METEOROLOGY AND THE SIGNAL SERVICE. 399 
It must be remembered, however, that ‘‘ there may be failures and mistakes 
made; and many experiments and repeated observations may be necessary before 
the system can be brought to work with perfection ; but is not the object sought 
of sufficient importance 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.” 
It should not be allowed to escape attention, that while such generalizations 
as those above are held by many of the wisest and most careful meteorologists, 
there are those of much research who have different views. The absolute truth, 
it seems, will be arrived at only when careful, systematic, and official observations 
shall have done away with many causes of error and difficulties in the way of 
truthful deductions which such observations solely can remove. 
The system inaugurated by Congress is designed for the protection of the 
seaboard as well as the lake districts, It is hoped to extend its benefits to all the 
coasts and, by the necessary stations, to the great navigable rivers of the United 
States. 
The plan so far determined upon by the War Department contemplates the 
simultaneous observation of atmospheric phenomena, the telegraphic transmission 
of reports of these observations, and the wide-spread publication of the reports at 
all points where they will be of service to the commercial interests of the country. 
What is proposed in the present and contemplated in the future is clearly stated 
in the following ‘‘memorandum,” issued from the department in Washington 
charged with the performance of the duty: 
1. Observation and Report of Atmospheric Phenomena. 
a. A semis ¢ of meteorological observations and reports will be made by careful 
observers under military control, and supplied with the best attainable instru- 
ments. All instruments will be adjusted to a standard at Washington. a 
6. The observers will be stationed at points throughout the United States, 
selected by competent authority, as those from which reports of observations will 
be most useful, as indicating the general condition of the atmosphere, or the 
approach and force of storms. 
It has been in view to so locate these stations that, the existence of a storm 
at one or more of them being determined, information of the facts may be had 
by the regular reports communicated by telegraph in advance of its probable 
movement. 
c. Synchronous observations will be taken, and reports made from the sta- 
tions three times a day, one about 8 a. m., one about 6 p. m., and one at mid- 
night. These observations and reports will be timed by Washington time. The 
office is in a measure led to this selection of hours by the press of business at 
other times upon the telegraphic lines. Other observations will be made for 
record. 
