 a considerable elevation in the atmosphere, by me^ns of kites or cap- 

 tive balloons, and of maintaining tbein there for at least twenty-four 

 hours. 



kk The society offers its gold medal for a self- registering meteorological 

 instrument — thermometer, barometer, or hygrometer — capable of being 

 attached to a kite or balloon, and of giving, for at least twenty four-hours, 

 satisfactory records of the condition of the atmosphere at great eleva- 

 tions." 



No reply having been made within the assigned limit of time to the 

 questions as thus stated, they were repeated in 1872, modified in form 

 and reduced to one, as follows: 



"Devise a satisfactory plan of determining the temperature, humidity, 

 and density of the atmosphere at a considerable elevation above the 

 terrestrial surface; the method to allow of the automatic registration 

 of observations, or at least their frequent repetition." 



By these otters the Netherhmd Society showed how important they 

 considered it to supply meteorological science with self-registering in- 

 struments — thermometers, barometers, and hygrometers — capable of in- 

 dicating the temperature, pressure, and hygrometric condition of the 

 atmosphere at considerable elevations above the surface of the earth, or 

 at localities which are not ;it all times accessible. 



The desired result might readily be obtained if in these places could 

 be placed special meteorological observatories, which we shall designate 

 detached observatories, containing instruments so constructed as only 

 to require the occasional services of an attendant, and transmit constant 

 records to a principal establishment situated in an inhabited locality. 



'Translated and condensed for the Smithsonian Institution from a Memoir entitled 

 Sur un Meteorograph e univcr8el destine' aux ohservaioirea solitaires, par E. II. von Baum- 

 hauer. Extrait des Archives JN'oerlaudaises. T. IX. Harlem, 1674. [29 pp. Svo.] 



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