1865] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 45l 



established in France, Italy, and Holland. From these dif- 

 ferent organizations, as well as from insulated observatories, 

 telegrams of the weather are sent every morning, at seven 

 o'clock, from the principal cities of Europe to Paris, where 

 under the superintendence of the celebrated Leverrier, they 

 are discussed, and the results transmitted by mail to all 

 parts of the world in the successive numbers of the daily 

 International Bulletin. A similar publication is periodi- 

 cally made in Italy, under the direction of M. Matteucci, so 

 well and favorably known by his discoveries in physics. 

 The British Government has also established a system of 

 observations for the sea, and furnished its navy with accu- 

 rate instruments, carefully compared with the standards of 

 the Kew observatory. It is estimated in a report to Parlia- 

 ment that through an annual appropriation of about fifty 

 thousand dollars, statistics may be collected in fifteen years 

 sufficient, with what has already been obtained, to deter- 

 mine the average movement of the winds on every part of 

 the ocean. 



From the great interest which has been awakened in 

 regard to meteorology throughout the world, and the 

 improved methods which have been adopted in its study, it 

 can scarcely be doubted that in a few years the laws of the 

 general movements of the atmosphere will be ascertained, 

 and the causes of many phenomena of the weather, which 

 have heretofore been regarded as little else than the capri- 

 cious and abnormal impulses of nature, will become ade- 

 quately known; although, from the number of these causes, 

 and the complexity of the resultant effect, it may never be 

 possible to deduce accurate predictions as to the time and 

 particular mode of their occurrence. 



Indeed, the results which have been already derived from 

 the series of combined observations in this country, fully 

 justify the wisdom and forethought of those who were instru- 

 mental in establishing them. Although their organization 

 was imperfect, the observers in most cases untrained, and 

 the instruments of an inferior character, yet they have fur- 

 nished data which through the labors of Redfield, Espy, and 



