METEOROLOGY AND THE SIGNAL SERVICE. 399 
and seaboard, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and 
force of storms. 
This joint resolution was introduced February 2, 1870, by Gen. Paine, who 
asked and obtained its immediate consideration and passage. 
It reached the Senate the same day, and was referred to the Committee on 
Military Affairs, which reported it back without amendment, through its chair- 
man, Mr. Wilson, of Mass., on February 4th. It was passed by the Senate 
without opposition, and became a law through the President’s approval, February 
9, 1870. 
On February 28, 1870, the Chief Signal Officer was informed by the Secre- 
tary of War that he was charged with the duties to arise under the provisions of 
the law, subject to the general supervision of the War Department. 
In August, 1870, a small pamphlet was issued from the Signal Office, entitled. 
GOVERNMENT TELEGRAMS AND REPORTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF COMMERCE, 
from which the following extracts are made, as illustrative of the preliminary work 
of the signal office in the establishment of the new service : 
‘¢ Popular attention is at this time directed to the formal undertaking, for the 
first time on this continent, under Government auspices, of an organized system 
of weather reports to be made by telegraph, with the purpose of giving informa- 
tion in advance of the approach and force of storms for the benefit of commerce 
on the northern lakes and seaboard. The advantages to be gained, if success 
can be had, are so vast, and popular curiosity in reference to the subject is so 
general, that a brief statement of what has been undertaken in this regard in 
other countries, and of the steps which have led to the present action in our own, 
is thought worthy of publication. 
‘‘ The special characteristic of modern efforts, in the development of meteoro- 
logical science, consists in co-operation among observers laboring in different 
fields, and thus securing the data for determining the simultaneous condition of 
the atmosphere over extended regions of country. 
‘Tt is only by this means that the laws which govern the occurrence, motion, 
direction and propagation of atmospheric disturbances can be ascertained. As 
soon as this truth was recognized and acted upon, the important fact was devel- 
oped that storms moved in certain fixed directions, and at such rates of speed as 
permitted telegraphic notice of their approach to be given to places lying in their 
paths. 
‘‘The practicability of utilizing this knowledge for the benefit of the commer- 
cial interest became at once apparent, and resulted in the organization of systems 
of storm warnings in several of the European countries most interested in mari- 
time affairs. 
“<To the late Admiral Fitz-Roy, of the British Navy, belongs the honor of hav- 
ing been the first to put in operation a practical system of weather forecasts and 
