5^26 



Popular Science Monihhj 



to the total destruction of three Roman 

 legions, under Varus, in A.D. 9. 



A Frozen Fleet Captured by 

 Cavalry 



Weather and climate are so important 

 in warfare that a commander should al- 

 ways be prepared to guard against their 

 adverse influences and to take advantage 

 of those that are favorable. The mere 

 efifect of the weather upon the spirits of 

 the troops may be a factor of success or 

 failure. The character of an e.xtensive 

 "terrain" is sometimes completely changed 

 in a few hours by the weather. Thus, 

 impassable lakes and swamps may be 

 turned into firm ice overnight — or vice 

 versa. One of the most picturesque epi- 

 sodes in military history was the capture 

 of a fleet of Dutch men-of-war by French 

 cavalry in the year 1795. The vessels 

 were frozen into the Zuyder Zee. A force 

 of hussars under Gen. Devoynter, having 

 wrapped their horses' hoofs in tow, crossed 

 the ice and 

 forced the 

 whole fleet 

 to surrender. 

 During the 

 Russo-Jap- 

 anese war 

 Russians 

 made good 

 use of a 

 temporary 

 tramway 

 constructed 

 over the ice 

 of Lake 

 Baikal. 



In view 

 of all these 

 facts it is 

 really amaz- 

 ing that military authorities have been so 

 .slow in recognizing the strategic and 

 tactical value of weather science and the 

 art of weather prediction. The present 

 war is the first one in which meteorology 

 has been called upon to play any partic- 

 ularly definite part. 



There is an interesting historical con- 

 nection between weather forecasting and 

 the art of warfare. 



In the month of November, 18r)4, a 

 tremendous gale shattered the camp 

 of the Allied armies fighting against 



Russia in the Crimea, and sank the 

 French warship Henri IV, lying off Se- 

 bastopol. The famous French astrono- 

 mer Le Verrier made a careful study of 

 this storm. By collecting the weather 

 records kept in various parts of Europe 

 he was able to trace its course — to shov%- 

 how it had swept in from the Atlantic and 

 moved at a deliberate pace across the 

 continent. He reached the conclusion 

 that, by means of telegraphic reports, it 

 would have been an easy matter to keep 

 tab on the storm's progress and to give 

 timely warning of its approach to the 

 fleet and the army. This was the germ 

 of the idea now embodied in the tele- 

 graphic weather services maintained by 

 all civilized countries. Le Verrier sub- 

 mitted his plans to Napoleon III., and 

 they were soon put in operation. Hence 

 the Crimean storm of 1854 is a landmark 

 in the history of practical meteorology, 

 and weather forecasting received its first 

 great impetus from the exigencies of war. 



Making a 



Soldier of 



the Weather 



Man 



Hi* 



/ 



CJ I'r.-s- Illu^. SiTv. 



Sometimes it is snow. Still more trouble. This rail- 

 road picture was taken on the West-Galician front 



To-day 

 meteorol- 

 ogists are 

 paying their 

 debt to 

 Mars. At 

 the very be- 

 ginning of 

 the present 

 struggle the 

 German 

 army put 

 into the field 

 a well organ- 

 ized weather 

 service. Practiced forecasters were at- 

 tached to headquarters; posts for making 

 weather observations were established on 

 automobiles; kites and balloons were 

 sent up to test the air currents for the 

 information of aviators and the artillery. 

 In Belgium the Germans promptly took 

 possession of the Royal Observatory, 

 near Brussels, and made it a center for 

 their meteorological organization. Be- 

 fore the war a German observatory had 

 been established in far-away Spitzbergen, 

 at the suggestion of Count Zeppelin, and 



