Atlas of Meteorology

Abstract

OF the making of meteorological observations there is no end, and some, who have only a partial acquaintance with the subject, might be tempted to add, no result. But such a criticism, however smart, is eminently unjust, and as a protest against such an uncharitable opinion it was a wise and happy thought to endeavour to combine the outcome of the labours of many observers into a monumental form, which could appeal to the eye of many untrained in scientific methods, and convince them that time and thought and money had not been lavished in vain on mere childish records, but that earnest endeavour had harvested an abundance of facts, which only needed orderly arrangement and skilful grouping to make them available for instruction and edification. To the scientific mind well versed in such matters this compilation can appeal more strongly and more worthily, for it demonstrates not only what has been successfully accomplished already, but exhibits the deficiencies that demand attention and offer prospects for hopeful exploration. These deficiencies will be mainly of two kinds. One, due to the dearth of information from sparsely inhabited dis tricts in inhospitable climates, or from regions where no well-ordered government obtains. Such lacunæ are re grettable, but will gradually disappear in presence of individual enterprise, employing the same means as those which have been successful in more settled lands. The other is more serious, and may be traced to the want of greater originality in the construction and management of instruments devoted to particular ends. Imitation and repetition have probably been two of the main causes from which meteorology has suffered. We have been too content with the readings of barometers and thermometers in convenient positions, and have made but few attempts to investigate meteorological phenomena at elevated stations above the earth's surface, leading, it may be, to a knowledge of vertical gradients of pressure, temperature, humidity, &c., and suggesting new lines of useful inquiry. It may seem an ungracious remark with this collection of valuable facts before us, but it would appear that we have been too much engaged in recording the results of particular combinations of the atmosphere in particular districts, and too little concerned in the antecedent processes that have produced the effects we are so eager to register.

Atlas of Meteorology.

A series of over four hundred Maps prepared by J. G. Bartholomew, and A. J. Herbertson.; and edited by Alexander Buchan, LL.D., F.R.S. (Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 1899.)