466 



THE SOUTHEEN PLANTEK. 



[AUGCST 



not permitted to touch one that is made on 

 a farm ashore. 



If you and others desire information 

 from me about the climatology of Texas, I 

 have to say, I should be most happy to give 

 it. But before I can attempt it, you must 

 assist me to procure the requisite data ; and 

 that is to be done by using your influence 

 with your Representatives in Congress in 

 favour of the passage of an Act, to enable 

 nie to extend my meteorological investiga- 

 tions to the .land, and to use the mag- 

 netic telegraph as a meteorological imple- 

 ment. 



Do that — and let those who are interest- 

 ed in the soil in other States, do the same 

 by their Representatives, and you shall 

 soon have results that will prove valuable 

 not only to the industrial pursuits of the 

 country, but to the convenience, and health, 

 and advancement in knowledge, of the peo- 

 ple also. 



In urging the extension of this beautiful 

 and beneficial system of generous co-opera- 

 tion to the land, it may not be amiss to 

 state a few facts connected with the histo- 

 ry of it at sea. At first, I invoked co-ope- 

 ration from American ship-masters, alone. 

 After the utility of the plan had been de- 

 monstrated by the results derived from the 

 observations afforded by them, then the im- 

 portance of increasing the number of ob- 

 servers became manifest. All who go 

 down to the sea in ships were invited to 

 take part in the plan. They did so; and 

 thus was established the most extensive, 

 useful and important system of meteorolog- 

 ical research that has ever been attempted. 

 Its praises are sung the world over. The 

 wisest philosophers, the greatest statesmen, 

 and the most powerful nations have bestow- 

 ed upon it the commendation of their 



Well done," and rendered homage to it. 



The atmosphere covers the land as well 

 as the sea, and why should not this system, 

 which costs nothing except the hire of a 

 few computers to discuss the observation, 

 after they are made, — why, I say, should 

 not this inexpensive system of meteorolog- 

 ical investigation be extended to the land, 

 and so be made universal ? Two-thirds of 

 the surface of our planet is covered by sea, 

 and our researches embrace the sea — why 

 should they not include the other third 

 also ? 



We took the lead in inaugurating this 

 plan at sea, and the meteorologists of Eu-, 



rope look to ub to take the lead for the land 

 also. The most eminent among them there, 

 say they are waiting for us. Each nation 

 will take care of its own observations ; but 

 the point is so to make them, that any ob- 

 servation by any one may be, compared 

 with all the corresponding observations by 

 all the others, and thus make the " whole 

 world kin." 



Ten times as much money as this plan 

 would cost is now annually spent in one* 

 way or another for the advancement of me- 

 teorology ; but, from this expenditure th& 

 cause of the science is not advanced one- 

 tenth part as much as by the adoption of 

 the plan proposed, it would be. 



But it is not the husbandman aJone that 

 is practically— may I be permitted to say, 

 pectiniarily ? — interested in this scheme. 

 In pleading the cause of science, I often 

 find an appeal to the pocket-nerve very 

 telling. 



The question has been asked, and an- 

 swered before the Society of Acclimation 

 in France : " At present, what is meteorol- 

 ogy to the science of political economy? 

 Answer: Nothing. What should it be? 

 Answer: Everything."* 



The object of this interesting Society is^ 

 to encourage the introduction from one 

 country to another of new plants and ani- 

 mals ; and when it is proposed to introduce 

 either into France, for instance, the first 

 question is, what is the climate of its hab- 

 itat, and in what part of l^ranee shall we 

 find a climate to correspond ? So the whole 

 affair is one of meteorology. 



Impressed with the notion that the Al- 

 paca and Vicuna of South America would, 

 were they acclimated to any of the moun- 

 tainous regions of this country, prove al- 

 most, if not altogether, as valuable as the 

 sheep and the goat, I proposed last fall 

 their introduction, to the Agricultural So- 

 ciety of Tennessee. 



So valuable are they considered ia their 

 native hills, that it is against the laws both 

 of Peru and Bolivia, where they most 

 abound, to export them. 



However, having been heartily and ahly 

 seconded in other matters of public con- 

 cern by our most worthy minister, John 

 Randolph Clay, at the court of Lima, I 

 sought and most readily obtained his great 



* M. BecquereL 



