SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 459. 



most ample field for the display of trained 

 intellect, and even of genius, in devising 

 and applying theoretical and experimental 

 methods. And can we say that the work 

 is unimportant 1 Look where you will over 

 the countries which the British Association 

 may be supposed to represent, either di- 

 rectly or indirectly, and say where a more 

 satisfactory knowledge of the laws govern- 

 ing the weather would be unimportant 

 from any point of view. Will you take 

 the British Isles on the eastern shores of 

 the Atlantic, the great meteorological lab- 

 oratory of the world, with the far-reach- 

 ing interests of their carrying trade? or 

 India, where the phenomena of the mon- 

 soon show most conspicuously the effects 

 of the irregular distribution of land, the 

 second great meteorological cause, and 

 where recurring famines still overstrain the 

 resources of administration ? Take the Aus- 

 tralasian colonies and the Cape, which, 

 with the Argentine Eepublic, where Mr. 

 Davis is developing so admirably the 

 methods of the Weather Bureau, consti- 

 tute the only land projections into the 

 great southern ocean, the region of 'planet- 

 ary meteorology,' or Australia, with its 

 periods of paralyzing drought; the Cape, 

 where the adjustment of crops to climate 

 is a question of the hour. Or take Canada, 

 which owns at the same time a granary 

 of enormous dimensions and a large portion 

 of the Arctic Circle. Or take the scattered 

 islets of the Atlantic and Pacific or the 

 shipping that goes wherever ships can go. 

 The merest glance will show that we stand 

 to gain more by scientific knowledge, and 

 lose more by unscientific ignorance of the 

 weather, than any other country. The 

 annual loss on account of the weather 

 would work out at no inconsiderable sum 

 per head of the population, and the merest 

 fraction of success in the prevention of 

 what science must regard as preventable 



loss would compensate for half a century 

 of expenditure on meteorological offices. 

 Or take a less selfish view and consider for 

 a moment our responsibilities to the gen- 

 eral community of nations, the advantages 

 we possess as occupying the most important 

 posts of observation. If the meteorology of 

 the world were placed, as perhaps it ought 

 to be, in the hands of an international com- 

 mission, it can be no exaggeration to say 

 that a considerable majority of the selected 

 sites for stations of observation would be 

 on British soil or British ships. We can 

 not help being the most important agency 

 for promoting or for obstructing the ex- 

 tension of meteorological science. I say 

 this bluntly and perhaps crudely because I 

 feel sure that ideas not dissimilar from 

 these must occasionally suggest themselves 

 to every meteorologist, British or foreign ; 

 and if they are to be expressed— and I 

 think you will agree vnth me that they 

 ought to be— a British meteorologist ought 

 to take the responsibility of expressing 

 them. 



And how does our academic organization 

 help us in this matter of more than paro- 

 chial or even national importance? There 

 was a time when meteorology was a recog- 

 nized member of the large physical family 

 and shared the paternal affection of all 

 professors of physics; but when the poor 

 nestling began to grow up and develop some 

 individuality electricity developed simiil- 

 taneously with the speed of a young cuckoo. 

 The professors of physics soon recognized 

 that the nest was not large enough for both, 

 and with a unanimity which is the more 

 remarkable because in some of these aca- 

 demic circles iitilitarianism is not a condi- 

 tion of existence, and pure science, not 

 market value, might be the dominant con- 

 sideration—with singular unanimity the 

 science which bears in its left hand, if not 

 in its right, sources of wealth beyond the 



