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



are ascending, descending or horizontal, or whether the distant clouds 

 are moving parallel to those near by, or whether all are moving in 

 curved lines around distant areas of high or low pressure ? I am at 

 present engaged in a close study of cloud movements on the Atlantic 

 Ocean, and can safely state that without a single exception the clouds 

 have revealed to me the presence of distant storms and the proper 

 steering course to avoid them, and the same may be said of the minor' 

 changes in the direction of the wind. Your " Table Mountain " has 

 afforded me many beautiful illustrations of motions in the atmosphere 

 such as I knew must take place, but had never before seen exemplified ; 

 your mountains in the interior, with their accompanying great cumulus - 

 clouds and their overflowing cirrus-tops, have given invaluable data as 

 to the general circulation of air on the coast of Africa. I cannot toa 

 earnestly urge upon you the observation of the growth and decay and 

 movements of the clouds. 



But to return to the Signal Service. The most important step of 

 progress taken by General Myer's successor, General Hazen, was I 

 think the recognition of the fact that by introducing civilian scientists 

 into the organization there would come a more rapid assimilation of the 

 nerves and best thoughts current in scientific periodicals. He therefore 

 engaged the services of Ferrel, who had long been employed in our 

 il Coast and Geodetic Survey " and of Mendenhall, who is now the 

 Superintendent of that survey. Among the younger men he secured 

 Messrs. Upton, Hazen, Waldo, Curtis, Marvin, and Russell, all of whom 

 have reflected credit on the service. To General Hazen we owe the 

 carrying out of a plan that for many years had been near my own heart, 

 namely, the organization of State weather services for the study of local 

 details. Such independent services were not in accord with General 

 Myer's policy, but their advantages were seen by General Hazen. 

 After the preliminary steps were taken this branch of the service was 

 entrusted to the senior military assistant Lieutenant Dunwoody, with 

 whom some thirty local State Weather Services are now in corres- 

 pondence ; those have been the means of stimulating the study of meteor- 

 ology and of rendering the Signal Service better appreciated. In 1881 ,. 

 when the work of the International Polar Commission needed a little 

 stimulus, Gen. Hazen announced that the Signal Service could main- 

 tain two Arctic stations — an announcement that we had reason to 

 think decided the wavering European Governments. One of these 

 stations was that for which General Greely had been making prepara- 

 tions, whose work and energy have justly claimed the admiration of 

 all. On the death of General Hazen the President appointed General 

 Greely as his successor. He had long been familiar with every form of 

 Signal Service work, and the volumes published by him fully" attest 

 his ability to do an enormous amount of work under most trying 



