316 ALLISON ON THE PROGRESS OF WEATHER KNOWLEDGE. 



thus laid a foundation for the system now developing through 

 Canada ; but the most simple laws of weather were yet disregarded 

 by the public. I do not intend to allude to Great Britain and 

 Europe just now, beyond saying that the difference between the 

 knowledge of then and now, is fully as marked in those countries. 



In 1873 how different is the condition we find ourselves in. 

 Not looking, at the moment, at the other Provinces, I have in this 

 ISTova Scotia alone, regularly reporting to me monthly, these sta- 

 tions of weather observers, viz : Yarmouth, Digby, Wolfville, 

 Windsor, King's College, Beaver Bank, Truro, Pictou, Cape 

 North, Sydney, Glace Bay, Cow Bay, Guysboro', Seaforth, and 

 Halifax ; besides St. John's, Harbour Grace, Togo and George's 

 Bay in Newfoundland ; and Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island 

 — while four other Nova Scotian stations are, I hope, only tempo- 

 rarily discontinued — making twenty-four in all. But the multipli- 

 cation of observers is but one evidence — and a slight one — of the 

 progress of weather knowledge. The knowledge gained of the 

 instruments of our equipment has been immense ; of course this 

 information has been mostly obtained from abroad, chiefly from the 

 experience of the scientific workers of Great Britain. 



The placing these instruments in the best positions to obtain 

 equitable readings has occupied a large share of the attention of 

 many meteorologists. Our own Chief Director, G. T. Kingston, 

 at Toronto, has made some valuable improvements and suggestions 

 in this respect. In the Barometer, one of the earliest instruments 

 in connection with our science, comparatively little improvement 

 has been necessary. The addition to it of a recording apparatus — 

 in fact making a Barometer also a Baragraph — is to it, what it may 

 be called to all instruments, a mechanical adjunct rather than a 

 scientific improvement. Apart from self-registration, the Fortin 

 Barometer with metallic scale, tube not less than 0.4 inch internal 

 diameter, and zero of scale adjustable by reflection of inverted cone 

 in cistern, when mounted plainly and in a room of equable tem- 

 perature, and read by a Vernier, seems to leave little to be desired 

 in the primary and useful instrument. 



Perhaps no greater injury is done to the establishment of clim- 

 atic truths than by the use of erroneous Thermometers. It is so 



