METEOROLOGY AND THE SIGNAL SERVICE. 387 
Now, it is quite clear that, if we could have the services of a competent 
meteorologist at some suitable point on the lakes, with the aid of a sufficient 
corps of observers with compared instruments, at stations located every two or 
three hundred miles toward the west, and the co-operation of the telegraph com: 
panies, the origin and progress of these great storms could be fully traced; their 
their velocity and direction of motion could be ascertained; their destructive 
force and other characteristics noted—all in time to give warning of their probable 
effects upon the lakes. 
Doubtless there would be failures, and mistakes made; and many experi- 
ments and repeated observations would be necessary before the system could be 
made to work with perfection. But is not the object sought of sufficient import- 
ance to justify such a sacrifice? If it should prove successful in even one case, 
it might be the means of saving property worth many times the cost of the 
experiment. 
But how shall all this be accomplished, and who will assume the burden of its 
cost? Perhaps the establishment of a meteorological department of the Chicago 
Academy of Science, with a proper organization and a sufficient endowment, would 
be the most likely to secure the desired results. ‘The money should come from 
those most likely to be benefited.” 
‘MILWAUKEE, Wis., December 8, 1869. 
Dear Sir: I take the liberty of calling your attention to the accompanying 
list of disasters to the commerce of our great lakes during the past year, and to 
ask whether its appalling magnitude does not make it the duty of the government 
to see whether anything can be done to prevent at least some portion of this sad. 
loss in future. Yours, very truly, 
I. A. LapHaM,” 
Hon. H. E. Paine, M. C. 
OUR LAKE MARINE—RECORD OF DISASTERS FOR 1869—-NUMBER OF DISASTERS 
REPORTED, 1,914—ESTIMATED DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, $4,100,000 
—INTERESTING TABULAR STATEMENTS. 
Navigation having practically closed for 1869, in accordance with our custom 
we lay before the readers of the Seztinel a record of the disasters which have been 
reported during the season. The list is very long, and the estimated damage to 
hulls and cargoes unusually heavy. According to our summary, the number of 
vessels which met with disaster is 1,914, against 1,164 last season—showing an 
increase of 750. In 1868, 103 vessels were totally wrecked, whose measurement 
aggregated 26,441 tons. ‘This season the number totally lost is 126, with a meas- 
urement of 33,892 tons—which is certainly a large increase. Up to the grst of 
_ October the amount of damage sustained by the shipping on the lakes was hardly 
 €qual to the average of seasons, and vessel owners and underwriters congratulated 
themselves upon their good fortune. But the storms of November, following in 
