66 STORMS AND WEATHER FORECASTS 



medicine and surgeiy. The forecaster is in a degree guided in 

 his calculations by sj'mptoms, and he is able to diagnose the 

 atmospheric conditions with about the same degree of accuracy 

 that the physician is able to determine the bodily condition of 

 the i)atient. He is able to forecast changes in the weather with 

 rather more certainty than the skilled physician can predict the 

 course of a well-defined disease. 



As to the genesis of weather forecasting, it must be said that 

 to the immortal Franklin belongs the credit of divining that 

 storms have a rotary motion a nd that the}'^ progress in an easterly 

 direction. To be sure, without the aid of the telegraph and of 

 simultaneous observations his discovery was little more than a 

 speculation; nevertheless it was one of those sagacious anticipa- 

 tions of coming knowledge which mark the true scientific genius. 

 Grand as a patriot, able as a statesman and diplomat, he was no 

 less great as a student in the broad domain of science ; he was 

 one of the isolated figures that stand so far in advance of the 

 knowledge of their day as often to be imperfecth^ understood. 

 His idea of drawing the lightning from the clouds and identifj''- 

 ing it with the electric currents of the earth was capable of 

 physical demonstration, but his contemporaries did not appre- 

 ciate his philosophy of storms, written in a fragmentar}' man- 

 ner before 1750, and so it remained for Redfield, Espy, Henry, 

 Loomis, Maury, and other Americans, 100 years later, to gather 

 the data and complete!}^ establish that which the great Franklin 

 so accurately had outlined. American meteorologists can justly 

 take pride in the achievements of these their countrymen. 



In 1855 Professor Joseph Henr}^, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, collected, by telegraph, observations from a number of 

 stations and displayed a large map showing the meteorological 

 conditions at these points, but the breaking out of the civil war 

 caused him to suspend his reports. He made oral forecasts and 

 used his charts for the purpose of demonstrating the utility of a 

 government meteorological service and the feasibility of making 

 forecasts from dail}'-, telegraphic, synchronous observations. If 

 there were no other achievements to the credit of this great insti- 

 tution, the work of Professor Henrj^ in connection with practical 

 meteorology would alone be sufficient to command the admira- 

 tion of all who love knowledge because of the benefits it confers 

 upon man. As we glance into the past and hastily note the mile- 

 posts along the highways of science, the lives and actions of those 

 who gave new thoughts, or who by their discoveries opened up 



