98 Daniell on Meteorological Observations. 



rarely attempt to reason upon their observations, and no one will 

 ever be found willing to sacrifice his time in arranging 

 volumes of materials, when the veryjaccuracy of the instruments 

 with which they have been collected, may be doubted. But 

 who can wonder at this want of co-operation, or to whom shall 

 we look to turn this labour into a useful channel, when even 

 the correctness of the tables published in the Transactions of 

 the Royal Society, has been publicly called in question by Mr. 

 Howard, Mr. Dalton, and Dr. Thomson ? The parade of such 

 observations, when confidence in their care has once been sus- 

 pended, is worse than useless ; — it is injurious to science. 



Mr. Howard, in my humble judgment, has done more for the 

 advancement of meteorology than all liis predecessors or con- 

 temporaries, by his careful digest of observations contained in 

 his admirable, and, I may add, entertaining, work. He has not 

 only collected and arranged stores from which all future culti- 

 vators of the science must be content to draw, but has traced 

 the path of useful application. At an humble distance I shall 

 endeavour to tread in his footsteps ; my only motive for holding 

 the same course being a wish to establish the use of an instru- 

 ment, which ray own experience, as well as the acknowledgment 

 of others, assure me, is entitled to be considered as a standard. 

 Had Mr. Howard followed up the public approbation with which 

 he has been pleased to honour my hygrometer by its adoption in 

 practice, I should most willingly have surrendered into his abler 

 hands the labour of observation ; but as no one has yet under- 

 taken to record its indications, I shall sedulously, if painfully, 

 persevere, although the necessary division of my time is one, 

 amongst other causes, which unfit me for the task. 



With regard to the construction of the instrument, I have 

 made one alteration which facilitates the observation. The con- 

 densation ball is now formed of black or other deep-coloured 

 glass, and the dew is seen by reflected light, as upon a mirror. 

 The most careless person may thus seize the exact moment of 

 deposition with certainty ; and, as no previous practice is ne- 

 cessary, the improvement may, probably, contribute to render 

 it more popular. 



