802 



SIGNAL SERVICE. 



Service on February 2, 1874, at the instance of 

 Professor Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, the entire body of Smithsonian 

 weather-observers in all parts of the United 

 States. This volunteer civilian force continues 

 to the present day to contribute its scientific 

 Jabors in behalf of the Signal Service researches 

 in the domain of continental meteorology and 

 climatology. The volunteer observers thus co- 

 operating with General Myer, with others who 

 have embarked in the work since 1874, now 

 number 240, and their observational data great- 

 ly enrich the records of the Signal Office. Many 

 of them have acquired great exactness and ex- 

 perience in instrumental observation and not- 

 ing and recording physical phenomena, so that 

 tlieir monthly reports to the Chief Signal Offi- 

 cer alone make a rich repository of American 

 climatology. This voluntary corps is under- 

 going constant additions, and inducements are 

 held out by the Service to competent civilians, 

 especially iu the sparsely settled and frontier 

 districts, to join in its investigations. 



Practical Uses of Weather-Reports. With 

 this brief notice of the organization of the 

 Service and its methods of weather-observing 

 and weather-forecasting, we hasten to the prac- 

 .tical applications of the work. In referring to 

 the wide-spread interest in the weather-pre- 

 dictions of the past few years, a recent writer 

 in the " Quarterly Review " observes, " Some 

 basis of solid value to the public must exist to 

 account for such a general popularity of tha 

 weather-service." The fact is, that the public 

 are just beginning to see some of its more ob- 

 vious utilities. 



The tri-daily "Indications" are designed t:> 

 give timely notice of the general weather- 

 changes to occur in the twenty-four hours fol- 

 lowing their issue. As they are telegraphed 

 from the Washington office, and adapted to 

 the convenience of the daily press, they are 

 greatly condensed, to bring the cost of tele- 

 graphing within the restricted means of tho 

 Service; and yet they must be made sufficient- 

 ly full to cover the whole country. These con- 

 ditions are hindrances to th?ir usefulness, and 

 the brevity of the disp-itahes exposes them 

 at times to popular misinterpretation. But, 

 notwithstanding these drawbacks, the scope 

 of their practical application to all classes of 

 industry is large and continually increasing. 

 When the first propositions of a weather bureau 

 T /vere advanced, the highest end thought attain- 

 able, by the most sanguine, was to give warn- 

 ings of the great storms that ravage the sea- 

 coaats of the United States. This, however, is 

 but a small part of the public interests it sub- 

 serves. The number of persons who find that 

 the reports and forecasts of the Service may be 

 utilized for every-day life is constantly increas- 

 ing. Signal observers are not unfrequently 

 subpoenaed to bring the records of the weather 

 .nto the courts, as legal evidence in cases upon 

 which they bear. Grain and cotton merchants 

 ^ind the "Indications" of value in calculations 



of the forthcoming crops. Emigrants and 

 ''prospectors" intending change of residence 

 use tliem to determine the climate of new 

 towns. Physicians, sanitarians, and boards of 

 health employ tlieir data to detect dangerous 

 conditions of the atmosphere of the cities, and 

 for investigating the origin and spread of dis- 

 eases and epidemics, as in the case of the recent 

 yellow-fever visitations of the South. The 

 pork-packers, fruit-importers, and fish- and 

 oyster-dealers keep an eye on them to secure 

 themselves against exposure of perishable goods 

 to weather too damp or too warm. They are 

 of use to specialists in manufacturing and hy- 

 gienic interests, and are consulted by thousands 

 planning journeys or excursions for health or 

 pleasure. River-boatmen, farmers, sugar-plant- 

 ers, fruit-growers, and ice dealers find occasion 

 to utilize them. Mechanics judge from the 

 prognostics whether they can work outside on 

 the morrow. The meteorological data supply 

 engineers with information indispensable for 

 planning economical and storm-proof archi- 

 tecture. Railroad officials, during snow-block- 

 ades, are kept advised by the reports, so that 

 they are enabled to make provision for clearing 

 the tracks ; and railroad freight officers find 

 them useful for facilitating transportation. 

 These are some of the daily applications made 

 of the Signal Service work in the interior and 

 central, not less than in the seaboard sections 

 of the country. In every branch of agriculture 

 and trade the deductions that could be made 

 from the published synopses and indications of 

 the weather would have immensely enhanced 

 value if the public could be instructed how to 

 frame them. In military operations over the 

 vast West, the intelligence of approaching 

 storms is of no little value, in timing move- 

 ments so as to avoid heavy roads and danger- 

 ous delays. " Had we, a quarter of a century 

 ago," says a British meteorologist, "known 

 the rigor of the Crimean climate, who would 

 have dared to send out an army unprepared to 

 meet the hardships of a Black Sea winter? 

 Ask the physician at what price he would 

 value the power of giving timely warning of a 

 ' cold snap ' to his patients. Ask the builders 

 of London what they have lost in the last ten 

 years by sudden frosts or unexpected down- 

 pours of rain. Above all things, go to the 

 farmer and ask what he would freely pay to 

 know at seed-time what weather he might 

 really expect in harvest. The fact is, there is 

 not a profession, not a handicraft, not a process 

 in animal or vegetable life, which is not influ- 

 enced by meteorological changes." 



Wide Diffusion of the Weather-Reports. 

 The distribution of the tri-daily " Synopses 

 and Indications " over the whole country may 

 be understood from the following official facts : 

 The total number of these forecasts 1,095 

 issued every year are telegraphed at the mo- 

 ment of issue to the principal cities, and are 

 published in some form in almost every news- 

 paper in the country. In many public and 



