38 REPORT-—1874., 
and Scotland, where the telegraphic stations are, perforce, situated in sheltered 
places, inasmuch as harbours ave naturally found where there is as little exposure 
to wind as is possible. 
In the practice of weather-telegraphy and storm-warnings, as the number of re- 
ports received per day from each station is strictly limited, on financial considera- 
tions, it is quite obvious that if the actual epoch of the commencement of a gale 
does not fall within the hours of attendance at the Telegraphic Office and at the 
Meteorological Office, which practically only extend from 8 a.m. till 3 p.m., much 
time will be lost in sending news of the fact to London. If it commences at 
6 p.m, at Valencia, we cannot hear of it in London till 9 a.m. next morning. 
On the other hand, if the observer be living in a sheltered spot such as Plymouth, 
Nairn, or Greencastle, we shall not get a true report of the gale at all, inasmuch as 
the observer will not have felt it himself. 
The first-named defect in our system can only be met by a considerably increased 
expenditure on the service, and that is not a scientific, but an administrative ques- 
tion, with which the Government can alone deal. 
In order to meet the second difficulty, Mr. De La Rue has kindly devised an 
instrumental arrangement by which the fact of any given force of wind having 
been reached at an exposed point (such as Rame Head for Plymouth, or Malin 
Head for Greencastle) can be at once conveyed to the reporter in his own office, 
or even to the central office in London. The instrument has been made by Messrs. 
Negretti and Zambra. 
The following is the construction of the new signalling-anemometer :— 
To the ordinary Robinson’s anemometer-spindle is affixed a toothed wheel, which 
is geared with another and larger toothed wheel, fixed on a second vertical spindle, 
carrying a centrifugal governor. The governor-spindle is made to rotate at one 
half or one third of the velocity of the anemometer-spindle, in order that the 
rods carrying the governor-balls may not have to be made inconyeniently short. 
A provision is made for adjusting the length of the arms of the governor, so that 
different wind-velocities may be indicated within certain limits. 
The governor-balls act in the well-known way, and expand when driven at a 
given rate ; and the upward motion of these governor-balls is used to raise a secon- 
dary wheel to bring into gear a third spindle, on which is fixed the armature of a 
magneto-electric apparatus, which, like Sir Charles Wheatstone’s instruments, con- 
sists of a compound permanent magnet with four soft iron cores, two of which aré 
mounted on the N. pole of the magnet and two on the 8. pole; these iron cores are 
surmounted with fine insulated copper wire, and on rotation of the armature give 
alternately + and — currents in rapid succession, according to the rate at which 
the armature is driven. These currents are converged inland to the observing- 
station by insulated wires and give warning by ringing an alarum as long as the 
anemometer-cups are revolving at a velocity suflicient to raise the goyernor-balls 
so as to bring the magneto-electrical apparatus into geay. 
We see, therefore, that by adjusting the governor of the apparatus to indicate 
any required speed, a warning will at once be given when the wind reaches that 
speed, be it that of 60, 40, or 20 miles an hour, as may be required. 
All the attention which the instrument requires, after the apparatus is fixed, is 
to lead two insulated wires from the anemometer into the observing-station, and to 
connect these wires to the two terminals on the alarum. 
In order to enable the observer to communicate at once, and at as little expense- 
as possibie, to London the fact of the velocity in question having been reached, 
the individual stations might he known by letters or symbols, which might simply 
be telegraphed to London as an announcement that the alarum was acting at the 
station in question. 
It is obvious that this plan is exceedingly simple; and there seems little 
reason why it should not be thoroughly efficacious, if only the registering portion 
of the apparatus can be properly protected from wilful damage by mischievous 
persons. 
As usual, we are met by the question of cost, not only of the apparatus, but of 
the connecting wires, and last, though not least, of the transmission of the mes- 
sages, To enable us to render our service more effective than it is, we must be 
