Nalional Scientific and luiitcaiioiial l)istilulioiis. 299 



incuts for use iu meteorological observatious, which were coutiuued until 

 about 1S47. Those of New York were kept up until 1865 or later. 



In the meantime the idea of the preannoiuicement of storms by tele- 

 graph was vsuggested in 1847 b}- W. C Rcdfield, the discoverer of the 

 law of storms, while Lieutenant Maur^', from 1851 onward, and especiall}^ 

 at the International Meteorological Conference ( held at his instance in 

 Belgium iu 1853), was promoting the estaljlishmeut of a system of agri- 

 cultural meteorology for farmers and of daily weather reports l)y tele- 

 graph.' 



In February, 1855, lycverrier ol)tained the sanction of the Emperor of 

 France for the creation of an extensive organization for the purpose of 

 distributing weather intelligence, though it was not till i860 that he felt 

 justified in making his work international.-' In 1861 and in 1862 a similar 

 organization was begun in England, luider Admiral Fitzroy, which was 

 extended a little later to India. 



In the meantime all the essential features for the prediction of meteoro- 

 logical phenomena were in existence in the vSmithsonian Institution as 

 earl}- as 1856, having growni up as the result of an extensive series of 

 tabulations of obser^'ations recorded by volunteer observers in all parts 

 of the country. 



The following historical notes on weather telegraphy, prepared by Pro- 

 fessor Cleveland Abbe in 1871,^ give a»summary of the progress of this 

 work : 



However frequent]}^ the idea may have been suggested of iitilizing our knowledge 

 by the employment of the electric tele.sjraph, it is to Professor Henr}- and his assist- 

 ants in the Smithsonian Institution that the credit is due of haviuij; first actual!}' 

 realized this suggestion. 



The practical utilization of the results of scientific study is well known to have 

 been in general greatly furthered by the labors of this noble Institution, and from 

 the ver)' beginning Professor Henry has successfulh^ advocated the feasibility of tele- 

 graphic .storm warnings. The agitation of this subject in the Ihiited vStates during the 

 years 1S30-1855, may be safely presumed to have stimulated the subsequent action of 

 the European meteorologists. It will be interesting to trace the gradual realization 

 of the earlier .suggestions of Redfield and Loomis, in the following extracts from the 

 annual vSmithsonian Reports of the respective years: 



1847. The extended lines of telegraph will furnish a readv means of warning the 

 more northern and eastern observers to be on the watch for the first appearance of 

 an advancing storm. 



1848. As a part of the .system of mcteoroloj^v, it is ])roposed to emplo}-, as far as 

 our funds will permit, the magnetic telegraph in the investis^^ition of atmospherical 

 phenomena. . . . The advantage to agriculture and commerce to be derived 

 from a knowledge of the approach of a storm by means of the telegraph, has been 

 frequently referred to of late in the public journals; and this we think is a subject 

 deserving the attention of the Government. 



' Maury's Life, p. 77. 



'vScott, Storm Warnings, London, 1S83. 



•^American Journal of Science, July, 187 1. 



