20 Professor Cleveland Abbe, M.A. [Jan. 29, 



a prominent feature in his activity, and his lectures on the subject, 

 which have been lately published by the Smithsonian show him to have 

 been far in advance of most writers at that time. From 1851 to 1860 

 Prof. Henry maintained at Washington a daily weather map based on 

 his morning telegrams, and he continuously used this chart as an 

 argument for the establishment by Congress of a National Weather 

 Service. His contract with the telegraph companies only allowed 

 him to use his gratuitous telegrams for this and for scientific purposes, 

 otherwise he would doubtless have made public the predictions which 

 were frequently made at the Smithsonian for the use of Congress. 

 You must recall that in America the telegraph belongs to a private 

 business corporation, and the latter was not willing to transmit 

 telegrams for the general public benefit unless in some way the public 

 .should pay for it. Prof. Henry's object was humanitarian, i.e., to so 

 familiarize Congress with the possibility and advantages of the system 

 as to induce that body to establish and support a proper system for 

 the public welfare. But our Congress generally follows rather than 

 precedes the expressed will of the people and it delayed action until 

 popular opinion should seem to demand it. 



Henry's weather map was interrupted during our " War for the 

 Union" and when in 1868 I took charge of the Astronomical Obser- 

 vatory in Cincinnati I resolved to revise the work in some such way 

 as to make it useful both to the community at large and to science. I 

 had already paid much attention to the study of atmospheric refrac- 

 tions, and in order to perfect our knowledge, I saw that we 

 must not only understand the motions of the atmosphere but must 

 surround the Observatory by a system of weather stations, and have 

 the data for drawing daily maps showing the positions of the storms 

 with reference to the astronomical observer. With the consent of 

 the trustees of the Observatory, I presented my plans to the Chamber 

 •of Commerce in that city, many of whose members had long been 

 accustomed to utilize weather telegrams in their daily business. The 

 response of this important body of business men was immediate and 

 favourable, so that on the 1st of September, 1869, I began publishing 

 for the use of the Chamber of Commerce " The Weather Bulletin 

 of the Cincinnati Observatory." 



This bulletin gave full statistics of the condition of the atmosphere at 

 aiumerous stations from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic States, and 

 from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada ; its observations were at 8 a.m. 

 Cincinnati time, and it was published at noon dailv. At the bottom of 

 the sheet was a prediction, which 1 called " Probabilities," for the next 

 twenty-four hours. Although the nickname "Old Prob " subse- 

 quently followed me to Washington, yet by courtesy it has come to be 

 m ow generally given to the Chief Signal Officer, ex-ojficio. 



