244 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVIII. No. 456 



the pace of the race is gaining, but the goal is not and never 

 will be in sight. 



Since the time of Newton our knowledge of the phenomena 

 of nature has wonderfully increased, but man asks, perhaps 

 more earnestly now than in his days, What is the ultimate 

 reality behind the reality of the perceptions ? Are they 

 only the pebbles of the beach with which we have been 

 playing ? Does not the ocean of ultimate reality and truth 

 lie bevond ? 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. 



Foe many years the United States government has as- 

 siduously gathered up the meteorological conditions from 

 many stations scattered far and wide over the surface of our 

 great continent, and having collated the facts sent in to the 

 central office, has deduced therefrom certain forecasts known 

 as probabilities. These forecasts are made out twice per 

 day, and then telegraphed broadcast over the country, to be 

 disseminated among the people as widely as possible for the 

 benefit of their commerce, their agriculture, their shipping, 

 and even their lives. For many years I have been on the 

 " volunteer " roster of the United States Weather Service, 

 and as such have been the recipient of weather telegrams 

 once per day. For several years I went to the trouble and 

 expense to supply the usual flags, and faithfully made the 

 proper^display of them (at Fayette, Mo.). 



In 1889 I saw in the St. Louis RepiMic a brief notice of a 

 " whistle code" in use at Seymour, Ind., and I determined 

 to introduce the whistle in place of the flags, and for the 

 following considerations : (1) The flags could not be seen to 

 any advantage beyond one mile; (2) in foggy weather or 

 during snow-storms the flags could not be seen at all; (3) 

 the whistle could be heard in any kind of weather and to 

 distances reaching from six to eight miles in all directions, 

 and by 'using a more powerful whistle the distance could be 

 made greater still. 



Accordingly I sent to Indiana and obtained the code in 

 vogue there. It was a combination of short and long blasts, 

 the "shorts" sometimes preceding and in other cases follow- 

 ing the " longs." I concluded it would be more systematic 

 to have the longs refer to the weather and come first, and 

 the shorts refer to temperature and come last. The chief 

 advantage in having shorts come last was that any one 

 hearing a prolonged blast of the whistle might be sure that 

 no short ones had preceded and been lost. I therefore 

 adopted the following plan. Shorts refer to the tempera- 

 ture, one short meaning colder (the column in the thermom- 

 eter gets shorter with cold), and two shorts meaning warmer. 

 Longs refer to the weather, one long meaning fair (clear, or 

 cloudy without precipitation), two longs meaning rain or 

 snow. This much being decided upon, it is easy to blow 

 ''fair and warmer, " or "snow and colder," or " fair and 

 warmer followed by rain," — in the last the shorts come in 

 the middle to separate the one long (fair) and the two long 

 (rain), — or any other combination necessary. For the an- 

 nouncement of cold waves, three longs; and for frosts in 

 the frosty seasons or for severe storms in summer, four 

 longs, were used at Seymour, Ind., and the same were 

 adopted in my code. In September, 1889, the first signal 

 was blown, being preceded by four short blasts as a warning 

 that the "weather" was about to be blown. From that date to 

 this the people for miles around have been daily warned of 

 the probabilities for the succeeding twenty-four hours, and 

 they have shown much interest in the matter, being willing 



to put up at the mill, if necessary, a more powerful whistle 

 than the one now employed. 



One of our merchants had the code printed on his adver- 

 tising cards, and they may be seen tacked up in stores or 

 homes, or in the hands of citizens near and far. Many peo- 

 ple soon commit the code to memory and have no need for 

 the key. Persons have reported hearing the whistle at the 

 distance of ten miles; but, as a rule, it is not regularly heard 

 beyond five or six miles. 



During the summer of 1890 I tried to get some of our rail- 

 roads to adopt the code, and whistle the weather at intervals 

 of five or six miles as the trains sped through the country. 

 One road replied that they had too much whistling to do 

 already, there were so many crossings along the way. But 

 I still do not see why the weather whistle could not be used 

 instead of the customary two longs and two shorts usually 

 blown at crossings. 



In the chief signal officer's report for 1890, p. 235, I am 

 credited with the introduction of the whistle code now in 

 use in many places in the State. In recent circulars sent 

 out by Chief Harrington, I see that the code has been still 

 further modified, the three longs being used to indicate " lo- 

 cal rains," and three shorts meaning a "cold wave." As a 

 cold wave comes rather under the head of temperature, it is 

 doubtless more appropriate to include it among the shorts. 



I have written thus at length about the whistle code be- 

 cause I think it should be widely introduced, entailing no 

 expense for flags to be whipped out by the wind, and reach- 

 ing more people than flags can. Moreover, by having the 

 dispatch blown at the same hour every day, it becomes a 

 time signal by which the people can set their clocks and 

 watches. The noon hour is a good one where the morning 

 forecasts can be delivered before twelve o'clock. 



For several years, by the courtesy of the government, I 

 svas permitted to use a set of maximum and minimum ther- 

 mometers. But they entailed the necessity of observation 

 and adjustment every day, and this duty bound the observer 

 to be at home or to intrust the instruments to other hands, 

 or to break the continuity of his record. So last May one 

 year ago I purchased a Draper self-recording thermometer, 

 regulated it by comparisons with the standard instruments 

 for several weeks, and then gave up these standard instru- 

 ments. 



For twelve months I replaced the charts week by week, 

 and filed away the "red-lined " ones, with dates, etc., prop- 

 erly filled in the blanks therefor. On the first of July of 

 this year (1891) I began to put those charts through again, 

 using purple ink instead of red in the pen. Comparison of 

 temperatures for 1890 and 1891, day by day, hour by hour, 

 is both easy and interesting. I think I shall change the ink 

 to green, or some other color, and use again another year. 

 It is certainly a great comfort to wind up the clock, put in 

 another chart, refill the pen, once per week (say Monday 

 morning), and then go about one's business or on a jour- 

 ney, perhaps, and to know that there is to be no break ia 

 the record though away for days at a time. I would not 

 like to go back to the old method again. 



T. Berry Emith. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Brooklyn Institute announces a series of "Institute Ex- 

 tension Courses." consisting of lectures on astronomy, by Mr. 

 Garrett P. Serviss, president of the department of astronomy. 

 The first course will be on the solarsystem, embracing " The Sun, 

 Its Distance, Size, Motions, and Gravity; " " The Sun, Its Nature 



