SCIENCE. 
249 
SCIENCE: 
A Weekly Record of Scientific 
Progress. 
JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 
Published at 
229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
P. O. Box 3838. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1880. 
THE SIGNAL SERVICE. 
The question of the appointment of a Chief Sig- 
nal Officer in the room of the late General Myer 
is immediately interesting. It is a question which 
has a direct bearing upon the scientific activity of 
the country, as well as upon the more important 
and more practical matter of making accurate 
weather forecasts, and displaying storm signals for 
the benefit of commerce. 
The first and greatest use of the Weather Bureau 
is to make itself valuable to every individual in the 
United States, through accurate and prompt pre- 
dictions, and thus to justify the annual expenditure 
of nearly $1,000,000. At present about 80 per 
cent, of the predictions are fulfilled, which is a fair 
showing — indeed, a very creditable one. Most un- 
prejudiced persons, familiar with the routine of the 
Signal Service, will admit that General Myer had 
carried the efficiency of the service about as far as 
it could have been carried under an organization 
like his own ; and the country may feel confident 
that, whoever is appointed to succeed him, the use 
fulness of the Signal Service as a Weather Bureau, 
that is to predict storms for the benefit of com- 
merce, agriculture, etc., will not be greatly dimin- 
ished. The present routine is so well established 
that we may be sure for some time at least, of the 
same proficiency. 
But meteorologists know that this percentage can 
be increased. To do this, scientific investigation 
must be carried on in various ways, and by compe- 
tent persons. The vast material now accumulated 
by the Bureau must be examined, discussed, and 
the laws— empirical and other — deduced. This 
can only be done under intelligent and sympathetic 
direction, by men trained in the methods of physi- 
cal and mathematical science. This is the first 
great want. But again, the Signal Bureau has 
grown, under General Myer’s vigorous adminis- 
tration, to be a vast machine, composed of many 
parts — officers and men — and controlling many in- 
struments. For example, the many military tele- 
graph lines of the West, several thousands of miles 
in length. 
Again, the service must look not only to the 
continuance of peace at home and abroad, but to 
the contingency of a war in which trained signal 
men may be wanted. The military post of Fort 
Whipple, Virginia, is entirely devoted to the train- 
ing of the enlisted men of the signal service for 
their varied duties as meteorological observers, 
signal men and military telegraph men, directly 
under the charge of officers of the army, who them- 
selves become familiar with these varied and im- 
portant duties. 
These and other obvious reasons make it plain 
that, if the proper scientific efficiency of the Weather 
Bureau can be maintained it will be highly advan- 
tageous to keep the Signal Office where it now is, 
i. e. as an important Bureau of the War Depart- 
ment. 
At present three different plans are advocated 
for the filling of the existing vacancy : 
First, The appointment of a colonel of the line 
who has had experience in the plains, and to whom 
the Brigadier General’s commission would be a 
fitting reward; Generals Hazen and Miles are 
mentioned in this connection. 
Second, The appointment of some officer who 
has learned- the art of administration during our 
war, by commanding large bodies of troops, and 
whose duties and studies since the war have been 
of a sort to fit them for this position : Generals 
Abbot, Parke, Comstock, Warren and Poe, of 
the Engineers, are of this class. 
Third, The appointment of a scientific civilian 
meteorologist, as Prof. Loomis, Prof. Cleveland 
Abbe or Dr. Daniel Draper. 
Two faculties are required in the person to be 
appointed : First, he must be an able administrator ; 
and secondly, he must be capable of understanding 
and directing scientific investigations. 
If the appointment is made from the first class 
named above, it is likely that we shall have good 
administration, and that the present efficiency of the 
service will be maintained, but that no advances 
will be made. It is difficult for the necessary for- 
ward steps to be made under the direction of men 
in middle life, now first called upon to examine and 
approve of the methods of physical science. If the 
