-METEOROLOCiY IN SOUTH AFRICA— A RETROSPECT 

 AND PROSPECT. 



Bv Chaklks M. Stewart, B.Sc. 



As this is the first meeting of our Association, which has for its 

 main object the encouragement and development of all branches of 

 scientific inquiry in South Africa, it seems not only suitable but abso- 

 lutely essential for us to be placed in possession of a plain statement 

 of the facilities given for the study of each particular branch of 

 Science, as well as of the amount of work actually carried out, so 

 that we may be in a position to see clearly its strong, and more 

 especially its weak points, and consequently be able to indicate along 

 what lines development ought to proceed. 



It is, accordingly, with this object that I venture to lay before 

 you the following remarks on the rise and progress of Meteorology 

 in South Africa. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



Although occasional notes on the state of the weather prevailing 

 at Table Bay appear in the Journals of the early Dutch Governors 

 of the Cape, the first regularly-kept record of meteorological pheno- 

 mena seems to have been that of the Abbe de la Caille, from ist 

 July, 1 75 1, to 30th June, 1752. The results of his observations are 

 contained in his memoir to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, which 

 was communicated in the year 1755- These observations were, in all 

 probability, taken at his residence in what is now called " Strand 

 Street," the particular spot being marked by a tablet recently erected 

 by the " South African Philosoj)hical Society " to the memory of 

 this pioneer of science in the Cape. A perusal of this most interest- 

 ing paper shows him to have been a keen and accurate observer of 

 nature, while the observations themselves prove that, so far as the 

 Summer '' South-Easter '" and the Winter " North-Westers " are con- 

 cerned no change whatever has taken place in our climate up to the 

 present time. 



The first systematic attempt to investigate the climate of the 

 Cape Colony as a whole was made in the year i860, when a Meteoro- 

 logical Committee was appointed by Government Notice, No. 363, 

 dated the 26th October of that year, which ran as follows : — " His 

 Excellency the Governor. Sir George Grey, being desirous of 

 establishing simultaneous and systematic meteorological observations 

 at eligible iX)sitions in the Colony, in order to obtain data on which 

 to found measures of practical utility, has been pleased to appoint a 

 committee of the under-mentioned gentlemen to undertake the charge 

 and distribution on loan of the instnmients purchased by Govern- 

 ment for the purpose. 



" The set of instruments for an observing position consists of a 

 standard barometer, of a dry bulb, wet bulb, maximum, minimum. 

 and solar radiation thermometer, and a rain gauge. 



