METEOROLOGY 



By Marcus Benjamin, 



Fellow of the Chemical Society of London 



j^MERICAN meteorology began with the Rev- 

 erend John Campanius, a Swedish clergyman 

 who settled near the present site of Wilming- 

 ton, Delaware, in 1643. Campanius, the "first 

 meteorological observer on the western conti- 

 nent," kept an account of the weather, day by day, during 

 the years 1644-45.^ 



The systematic gathering of meteorological information 

 was continued by individuals at different places. Among 

 the observers worthy of special mention were: Doctor John 

 Lining, who, from 1738 till 1750, noted the climatic condi- 

 tions in Charleston, South Carolina, and was the lirst to make 

 a series of instrumental observations in the United States;^ 

 John Winthrop, of Harvard College, who in i 742 began to 

 collect such data, and continued the practice for more than 

 twenty years; ^ and John Bartram, the botanist, who made 

 observations in his famous gardens on the Schuylkill in i 748, 



1 Henry, Alfred J.," Early Individual Ob- Meteorological Congress held in Chicago, 

 servers in the United Stales." See page 293 Illinois, August 21-24, 1893." Washington, 

 of Part 2, " Bulletin, No. 11, of the Weather 1895. 



Bureau," being a " Report of the International - Ibidem, page 295. 3 Ibidem, page 296. 



647 



