1865] WRITINGS OP JOSEPH HENRY. 455 



limited in its operation merely to objects of instant or imme- 

 diate utility, but that with a wise prevision of the future it 

 withholds its assistance from no enterprise, however remote 

 the results, which has for its end to advance the well-being 

 of humanity. 



It is scarcely necessary at this day to dwell on the advan- 

 tages which result from such systems of combined observa- 

 tions as those which the principal governments of Europe 

 have established and are now constantly extending. I may 

 however in passing, briefly allude to some facts which may 

 not at once occur to the mind of the general reader. They 

 enable the mariner to shorten the time and diminish the 

 danger of the passage from one port to another by indicating 

 to him the route along which prevail at a particular season 

 of the year the most favorable winds for his purpose. They 

 also furnish the means by which the sailor is taught the 

 important lesson which has saved thousands of lives and 

 millions of property, namely, that of finding the direction 

 of the centre of the cyclone, and of determining the course 

 in which he must steer in order to extricate himself from 

 the destructive violence of this fearful scourge of the ocean. 

 To the agriculturist they indicate the character of the climate 

 of the country, and enable him with certainty to select the 

 articles of culture best adapted to the temperature and mois- 

 ture of the region, and which in the course of a number of 

 years will insure him the most profitable returns for his 

 labor. They furnish the statistics of the occurrence of sterile 

 years and of devastating storms, which ma}^ serve as the 

 basis on which to found insurance institutions for protection 

 against the failure of crops, and thus give to the husband- 

 man the same certainty in his pursuits as that possessed by 

 the merchant or the ship-owner. They may also afford 

 warning of the approach of severe frosts and violent storms, 

 in time to guard at least in some degree against their inju- 

 rious effects. To the physician a knowledge of such results 

 as can be obtained from an extended system of observations 

 is of great importance, not only in regard to the immediate 

 practice of his art, but also to the improvement of his science. 



