696 



STORM-SIGNALS. 



SUBWAY OF THE THAMES. 



least two exact {undfac-simile copies of his re- 

 ports. One of these he hands to the telegraph- 

 ic operator for transmission to Washington ; 

 the other he forwards by mail to General 

 Myer. Should the operator make a mistake 

 in transmission, he cannot attach the blame to 

 the observer, since the latter's manifold or du- 

 plicate foe-simile report shows exactly what 

 was handed the operator. This novel and sa- 

 gacious process secures great accuracy in tele- 

 graphing observations. 



The reports forwarded" by mail are carefully 

 preserved and bound into a volume. 



When the tri-daily telegrams reach the Sig- 

 nal-Office at Washington, they are immediate- 

 ly put into the hands of the meteorologist in 

 charge of the office, who analyzes them and 

 deduces from them a synopsis of the weather 

 through the entire country, and also a brief 

 statement of weather PROBABILITIES for the 

 ensuing twenty-four hours. 



These probabilities, and also the synopsis, 

 are in thirty minutes telegraphed all over the 

 country, and are received by all newspapers, 

 Chambers of Commerce, and Boards of Trade, 

 which desire to publish them, free of all 

 charges. At the same time that the tri-daily 

 telegraphic reports from the various stations 

 are given to the chief meteorologist, copies of 

 them are given to an officer whose duty it is 

 to make the manifold weather-maps for the 

 day. These maps are skeletons of the United 

 States, with all the signal-stations on them. A 

 dozen of these are laid on the table, and by 

 stamping on them with a steel die, they re- 

 ceive certain characters, which indicate all the 

 phases of the weather. 



The direction of the wind is shown on each 

 station by ah arrow ; likewise the barometric 

 pressure by figures ; the thermometric and 

 anemoinetric figures are attached, as also char- 

 acters which are capable of indicating cloudy 

 weather, fair, rainy, and snowy. 



These weather-maps are distributed to prom- 

 inent hotels, custom-houses, and to as many 

 other points as they can reach in time to be of 

 any service to seamen and shippers. 



Copies of them all are duly bound up in 

 book form, and thus is preserved an accurate 

 magazine of the year's 1,095 reports, and in a 

 form suited to catch the eye and interest it, 

 instead of repelling it, as is so often done in 

 meteorological reports by long pages of solid 

 figures. 



One of the excellences of this system is, 

 that every important storm and other atmos- 

 pheric phenomenon is studied in all its details 

 on the day it occurs, while the interest of the 

 country, and of every observer, is at its height, 

 and not months or years after the event, when 

 curiosity has abated. 



Experience has shown that the non-com- 

 missioned army officers employed are admira- 

 bly competent for the signal duties assigned 

 them, and, in their hands, the reports and 

 telegrams have been transmitted with the pre- 



cision and promptness of a regimental drill at 

 West Point. The training and discipline of 

 these soldiers in times of peace are exactly suit- 

 ed to the nature of telegraphic meteorology, 

 requiring great accuracy and dispatch. 



The .discipline, knowledge, and sagacity ac- 

 quired by this branch of the United States 

 Army in the discharge of its scientific duties, 

 are worth more to it and to the nation than 

 any it could get in any national training- 

 school, which would be far more expensive 

 than the Signal Service. 



Up to this time, the Signal-Office has only 

 undertaken to organize, train, and equip its 

 observers; to perfect its adopted instruments, 

 and to test those which have been put before 

 it for trial ; to obtain an accurate knowledge 

 of the laws of storms, their tracks and be- 

 havior in various parts of the country; to 

 gather exact information of each day's weather- 

 phenomena, and publish the same in all sec- 

 tions ; to issue occasional bulletins of remark- 

 able and threatening weather to seaports and 

 large cities ; and, lastly, to furnish each day, 

 with their weather-maps, a telegraphic report 

 of the atmospheric movements over the United 

 States, and the probabilities of the weather for 

 the current day. 



Forecasts and predictions of weather have 

 not been attempted, nor ought they to be at- 

 tempted, until further experience and observa- 

 tion warrant them. 



But, at an early day, it is expected the ship- 

 ping ports on the lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and the Atlantic seaboard, will be duly sup- 

 plied with stations where appropriate signals 

 will le displayed, giving cautionary storm- 

 warnings for the benefit of commerce. 



This is the ultimate aim of the Signal Service 

 of which we have treated, and when the ap- 

 proach and force of storms, gales, and hurri- 

 canes, can be promptly announced beforehand, 

 one of the great ends for which the service 

 was instituted will be attained. 



SUBWAY OF THE THAMES. This curi- 

 ous work may now be said to be practically 

 completed. The passage under the Thames 

 has been finished for some time past, as also 

 the chambers at each end. The attention of 

 the engineer and his assistants has been mainly 

 directed to the application of engine-power to 

 the working of the lifts, by which the pas- 

 sengers are to be let down and taken up by 

 the shafts at the ends of the subway. 



The shafts by which the subway is reached 

 are at each end rather under 60 feet deep and 

 10 feet diameter; they are partly lined with 

 brickwork and partly with iron. At the bot- 

 tom of each shaft, under the level of the sub- 

 way, a small steam-engine, of about 4 horse- 

 power, is placed for use in raising and lower- 

 ing the lifts, and for haulage of the single 

 omnibus by which the passengers will be con- 

 veyed. The lift is an iron chamber, with a 

 floor of about 6 feet by 5 feet, and a ceiling 

 about 6 feet 6 inches high. The entrance to 



