476 



NATURE 



[August 14, 19 19 



Service, for the Navy itself, for the Armx , and for 

 the Royal Air Force. 



Throughout the whole course of the war we were 

 constantly reminded that what was standing in the 

 way of an effective use of past experiences of weather 

 in all parts of the world was a lack of general know- 

 ledge of the common methods of meteorological study 

 and of the principles deduced by their aid. Until tliis 

 position is secured, every letter in reply to a simple 

 inquiry must be prefaced with an explanation of what 

 you mean by an isotherm, an isobar, the exposure of 

 an anemometer, and even the difference between the 

 points of the mariner's compass and the geographical 

 orientation, and every popular lecture must begin, and 

 generally has to end, with a recitation of rudimentary 

 ideas. 



The Preliminary Training Required for a Professional 

 Career. 



Here, perhaps, it is desirable to make it clear that 

 the practice of the science of meteorology includes the 

 process of observing, of the first part ; the compilation 

 and summarising, in maps or otherwise, of the facts 

 of weather, of the second part ; the application of 

 meteorological principles, which includes the forecast- 

 ing of future weather, of the third part ; and the 

 development of the science of meteorology, of the 

 fourth part. Any one of the first three may be pursued 

 according to recognised canons of procedure with satis- 

 factory results; every one of them is indispensable, 

 and history is my witness that all three of them may 

 be pursued simultaneously without any effective re- 

 cognition of the fourth part, which forms our only 

 avenue to the comprehension of the secrets of the 

 sequence of weather. 



In the present position of meteorological science 

 there are two extremes of opinion : either to think 

 the penetration into the secrets of the subject to be so 

 difficult that we must be content to forgo the attempt 

 and deal with what we have," or to think it so easy 

 that only observations are required and the training 

 of our brains is of no account. Both these extremes 

 ought to be avoided. Brains without observations "are 

 certainly of no avail at all ; and observations, however 

 numerous and however widely distributed, will not at 

 this stage of meteorological science exonerate us from 

 the use of highly trained intelligence. 



If trained intelligence is to be devoted to the important 

 questions which fall within the scope of meteorology, 

 there must be monev to pay for it at the rates which 

 prevail in the professions with which meteorology 

 must in practice compete. 



The Society : Its Relation to the General 

 Meteorological Organisation. 



What, then, is the relation of the society to such a 

 future? If I may venture to define it, I would say 

 that the society, as representing all the manv-sided 

 interests of meteorological study, may fairly claim the 

 right and duty of fostering, or even of ct eating, the 

 atmosphere which is necessary for the successful 

 development which is now required. 



One of the urgent questions for the future is a new- 

 home for its meetings and for its invaluable library. 

 Its journal has enriched the literature of the science 

 with contributions of many different kinds. That, 

 again, is capable of development with great advan- 

 tage, and in one respect the need for development is 

 extremelv urgent. Meteorology is a co-operative 

 science in the progress of which all nations share. 

 Its literature, all told, is probably larger and more 

 diversified in character than that of other sciences. 

 When we take into account the diversity of language 

 and of form, I suppose that there is no meteorologist 



NO. 2598, VOL. 103] 



who can follow for himself without the aid of many 

 colleagues the progress of the science in different parts 

 of the world; and that makes it all the more neces- 

 sary for the fellows of the society to come to the 

 assistance of each other by providing an effective 

 survey and summary of the work that is being done. 



If meteorology is to be put upon a proper footing 

 to discharge its multifarious duties to the public, due 

 provision must be made for the collection of observa- 

 tions to give a proper survey of the rainfall and other 

 aspects of weather for all public purposes. 



The Future Responsibility for the Public Memory. 



So far there is very little difference of opinion, but 

 when we take the next step and inquire with whom 

 should rest the duty of supplying the necessary ob- 

 servations, the unanimity may be less marked. We 

 are all agreed that it is a matter of national import- 

 ance, and the necessary cost should be borne by 

 national funds. Now national funds are of two kinds, 

 some derived from Imperial taxation and others from 

 local taxation. In either case the money comes ulti- 

 mately out of the same pockets, and to me it appears 

 clear that the proper division of responsibility in this 

 case is that the local authorities should contribute the 

 necessary local observations, while the central authority 

 should provide for the organisation of the observa- 

 tions, the co-ordination of the results, and the dis- 

 tribution of the information. Such an arrangement is 

 at the same time the most economical and the most 

 efficient. If the nation wants to kno'w what the 

 weather has been doing at Magna-Parva, it seems 

 natural that it should apply to the local authority of 

 Magna-Parva for the information, because the events 

 of which a record is required occurred within the 

 jurisdiction of the local authority. That the events 

 should be allowed to pass unrecorded, because some- 

 bodv has not been sent from somewhere else to re;o'-d 

 them, approaches the limit of absurdity. 



A full weather-station of the Meteorological Office 

 now includes a barograph, a thermograph, and a 

 hygrograph. 'The instruments are easily procured, 

 and, except in an atmosphere like that of London, 

 they are very durable. But such instruments are 

 scientific only if scrupulous attention is paid to 

 setting, checking, and timing— duties which require 

 even rnore skill and care than the daily readings of 

 standard instruments. A new survey of the meteoro- 

 logv of the country on the basis of self-recording 

 instruments is not unworthy of your attention. They 

 require for their interpretation the accompanirnent of 

 the nephoscope and the camera. And, in passing, let 

 me sav that the camera obscura which Capt. Cave 

 introduced at South Farnborough seems to me to have 

 possibilities as an instrument of meteorological ob- 

 servation which are in many ways unrivalled. 



Other Opportunities of Co-operation. 

 But observing and experimenting are only one side 

 of meteorological activity, and dealing with observa- 

 tions that have been niade requires quite as much 

 scientific skill and daring as devising and making the 

 original observations. From the recollections of my 

 correspondence at the Meteorological Office. I feel 

 sure that there are a considerable number of people 

 with scientific aspirations in this country who regard 

 the Meteorological Office as a collection of leisured 

 clerks waiting to be moved to do something by the 

 fortunate originators of bright ideas who flourish most 

 outside, but, so to speak, within striking distance of. 

 Government institutions. I do not think I do some 

 of mv correspondents injustice if I say that the gist of 

 the correspondence is that if they supply the ideas in 

 the wav of the design for an instrument or some 



