DEVELOPMENT OF METEOROLOGY—ABBE. 28S 
his powers enables him to take the next step in the line of research. 
But it has many times occurred that meanwhile men have spent cen- 
turies floundering about aimlessly in the bogs of ignorance, follow- 
ing some imaginary light like the will-o’-the-wisp. If dogmatic 
authority has sometimes hindered the progress of knowledge, still 
more has man’s inherent conservatism, by reason of which he adheres 
to the teachings of antiquity, the practice of his parents, and the wor- 
ship of his ancestors. Such conservatism may build up a family or a 
nation; it may insure the entailment of estates and the power of 
tyrants, but it is a perversion of the commandment “ Honor thy 
father and thy mother ” to doggedly insist that what is good enough 
for the parent is good enough for the children. The love of truth 
requires us not only to hold fast that which is good, but to discard 
that which is false. The path of progress in meteorology is strewn 
with the wrecks of popular errors. 
% NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATIONS. 
Devotion to any science brings with it the formation of special 
organizations for its promotion, not only private academies, observa- 
tories, and universities, but national or state institutions; and mete- 
orology has had its share of these. Of course, these organizations 
are not always mainly and directly for the benefit of knowledge and 
science, but more frequently for the material benefit of the people. 
In America, Henry and Maury; in England, Glaisher and Fitzroy; 
in France, Le Verrier; in Holland, Buys Ballot; in Austria, Fritsch, 
were the first to start organized national efforts to make what little 
we know of the atmosphere available to the practical needs of man- 
kind. Our sister sciences, astronomy, chemistry, and biology, have 
given us examples of the general principle that neither the people 
nor their rulers will support scientific research as such, unless and 
except in so far as the research directly benefits or promises to benefit 
them. Popular appreciation of science is expressed by the ques- 
tion, “ What good will it do us?” This is the inevitable outcome 
of the strenuous struggle for existence. ‘“ Knowledge is power,” 
says one; ‘“ Knowledge is money,” says another; “ Knowledge is 
fame and position,” says a third. Only the few enthusiastic indi- 
viduals pursue knowledge for her own sake. The majority of the 
people and even of university students necessarily take the so-called 
“practical view ” of the subject. Appropriations of public money 
are made in order to obtain results that are of value to the business 
interests of the whole nation. It remains for the administrative 
chiefs to decide how much of the time and money at their disposal 
can profitably be spent on research and how much on daily routine 
work; therefore the scientific and national organizations have had 
