1*4 



far between " these are on the west coasts of Ireland and 

 Scotland. 



These are the most important districts in Europe for 

 gaining early intelligence of weather changes, but in the 

 first instance telegraphic communication is only very 

 scantily developed in such wild regions, and in the second 

 place the habitable spots are all in sheltered bays, where 

 the true force of the wind is not felt, owing to the fact that 

 few ordinary houses could bear the brunt of an Atlantic 

 winter gale. The observers therefore are unable to send 

 us up perfectly true reports of the direction and force 

 of the wind. 



A great deal is said about our obtaining reports from 

 Newfoundland, or the United States of America, the 

 Azores, the Faroes and Iceland, and lastly from moored 

 signal ships. Reports from the other side of the Atlantic 

 would certainly be valuable if we could obtain them 

 cheaply, but the difficulty would be in knowing how to 

 make use of them, for though storms do cross the Atlantic 

 from shore to shore, they change their character en route, 

 some increasing and others dying out, so that from the 

 reports from America alone, we cannot foresee which storm 

 out of several starting successively from the States, or 

 Canada, will reach us. 



My hearers will of course expect to hear something of 

 the New York Herald warnings, which we owe to the well- 

 known public spirit and liberality of Mr. Bennett, and 

 which appear so frequently in the newspapers. It is how- 

 ever not possible to discuss these communications here, 

 because the mode of preparation of the warnings has never 

 been published. In no instance have the precise facts 

 which led to the issue of one of these warnings been com- 

 municated, at least to our office, so that we could form a 



