:318 ALLISON ON THE PROGRESS OF WEATHER KNOWLEDGE. 



of country. Stations at which these frequent readings are taken are 

 called in the Dominion Organization ** Chief Stations," and em- 

 brace at present seven cities, to which number but few more need 

 ever be added, except in Manitoba and British Columbia. From 

 these chief stations the variations for the ordinary posts may be 

 calculated with sufficient exactitude. 



Besides the determination of the regular and extreme climate at 

 any given point, another very important object is the connection of 

 the differences between two such points ; in other words, their 

 relative bearing upon each other. This consideration is very useful 

 in summing up the probabilities of ensuing weather. Before this 

 audience I need not dwell upon the importance of weather forecasts, 

 beyond the mere gratification of the restless curiosity, natural to the 

 human kind. To encourage the advancement towards certainty in 

 this direction, should be the effort of every one who tills the ground 

 and who feeds upon the produce of that tillage ; of every one who 

 lives by the traffic of the sea, and earns his meat by toiling over the 

 boisterous waters — a life peculiar to so many of the inhabitants of 

 our wave-washed Province. Such knowledge should in brief be 

 striven after by all mankind. This comparison of different climates 

 and its result, the determination of atmospheric changes, and storm 

 paths, make necessary the telegraphic branch of meteorology now 

 just emerging into existence in this Dominion. That such informa- 

 tion can be obtained, and climatic laws therefrom deduced, as will 

 ultimately bring the forecasting of coming weather very near per- 

 fection, no one who has carefully observed the directions of atmos- 

 pheric fluctuations can for a moment doubt. For instance, at noon 

 on Friday last the 9th inst., what weather could be more fair than 

 that enjoyed then in Halifax. A sky perfectly clear, a barometer 

 standing high at 30.255 inches, temperature 66.5 — the mildness of 

 a well advanced spring — a gentle northerly breeze, and to a super- 

 ficial gaze every promise of a continuance of fair weather. True, 

 a certain haziness of atmosphere giving unnatural distinctness to 

 some substances, and bringing apparently nearer remote objects, 

 might have warned the man versed in local signs of a coming 

 change ; though apart from scientific grounds he could give you no 



