178 ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH EOB PREDICTING STORMS. 



Ships intending to remain would make preparations requisite for 

 withstanding it ; and those about to sail would either postpone, 

 or hasten their departure. 



Admitting then that wrecks are numerous, and that their number, 

 as well as that of many minor disasters, might be materially 

 diminished if gales were commonly foreseen, I go on to consider 

 the means, first of procuring the necessary intelligence ; and 

 secondly of transmitting that intelligence to the shipping. 



On the latter object, the transmission namely of intelligence, it is 

 not necessary to dwell, since for this purpose the ordinary machinery 

 of the telegraph is sufficient ; and I may therefore confine my 

 attention to the object first named, that of procuring the information 

 requisite for the prediction of an approaching storm. 



The possibility of doing this depends on the truth of the two fol- 

 lowing statements, the first of which is certain, and the second high- 

 ly probable. 



1. That gales prevail in some localities often many hours, some- 

 times two or three days before they reach other places only a few 

 hundred miles distant. 



2. That storms in their progress are subject to definite laws, 

 which extended observation will discover. 



Assuming the object to be practicable, I propose to effect 

 it by an arrangement of which the following is a rough sketch : 



With the concurrence of the telegraph companies, the operator at 

 each of certain specified stations in British North America, should 

 have orders to send immediate notice to the telegraph office at Toron- 

 to, of the commencement of a gale at his station. On receiving such a 

 message, the operator at Toronto would call the attention of the 

 Observatory by an alarum, or other contrivance ; then repeat the 

 message and connect the observatory wires with those from the 

 various selected stations. The Observatory would then issue orders 

 for hourly or half-hourly returns, or make such occasional enquiries 

 as might be thought expedient. 



The information thus collected would supply the data from which 

 to derive a knowledge of the laws that govern the progress of storms, 

 and if these laws were understood, would enable the central office to 

 send notice to the ports along the lake and sea coast, and the 

 various districts through which the storm was about to pass, of the 

 probable time of its arrival, the quarter from which it might be ex- 

 pected, and its approximate duration. 



I do not anticipate that the expenses attending such an arrange- 



