1883.] 



on Weather Knowledge in 1883. 



325 



immediate prospect of any one being able to state what tlie character 

 of a future season will be, much less to tell a farmer in spring what 

 crops he should put in with a prospect of a favourable period for the 

 harvest. 



I next come to the subject of daily forecasting, a branch of the 

 work of all Meteorological Institutes, which has grown ujd in Euroj)e 

 within the last ten years. It has really been forced upon meteoro- 



FlG. 1, 



Note. — The vertical scale in the upper part of the. diagram refers to number of sun- 

 I spots ; in the lower part it refers to diiferences from average temperature in tenths of 

 I degrees Centigrade. 



logists by the demand of the public to see in the newspapers some 

 statement as to probable weather. 

 N The brilliant successes achieved in this line by the Chief Signal 

 Office at Washington have attracted general notice, and the public of 

 3very nation in Europe has expected that their own offices shall do 

 IS much for them as that of Washington does for the States of the 

 Union. 



The public has, however, naturally forgotten to take into consider- 

 i-tion several most important advantages which the Signal Office 



