88 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



This being the case the idea now occurred to use the telegraph to report the 

 storm in order that the people in the east might the better know when to expect 

 it and thus be fore-warned. This at first was commenced on a small scale, and 

 it was not, until 1870, that Prof. Abbe was estabUshed in Washington with the 

 full power of the Government back of him and with authority to gather and report 

 the news in regard to the storm. Little by little the facts came in. A weather- 

 map began to appear — its first editions were quite rude affairs beside the complete 

 ones of 1882. Improvements still go on. Not so rapidly as at first, yet all the 

 while there is a steady advancement in this department. There are points where 

 it would seem that this bureau could advance with more honor to itself; for 

 example, more stations in the west would add much to the perfection of the pre- 

 sent admirable system and comparatively would not add much to the cost. 



Little by little meteorology has advanced. For centuries it made little prog- 

 ress — it was all the while waiting for developments in other branches. It could 

 advance no further until the chapter on Telegraphy was worked up by the great 

 author. Then it took a start and within the past twelve years it has advanced 

 most rapidly. By the aid of the telegraph we now every morning have the geog- 

 raphy of the atmosphere of the United States spread out before us — it is as if we 

 were taken upon a high pinnacle or balloon where we could survey the whole 

 country. We see the storm on our western borders; we trace it in its course; we 

 see that it takes general lines toward the east, never twice alike — sometimes on 

 one line, sometimes on another, and sometimes apparently defying all law — mov- 

 ing north, south, and even west, yet all the while obeying the immutable laws of 

 this department of Nature. 



Upon the present time few even of the more intelligent people of the land 

 have become interested in this new and true knowledge of the weather system. 

 Few know or seem to care what a weather-map is. Under the circumstances it 

 is not surprising that men still attempt to continue the old practice, especially so 

 when they can make much money out of their pretended wisdom in this line. 

 The people at large, and even the most intelligent know nothing of the Weather- 

 Map and its revelations — indeed, not one in a thousand has ever seen a weather- 

 map or has any conception of what it is, and thousands who are so favorably sit- 

 uated as to see them daily, know no more about them than they do of the hiero- 

 glyphics on the Egyptian obehsks. Yet these maps are full of interest and can 

 easily be read at a glance, and afford a great amount of satisfaction if one will but 

 give them a little study. They have revolutionized the weather knowledge of 

 the world, and many a pet theory and absurd notion must, through them, be 

 buried in the oblivion of the past. 



Yet men continue to write and advocate their antediluvian notions and they 

 still retain much faith in themselves. But this is simply for the reason that the 

 weather-map is still unappreciated. The more this map becomes appreciated the 

 less and less will be the appreciation for the absurd and false ideas of the past 

 and for the men who still endeavor to profit by them instead of advancing to the, 

 higher knowledge revealed by this wonderful map. 



