XVI 



chief features of the normal air-currents over Northern India, and to 

 trace out their origin and causes, so far as they could be discovered, 

 in the local physical changes of the atmosphere. The broad features 

 were skilfully worked out, and the relations of the north-east and 

 south-west monsoon currents to each other, and to the temperature 

 and other conditions of India, clearly shown. This paper was parti- 

 cularly interesting. Not only was it the first attempt to discuss this 

 important question by the aid of fairly accurate data, but it was also 

 the first essay on Indian meteorology as a whole, and the subject was 

 for the first time treated as a problem of dynamic meteorology, and 

 recent extensions of knowledge in the physical sciences utilised in the 

 discussion of the various problems. 



Shortly after the publication of this important paper the Govern- 

 ment of India came to the conclusion that the provincial system with- 

 out a central controlling authority was unsatisfactory and ineffective, 

 and it was determined to constitute a centralised department on the 

 lines laid down as essential by General Strachey some years pre- 

 viously. Mr. Blanford was, in 1874, in consequence of this change 

 of system, transferred from the Educational Staff of Bengal, and 

 appointed head of the new department. He was called upon, at the 

 time of his appointment, to prepare a scheme for the reorganisation 

 of the provincial meteorological systems and their consolidation into 

 an imperial system, with himself, the Meteorological Reporter to the 

 Government of India, as central controlling authority. 



In the scheme drawn up, Mr. Blanford sketched first the general 

 principles on which meteorological work should be carried out in 

 India, and also made proposals for the extension of the work of 

 observation and for the centralisation of the Department, in order to 

 secure uniformity of methods and tabulation of the results. He also 

 proposed the commencement of special series of observations to throw 

 light on the regular diurnal and annual meteorological changes in 

 India. The scheme was approved in its entirety, and brought into 

 operation in the year 1875. It has stood the test of time thoroughly, 

 and the Department has developed during the eighteen years of its 

 existence in the directions fully anticipated by Mr. Blanford. 



One of the first important labours of the Meteorological Reporter to 

 the Government of India was to write the ' Indian Meteorologist's Vade 

 Mecum.' This was primarily intended to inform the observers at Indian 

 observatories what and how they were to observe, in order that their 

 observations might be accurate and useful. This portion of the work 

 forms Part I of the ' Yade Mecum.' In order to arouse an intelligent 

 interest in their work, Mr. Blanford, in Part IT, gave an interesting 

 account of all the more important features of Indian meteorology so 

 far as then known, together with explanations based on the data and 

 ideas of recent advances in physical science. The ' Vade Mecum ' at 



