286 MON!L!HLY WEA!CHER REVIEW. ~EPTEMBEB, 1908
1906, and the observing station. I n fact this correction would
be large. While no accurate measurements were made, it is
thought that the difference of level on that date was about
1,600 feet. The air pressure corresponding to this difference
of level would be about 0.055 .of the barometric pressure above
Mount Wilson. According to the pyrheliometry of August
21 and 23, 1906, we may estimate the general atmospheric
transmission coeacient for August 22 as 0.90 for vertical trans-
mission thru all the air above Mount Wilson. Hence, for ver-
tical transmission thru the layer in question the transmission
may be estimated at (0.90)0-m=0.994.
For the very large angles of zenith distance 2, and nadir
distance i, the paths of the beam in this layer ought not to be
taken as simply proportional to (seo Z+ sec i), and we shall
rather use the air-mass values of Laplace as given by Radau
in his ccActinometrie,” altho these are also of doubtful appli-
cation in the present instance. Let us call the air-mass y(Z)+
y( i ), where e is a function to be taken from the above sources.
Then the values of reflection given for August 22, 1906, in
Table 26 of the Annals, are to be increased in the ratio
1
to allow for the d8erence of level. No correction of this
kind is thought necessary for the values of September 13,1906,
as the cloud was practically at the level of the observer.
An entirely new set of apparatus for measuring the reflect-
ing power of clouds is now in place at Mount Wilson, and we
hope to obtain a great many additional measurements there
this year. We therefore refrain from computing at present
a new value of cloud reflection and of the albedo of the earth
from the observations of 1906.
0 3 %~~
EARLY METEOROLOGY AT HaRVaRD UOLLEGE. 2.
In a recent article’ on the early history of meteorology at
Harvard College the writer mentioned the announcement of
lectures by Isaao Greenwood, the first Hollis Professor of
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. While the strictly
meteorological subjects comprise but a small part of this
announcement, and therefore presumably of the lectures, it is
probably one of the oldest extant recorde of scientifio lectures
in this country and thus has considerable historical interest.
A few pertinent historical notes which the writer has been
able to gather follow the Syllabus.” The absenoe of a full
text of the lectures and of contemporaneous aocounts of them
renders a detailed study impossible.
A
Course of Philosophical Lectures,
with a great Variety of
Curious Experiments,
Illustrating and Conjirniing
Sir ISAAC NEWTON’S Laws
OF
MATTER AND MOTION.
By ISAAC GREENWOOD, A. M., CFC.
ARTICLE I.
By B. Id. VARNEY, Asaistant in Meteorology. Dated Camhr.dge, Mass., SeptemberlO, 1908.
Of the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES of MATTER
Where the essential Properties of Space and natural Bodies,
are shewn, in a great variety of Experiments: And the NEW-
TONIAN LAWS of Matter denionstrded.
I. Of the ESSENTIAL PBOPEBTIEE of Space and natural
Bodies.
1 See Monthly Weather Review, May, 1908, XXXVI, p. 140.
LECTURE I.
OF EXTENSION-The Manner of Conceiving and the real
Proof of a Vacuuin, by several curious Experiments-The
inconceivable Divikbility of the Parts of Matter, shewn in
natural and artijicial Instances, by a Sett of niicroscopicd
Observations, and prov’d by Dr. Nkiuwenlyt’s Experiinent of
the Divirrwir of Water, by the Blopile; on which P r i n ~p l e
the Operation of the celebrated Engine to raiae Water by
Fire, mill be explained in a very large C d t thereof.
Lecture 2. Of the SOLIDITY and POROSITY of natural Bodies
in many usgful Experinlent8 and critical Remarks; where
particular Notice will be taken of the Alterations they are
subject to by Heat and Cold, Dryness and Humidity, Weight
and Levily, in many curioiis Experiments. And of the
STRUCTURE and FORMS of natural Bodies,-their in-
ward Disposition,-exlernal Co,ifiguration, with a Variety of
Experinients relating to the Changes of their Fornis on
many Considerations.
Lecture 3. Of the Fundamental LAW; viz. GRAVITY or
GRAVITATION, (where all its Properties will be uery par-
ticularly illustrated and confirmed) together with the other
two General Laws; viz. the COHESION and REPULSION
existing between the niinute Parts of Matter, in a great
Variety of Ezperinients.
Lecture 4. Of the SPECIAL LAWS of MATTER; viz.
MAGNETISM and ELECTRICITY; where their surpris-
ing and most curious Phmnoniena are shewn in a Sett of
very useful and delaghtful Experiments of &e Invention.
ARTICLE IT.
Of the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES of MOTION.
I. The Prinoipals of MECHANICS.
Leoture 5. Explanations of necessary Terms, with many
Experiments relating to the Places of the mechannic Centers
of Bodies, their Velocitierr, Quantities of Mailer, and Momenta
of Motion.-The Fundaniental Propositions relating there-
unto, proved on proper Machines- Experiments about the
,falling, sliding, and rolling of Natural Bodies, kc., very
curious; the Solution of several entertaining Problems,
relating to Animal Motion and Action; with a Conclusion
concerning the Explanation of the Motion of the Astro-
nomical Bodies on these Principles.
Lecture 6. A full Explanation with many Experinients, on
the Five 3fechanical Powers or Simple Machines; viz. the
several Kinds of Bdlances, Levers, Pullies, Wheels and Axka,
Wedges or Smews; of Compound Machinerr; and the Inven-
tion and Use of many ustfirl and curioics Engine8,
Lecture 7 . Of absolute and relative motion.
1. Law of Motion, viz. That all Bodies continue in the State
qf Motioii or Rest, un@uliby, in a right Line, except so much
as that State i s Chang’d by Forces imnpress’d; with many
Examples and Experiments; Of the great Use thereof in
the Motion ?f Bodies proceeding from single and Compound
hpiilses. Of the Phenomena of Diagonal Motion and
oblique Powers.
2. Law of Motion, viz. That the Change of llEotion is always
proportional to tlw nioving Force iinpresdd; and is alzuays
made in the right Line i l l which thai Force is impress’d. Of
the Plicenomena of Arcelerated and Retarded Jiotion.
Of Projectile Motions.
Lecture 8. Of oblique Descents; where all the curious Ex-
periments and Obseruatiows relating to Pendulunis and their
Uses, will be made. Of Circular and EUlpticd Motion, with
many EqwritnetJs. Dr. Desagulier’s celebrated Experi-
11. Of [he NEWTONIAN LAWS of MATTER.
IL Of the NEWTONIAN STATICS.
Sir ISAAC NEWTON’S
SEPTEXBEB, 1908. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 287
wmt,proving the oblate Figure of the Earth, from its Diur-
Vial Motion.
Lecture 9. 3d Law of Motion, viz. That the Actiom a d Re-
actions qf Bodies q o ~i one aiiotlier o w eqirnl a d iii co,,trar*y
Directihs. (1) Of the various Plmnoniena consequent
upon the Congress or Percussion of Nntural Bodies. (2) Of the Doctriiie of Elasticity; where will be performed many
curious Experiments concerning Elastic Substa)wes: With
an Application of the Princ@les, thence deduced, to explain
the Nature of 8ound and the Tliewy of Music; particularly
of the Experiments of the Diuigion of the il1onockord and
the Proportions of the Diameters of H a r n m i ~ chord.^
to produce my Niisical Notes-of the Scale cf Musir-
Effects of Music on Natural Bodies-of the Echo &c.
ARTICLE III.
Of the TRUE CAUSES Of the PRINCIPLE PHLENOME-
NA in Nntiire, by JIeaus of the Newtwiinu Laws of MATTER
and MOTION.
Lecture 10. (1) d T7ieiu of the World rrrou~l its siilykct to
these Laws shewn on very good St-liei~ie~ and Instruniewk;
which [with?] an Account of Mr. Profrasw Brotlley’s new
discovered Motiojh of the F k t Stars.
(2) An Etiunieratioih of the Pltmiornemz in the SOLAR
SYSTEM-lCfect of Sir ISAAC NEWTON’S Laicu of
GRAVITATION, with his dccouiit thereof.
Concerning which, several curious Experinwrits illustrat-
ing the Nature and Reasmi of the P h e t a r y and Cometary
Motions, the Alterations they are subject to, their indun1
Actions &c., will be performed.
Lectures 11, 12. (3) Of the Efkta uf GRAVITATION,
as to the Earth, in particular.
Of the Ficndanietital Principks with many Experiments
relating to FLUIDS, HYDROSTATICAL and PNEU-
MATICAL.
Of the Action of the Suit and MOON upon the Atniospkrre,
and Bodies contained therein.
Of the dctio)i of the 8un and Moon on the Ocenm and
Seati; where the NEWTONIAN Doctrine of Tides Tndl be par-
ticularly illustrated and confirmed by Means of several
proper Machims and Schemes.
Experiments of the Pendulous AIotimi of Waves.
Of the CONSTANT CURRENT of all Omam, Eastward-
a Diecouery never yet made public with its true Cause and
Efects.
(4) An Euumerntio,i of the prirmpnl Plt~~ionietin,-E~rcta
of SLR ISAAC NEWTON’S other L a m of Nature, viz, CO-
HXSION, REPULSION, MAGNETISM and ELEC-
TRICITY.
Where, with many other Curiosities, a pnrticular Coneid-
erdiou will be taken of Dr. Desaguliers late !l’heory of the
Rise of Vapurs and Formation of Clouds, and Meteors, with
his Experiments concerning them.-Dr. Halley’s Account
of the Aurora Borealis with his Eqeriiilents-Mr. Gray’s
new Discom’ee as to Electricity QEc.
Some Eiitertaining mijigs will be shewn, during
the Course, with the Magic Lawthoru, Camera Obscura, good
TeUiscopes, Microscopes, &c. that fall not properly under
any of the foregoing Heads.
The A4pparatrcs is compleat for the EslwlQnerits, and will
be inlarged with new Jfachines and diotleb of some curioue
Engines, lately invented, if there be a full Coicrse.
Every Subswilwr to pay Four Pounds, Oiie at the Time of
rSubscr@tion and the Remaiiader on the 3d and 61h Doy of
the Course.
This Course to begin on - Instant, at -o’clock
in the - noon, and to be continued afterwards on what
Days and Hours best suits the Company.
N. B.
CONDITIONS.
Isaac Greenwood was born in May, 1702, probably at Boai
ton, Mass., since his father was a resident of that city. He
was graduated with the Harvard olsas of 1731, studied for the
ministry, and visited England, where, as we are told, he “be-
gan to preach in London with some approbation.” He became
a pupil of Desaguliers, and the pursuit of scientific studies
resulted in his leaving the pulpit. Eventually he persuaded
Thomas Hollis, a London merchant, to establish a science
professorship at Harvard College, and he was appointed the
first occupant of the chair.
According to the cc Rules and Orders ” stipulated by Hollis,
the duties of the holder of this professorship, outside of his
regular college lectures, were:
3. That the Professor shall read once a week and when ever the Cor- poration with the approbation of the Overseers shall require it twice a week (Times of vacation excepted) publickly in the Hall to all students that will attend on such topics relating to the Science of the Mathematics Natural or Experimental Philosophy aa he shall judge most necessary &
usefull but always distinct or different from his private lectures.
It still remains uncertain whether or not these lectures de-
livered publicly to students were those announced in the
Syllabus reproduced above. They were, however, “ different
from his private lectures.” The statement made in my pre-
vious paper, regarding this, may therefore need qualification.
On February A, 1737, the Corporation of Harvard College
Voted: gt a l l . Hutchinson & Mr. Sever be deslred in the name of ye corporation, to wait on his Honr ye Lieutenant Governour, to know when it will suit his Honr to afford his Presence at ye Installment of Mr. Isaac Greenwood Hollisian Professor of ye Mathematicks & to appoint a meet- ing of ye Honblr & Revnd overseers at ye College for yt purpose.
His Honor lost no time, as the following press-notice’ shows:
Mr. Isaac Greenwood was inaugurated at the College Hall in Cam- bridge into the olfice of the Professor of Mathematicks and Natural and Experimental Philosophy lately founded by that great and living Bene- factor to the Society, Mr. Thomas Hollis of London, merchant. And we hear Mr. Greenwood gave his flrst public lecture at the College Hall on Wednesday last, Feb. 7.
The institution of a professorship in natural science at a
college where the classics had from the first formed a major
part of the curriculum, probably caused more stir in Boston
and Cambridge than the quotation implies.
It was, of course, almost inevitable that Professor Green-
wood’s lectures should in general follow the order of treat-
ment of the various mechanical powers and natural phenomena
as given in the Course of Experimental Philosophy of his great
English teacher, who in turn had his inspiration from Sir
Isaac Newton. Desaguliers (born of French parents in 1683,
at La Rochelle, France) was elected a member of the Royal
Society in 1714 (Isaac Newton was then president), and was
invited to become its demonstrator and curator. He is said
to have been the first to deliver lectures on scientific subjects
to the general public-a fact which renders it more than
likely that Greenwood’s lectures were the first on similar sub-
jects in the United States. Deaaguliers’ lectures were attended
by the most learned men of his day, and were made interesting
by skilful experiments. He contributed voluminously to the
Transactions of the Royal Society?
It is probable that Greenwood made use of Desaguliers’s
teachings and experiments further than simply to discuss his
theory of the rise of vapors and formation of clouds. On this
theory, dofinitely meteorological in its interest to us, its pro-
pounder writes as follows:’
Now may not this phaenomenon of the rise of vapors depend upon electricity in the following manner? The air which flows at the top of the surface of the waters is electrical, and so much the more as the weather is hotter. Now in the same man-
‘New England Weekly Journal, February 13, 1747. ‘A brlef account of his life, and a ful1,ht of his works is contained in
*Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., Vol. XLII, p. 144.
the 6 6 Dictionary of National Biography.
288 lKON!l!HLY WEBTHER REVIEW. SEPTEMBER, 1908
ner as small particles of water jump toward the electric tube, may not those particles jump toward the particles of air, which have much more
speclfl.. gravity than very sniall particles of water, and adhere to them? Then the air in motion having carried off the particles of water, and
driving them away a s €0011 as it has made them electrlcal, they repel one
another, and also the particles of air. This is the reason that a cubic inch of vapour is lighter than a cublc indl of air; which would not hap- pen if the particles of vaponr were only carried off in the interstices of air, bemuse then a cubic inch of air, loaded with vapour, would be made
speciflcally heavier than dry air; which is contrary to experiments, which show us by the barometer. that air which is moist, or full of vapours, is
always lighter than dry air.”
In the Course of Experimental Philosophy just quoted,
Desaguliers pays much attention to the barometer, especially
to its construction according to various patterns, and gives at
considerable length the substance of Halley’s Discourse Upon
the Reasons of the Rise and Fall of the Mercury in. Fair and
Foul Weather.”6 To one interested in the history of the barom-
eter, the thermometer, and the hygrometer, there are many
pages of fascinating reading in Desaguliers’ books
The Doctor Halley mentioned by Greenwood in connection
with his twelfth lecture, on the aurora, was the astronomer
Edmund Halley. Greenwood probably referred to his Account
of an Aurora Borealis seen at London, November 10, 1719’.
Altho Halley’s fame rests chiefly on his work in astronomy and
mathematics, he wrote much on purely meteorological sub-
jects. The following list, tho possibly not directly connected
with Professor Greenwood’s lectures, is interesting for the
light it throws on early meteorology in England. Maty’s Index
to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society gives
the volume and page for each contribution.
A discourse of the rule of the helght of the mercury in the barometer.
An historical account of the trade-winds and monsoons (published in
1686). An estimate of the quantity of vapour raised out of the sea by the
warmth of thesun. An account of several experiments made to examine the nature of the
expansion and contraction of fluids by heat and cold, in order to ascer- tain the divisionsof the thermometer, and tomake that instrument in all
placee, without adjusting i t by a standard.
On the proportional heat of the sun in all latitudes, with the method
of collectlng the same. An account of the evaporation of water, as i t was experimented in
Gresham College, In 1693, with some observations thereon. An account of the Torricelllan experiment, tried on the top of Snow-
don-Hili, and the success of it. An account of Dr. R. Hook‘s invention of the marine barometer, with
i t s description and uses.
Doctor Neiuwentyt, or Neiuwendijdt, named in connection
with the Aeolopile (Lecture I), was a Dutch philosopher, born
in August, 1654, and died in May, 1718. He was rather a
famous physician in his day.
Mr. Greenwood’s tenure of the Hollis professorship came to
an early end in 1738, and he died prematurely seven years
later n t Charleston, 8. C. His successor was Prof. John Win-
throp.
JOHN WINTHBOP’S LECTURES.
While Greenwood’s Syllabus contains the first printed an-
nouncement of lectures at Harvard College, Winthrop’s Sum-
mary of a Course of Experimental and Philosophical Lectures
is the earliest known record of the text of such lectures, and
probably the first of scientific lectures in this country. Only
a small section of them dealt with meteorology, strictly so
called. It has seemed best to bring this section out of the
seclusion of the original manuscripts and to present it in full
to the meteorological public. The old spelling as given in
the manuscripts of the Summary ” and of the Meteorologic
Diary ” has not been retained here.
6Original in Phil. Trans. Roy. SOC.. Vol. XLII, p. 187. 6Barometer, p. 363-380, 303-306: Thermometer. p. 289-298; Hggrrim-
‘Phil. Trans. Roy. SOC. Vol. XXX, p. 1099.
eters or ‘‘ Notiometers,” p. 298-302.
.
&lure Slat. April 96. [l746.]
We have already considered incompressible fluids, we now come to
speak of compressible ones; tho air be the only one we know of. This air is a fluid lighter than any one we know oi; and it encompasses the whole earth. When considered altogether i t is called the atmosphere.
Air has gravity, for by its pressure I t will sustain water in 8 tube 35 feet and mercury 3U inches. The Torricellian experiment (so called from ita inventor) is made with a tube sealed at one end and fllled with mercury;
then inverted into a basin of the same, it remains suspended at a height of 30 inches. This is called a barometer, and serves not only to show-
1. That there is a pressure of the air-but 2. To show the quantity of that pressure-and
3. To show that the pressure Is different at different times-and also
4. To measure the heights of mountains and the depths of mines-and
6. This barometer rises in serene, flne and pleasant weather, and falls in foul and is lowest in stormy: It is hlghest when the wind is in the northern board and the greatest variation is in winter and vice versa, all which arises from the differ-
ent pressure of the air,-The pressure of the air on every square inch
is =to 15 weight for a cubic inch of mercury weighs about l/’d a pound:
and by thls computation is the whole atmosphere = in welght t o a globe
of lead of 60 miles diameter. And the pressure of it on a human body 30,000 pounds by the same computation. The greatest varlation of the
barometer is 3 inches, from 28 to 31. But in this country €he greatest is 2 inches and 1/4 or from 28 3/4 to 30 3/C.-Now tho the mercury does not
press the bottom of the tube i t weighs as much as if it did; for its action against the side of the tube is horizontal, but the weight of the air sus- tained by the tube being equipouderate to the column of mercury In the
tube; you in effect weigh only the atmosphere and tube instead of the mercury and tube. The alr Is elastic and perhaps more so than any other body whatsoever: for putting a bladder into the air pump 112 blown,
the air in it expands and swells the bladder to the utmost extent; which
was proved experimentally.
Near the end of the twenty-fifth lecture we find this:
The heat of the air is nieasured by a thermometer as gravity is by the
barometer. Thermometers are of different kinds; as of air which forces water up into a tube by its elasticity, but it will never answer the end,
because it’s a barometer and thermometer too. They have till lately been made of spirits of wine; but those made of mercury are esteemed
t h e best because they are most easily affected. There are some made of oil. Sir Isaac [Newton] made one of linseed oil and by this means measured the degree of heat in melted metals; the moisture and drought
of the air is measured by an hygrometer which is made just as one fancies, biit the most coiumon are those made of a Cord and a weight at
the end of it. Some are made with cords and an index thatturns with it.
At the close of the last lecture, the thirty-third, is written
this :
This course of experimental and philosophical lectures, was concluded
OII the 16. of June 1746, by Mr. John Winthrop, Holllsian Professor of the mathematics, natural and experimental philosophy at Harvanl Cmllege.
JOHN WINTHROP’S OBSERVATIONS.
Turning now from his public to his private meteorological
work we find that Professor Winthrop was evidently a keen
observer of the weather, aside from the mere taking of ob-
servations; and was interested in giving to the public, accounts
of noteworthy meteorological events. Of these accounts only
two appear to have been preserved. The following letter”
tho unsigned, was undoubtedly written by Professor M inthrop,
inasmuch as the temperatures given appear under their proper
dates, in his Meteorologic Diary.
Messlrs Drapers,
-4s the weather of late has been extremely cold, some of your readers
may probably be gratlfled with an account of the degree of it, as estl- mated bv one of Fahrenheit’s thermometers.
Cambridge, January 30, 1765.
On the 9th instant, at IS 1/4 M. i t was 5 27th VI11 3/4 4
28th I X 9
39th VI11 1/4 8
By this thermometer. there have been but four colder mornings than the 27th since the year 1708. The coldest of all was on the 12th of Janu-
ary 3752 at VI11 M; when the mercury was 1/d a degree below the poidt marked 0. On January 22, 1754, at VI1 3/4 M, it was 3 degrees above 0.
On January 18, 1757, at IX 112 M, it was 3 112 d. and on December 24, 1761, at IS 1/4 M, i t was but 1 d. above 0. Such a degree of cold, however severely felt by us, and sumcient t o congeal our rhers and bays, is as nothlng to what has been observed in
other parts of the world. Travellers inform us that In Siberia, at the . . __ -
Mlesachussetts Gazette, January 31, 1765.
HEPTEYBER, 1908. MON!CHLY WEATHER BEVIEW. 289
end of June the earth ,has been thawed only to the depth of 3 feet, and below this has been found frozen to a great depth. ’Tis said, that in
the summer of the years 1685 and 1686, in digging a well they got to a depth of 91 feet, h d found the earth frozen hard all the way. And the
cold has sometimes been so great, that with the,help of freezing mixtures they have been able to fls mercury itself. Your’s, bc.
In the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. LII, pt. 1, p. 6,
appears “An acwunt of a meteor seen in New England, and of
a whirlwind felt in that country, July 10, 1760,” contributed
by Professor Winthrop. It deals first with a meteor that fell
in southern Massachusetts, cc by which the southern parts of
the province were greatly alarmed,” and then with the tornado.
The account of this latter is very detailed, particularly as to the damage done. A careful description of the positions oc-
cupied by uprooted objects after the passage of the storm, leads
the reader to expect an explanation of the cause of the whirl,
none is given, however, and Winthrop closes his article thus:
It appears to me so dimcult to assign a cause adequate to these effects,
to show by what means a small body of air could be put into a circular motion, so excessively rapid as this must have been, that I dare not
venture any conjectures about it.
The desultory accounts and observations above mentioned
sink into insignificance when one opens the manuscript pages
of Professor Winthrop’s Meteorologic Observations, or, as he
sometimes wrote it, Meteorologic Diary. These observations
occupy three quarto volumes, each about 14 inches thick.
They cover in all no less than thirty-six gears in an all but
unbroken series, from December 11, 1742, to December 31,
1778. The gc chasms,” as he called them, aggregate barely two
months of the entire time. This remarkable record, while by
no mecns the first of its kind in this country and while possi-
bly somewhat less accurate, because of faulty exposure of the
instruments, than that of Doctor Lining at Charleston, 5. C.:
has the distinction of being, by seventeen years, the longeRt
continuous record kept by one person prior to 1800. Win-
throp’s own account1o of his instruments, their exposure, the
tables of observations, etc., as found at the end of the first year’s record, is here given, nearly in full. It shows him to
have been a careful scientist, tho, as appears from the test,
he did not venture into the field of speculation. Meteorology
in his day was still largely a matter of tabulation.
The 1st shows the
night t o noon being marked M; and the evening hours or those from
noon to midnight being marked E. The 2d column contains the height of the barometer in English inches
and decimals. . . . I made use of a common or open barometer which I fllled and inverted very carefully so a s to clear it of air as effectually as I could. The diameter of the bore of my tube is .97 of an Inch and the diameter of the cistern in which i t is inimersed Is 3 iiiches.
My thermometer was of Mr. Hawksbee’s make, fllied with spirit‘s of
wine. The scale is divided into 100 equal parts beginning from a certain point above marked 0 and the 100th degree falls just above the bulb of the thermometer. The freezing point is numbered 65; and the divisions
are continued upwards to 8 degrees above 0. The observations are
expressed in these degrees, with their decimal parts. For want of a
northern room, I placed the thermometer in a chamber looking west-
ward, where no flre was kept, and from which I excluded the sun by
window shute. But to open a communication with the esternal air I made a hole through the side of the house in such a manner, however, that the sun could never shine through it. So that I believe the ther-
mometer was always nearly in the same temperature of the air as if it had been placed abroad. By the diary i t appears, that though the ther-
mometer was capable of showing the greatest heat we had last year, i t would not show the greatest cold; the spirits several times subsiding so
low as to be quite invisible, which in the diary is marked l O l +, as the degrees of height above 0 are marked with the negative sign. . . . I shall be enabled for the future to observe greater degrees of cold by
the help of a mercurial thermometer given me last winter by Colin
Campbell, Esq., F. R. S., that ingenious member of t h e Royal Bociety, who misses no opportunity of promoting natural knowledge. It was
@See A. J. Henry: Early Individual Observers in the United States. U. S. Weather Bureau Bul. 11, p. 291 et seq.
IOFmm manuscript in possession of the American Academy of A r t s
and Sciences. Boston, Mass.
The foregoing] diary is divided into 5 columns.
day an L hour of the observation; the morning hours or those from mid-
. .
made by Samuel Bewley opposite t o St. Martin’s Church, London, and is graduated according to Fahrenheit’s scale. The divisions go upwards
from the point marked 0 near the bottom of the tube as far as 112, which is called sevenfib kf, and the freezing point is number 39, and is, I think,
justly placed, for having put the thermometer into snow the mercury stood at that point. Having put this thermometer close by the former, I observed in an intense cold that when the spirits of wine stood at 100,
the mercury was at 16. The latter thermometer will therefore seem to estimate much greater degrees of cold than the former, and perhaps the
greatest cold of this climate.
In the column of winds, I have followed Mr. Locke and Doctor Jurin,
denoting the strength by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and making use of a cipher, 0, t o indicate a perfect calm.
I use clear to signify that the sky was entirely free from clouds. Vwu .fair when it was almost clear, and few clouds t o be seen. Fuir, when more of the sky was free from clouds than not. Fuir with clotid, when
it was uncertain whether more of the eky was covered or clear. Cloudy, when more of the sky was covered with clouds than not. Very cloudy, when i t was almost but not quite covered. Covmd, when no part of the clear sky appeared. CZoar., when the sky was covered with one uniform
thick cloud. I would willingly have observed the quantity of rain, mow and other
vapors that fell here; but my lodgings were so circumstanced that it was impracticable. Whenever a dash is found in any column of the diary, it is to be under-
stood that matters continue in the same condition as in the preceding
observation. The chasms noted with dots, to be met with here and there
were occasioned by my absence from Cambridge. At the end of every month and every year I have set down the mean altitudeof the barometer, as also that of the thermometer for morning
and evening, found by dividing the sums of those altitudes by the num- ber of obsewations.
I shall not pretend to make any remarks on the diary, which I know may be done t o much greater advantage by any member of the illustrious Royal Society. who shall think it worth while to look over the same.
Cambridge, New England,
9 March 1744.
Following a description of a new exposure of his instruments
occasioned by a change of residence, he writes:
I have always endeavored to set down the least height of the ther- mometer in the morning, and its greatest height in the afternoon, which is the reason why the observations are not always made at the sume
hour. And where there occur more than two observations in a day one
of them is for the sake of the barometer, which was either higher or lower then than in the Immediate foregoing or following observations.
At the end of each year are given the following tables:
1. A table of the mean, greatest, and least heights and ranges of the barometer for the year - at Cambridge, New England.
5. A table of the morning and evening heights, and of thegreatest and
least heights of Hawksbee‘s thermometer, for the year -. 3. The same for Fahrenheit’s thermomeler, 4. A table of winds, showi.ng the number of observations of their blow- ing for each quarter of the horizon, being N to EbyN, inclusive, etc., for
the year -. Professor Winthrop’s naively hinted desire for the keeping
of a rainfall record was first gratified in August, 1749, from
which time he kept a continuous record thru the year 1775.
I n 1779, the year of his death, he went back over the long
record, and tabulated in the Hawksbee scale, the mean monthly
temperature of each year from 1753 to 1779. He did the same for the rainfall, entering his results under cc Rain from
1750 to 1776,” which table he divided into cc Synopsisof Rain,
etc., in inches and millesimals,” and ccMeans of Rain, etc.” [This
latter part from January, 1765, to December, 1773, inclusive )
He recognized the unreliability of short-period averages, as is
shown by his allowing fifteen years after the beginning of his
rainfall observations before taking the means. The rainfall
tables are here given, in full, as Tables 1 and 2. The year of maximum and minimum precipitation for each month, Pro-
fessor Winthrop indicated by W and 0, respectively. I n the original, the ten-thousand ths are exprest as common fractions.
It is remarkable that nothing remains to show that Profes-
sor Winthrop carried on an extensive correspondence with Benjamin Franklin,” who numbered among his varied interests
I1Tiie list of the Benjamin Franklin papers in theLibrary of Congress,
published in 1905, mentions but four letters, one of which was not to Winthmp, himselc two were from Franklin to Winthrop and one from Winthrop to Franklin.-C. A., j r .
_.
290
Mem quantltiea of 15 yearn ................................ Total of 15 years ............................................ 1765 ...................................................... Total of 16 .................................................. Means ..................................................... 1766 ....................................................... Totrl of 17 ................................................ Mrans .................................................... I767 ...................................................... Total of 18 ................................................. Mcanla .................................................... 1768 ...................................................... Total of 19 ................................................. Mean a. .................................................... 1769 ...................................................... Total of 20 ............................................... Mean a. .................................................... 1770 ....................................................... Total of 21 ............................................... Mean a.. ................................................... 1171 ........................................................ Total of 22 .................................................. Means .................................................... 1772 ........................................................ Total of 23 ............................................... Means ...................................................... 1713 ........................................................ Total of 24 .................................................
MON!mLY wEA.TEER BEVIEW .
TABLE 1-prof . Joh~b winthrop’e remd qf precipitation at hmbddge. Mme., from lY50 to 177.5, fpreluefve .
SEFTEMBEE, 1908
3.1922 47.883 1.918 49.801 3.1125 1.749 61 . &5
3.0323 3.3W
M . 8M 3.04% 2.792 57.68 3.013 1.989 59.669 2.9835 4.247
5% 916 3.0433 2.557 66.478 3.0215 1.76
68.223 2 .9 m 2 2 . 7S8 71.011
Synopsis of rain. ete .. in inches and millesimals . I
Remarks . Tear .
/I
b
..
c
z a
A .
ai
s e
. .. b a
ir .
E
3.651 2.486 1.263 3 . a 7
2.506 2.51 D 0.895 3.078 2.362 4.01 W4.88 2.131
4 . a36 1.898 4.668 3.187 2.922
2.638 3.08
4.073 2.279 2 256
...
a 914
4.03
3 . a77
.........
i b :
E+
........ 47.6585 45.56966 46.43875 46.4432 45.12066 43.74071 4843987 44.58277 45.0163
U . 4679
4.41P8
41 . !E715 41.794 41.4695 40.9185 40.73106 40.81905 40.6051 40.14% 40.1982 40.43u6 40.79769 40.4566 40 . 3.31
........
.
.. i: ... .- ...
3.076 6.734 5.341
w 7 .7 1 7.157 2.216
4.948
1.008
5 . 083 4.259 0.899 0.888 8.062 1.747 2 566
2.405
1.595 3.322
D 0.753 3.523 3.91 1.807 1.912 3 . 2R5
5 . ma
.......
.- .
$2.281 53.086 38.392 $2.026 46.681 38.503 3.461 41.334
Y 53.71 48.918 .% . 984 31.845 D 24.466
39.878 86.927 32.65q 37.732 42.315 36.754 81.393 41.272 45.31 48.875 32.614 37.353
.........
0.708 6.944 3.056 3.745 3.218 3.665 0.807 6.241 3.04 4.074 1.674 1.m
0.942
8.345 3.871 DO . 596
0 . Sae 1.008 2 069 1.753 3.153
W 6.9i6 4.989 1.218 1.887 1.056
8.891 2.673 4.808 3.782 3.223 4 . P24 2.188 5.007 2.126 2.772 1.537 D 0.895 1.501 2.694 1.405 2.891 4.032 6.386 1.476 3.563 1.062
W 6.298 2.059
2.794 2.631 0.991
- ...
4.063 3.2r2 2.646
2.138 1.306 3.327 3 . GI8 3.506 1.54 2.287 1.237 1.899 1.486 2.622 4.494 4.017 8.737 2.713 Dl.23 1.868
1.686
4.17 WA9a 2.312 2.807
4.235 5.2
4.934 3.467 7.139 4.775 2 is53 4.299
w 9.83 5.421 DO . 849 1 . M
1.755 6.399 6.054 2 . 738 5.848 6.178 4.269 4.208 1.392 8.03 3.959 2.731 2.165
.........
2.145 4.144
0.875 2.707 DO.348 2.8 1.315
1.652 1.212 4.253 6.336 4.075 0.893 1.06
4.393 1 .4 3
2.772 5.7.27
5.66 4.333 8.718 2 . 19 W 7.648 2.9a8
a 175
.......
3.721 3.157 7 . 122
\v 8 .~1 7 3.478 4.163 5.998 3.644 4.14 4.966 2.822 3.93 6.018
8.445
3.204
5 . 324
2.354 8.016
D1.825 6.307 2.484 6.63 I On9 2.46
3, 085
.........
Wettest month was July. 175 8.
Order of months as to w e t nem at -:
DrY . Wet . September . December . November . June. August . Y a y . February . October . January . July .
z:iI .
17 50 ..... 2.355 1751 .... 4.143 1752 .... ’ 2.077 li53 ... 3.809 1754 .... 4.342 1765 .... 8.718 17 66 .... 3.686 1767 .... 4.773 17% .... N’7.191 17 59 .... 1 2.492 1760 .... 2.501 1761 .... 0.748 1762 .... 4.127 17 63 .... 1.924
1765 ... .I 1.918 1766 .... ‘ 1.749 1767 .... 3 338 17 68 .... 1 21792
17 69 .... 1 1.989 1770 .... 4.217 1771 ..... 2.557 1772 .... 1.75 1773 ... , 2.788 1774 .... 5.4661
1775 ..... 0.857
17 64 .... 1 U0.047
9.454
w 9.475 1.3% 3.855 2.689 1.334 2.614 4.177 7.684 7.796 5 . OY8
2.489
2.736 2.41 2 . I 6 8 7.783 4.373 1 .0 9 4.811 D 1.033
1.768 0.863
d .9 2
a sbi
f . 555
.........
2.081
3 . 08 1.878 5.116 5.73 4 . il 4.341
2.9s1 4.165 4.893 2.789 3.13 DO . 665 4.784 3.666
8.858 1.641 5.166 2.184 5.916 3.171 6.669 3.555 1.959 W 6.288
3.885 1.928 3.066
3.949 1.47 1.695 4 . 143 4.179 2.649 5.877 W 6 . .509
1.35 8.597 4.581 3 . 113 1.726
4.302 4.557 D1.073 1.187 2 . I86 3.022 5.142 2.396
a 177
........
450.163 in 10 years .
802.89 in 20 years .
._
........
TABLE 2 .-h f . John E n t h q ’ e eummarg of his record of peeipifation a4 Cambridge. Mat38 .
Mean quantities of rain. in inches and millesimals .
-
A
3 E
3.01 45.164 0.598
45.76
2 . .m u . 93s
46.6Y8 2 . i46
1.006 47.704 2 . e02
2.069 49.773 2.6913 1.753 51.526 2.5763 3.153
M . 679 4.6035 6.975 61.654 2.80” 4.383 66.037 2.8712 1.218 67.355
2.8022
... .....
5
d
a
...
6 s
3. R711 43.067 2 . 668 45.735 2.8585 3.187 48 . 92.2 2.87766 2 .9 2 51.844 2.8802 2.538 54.382 2 . &E 3 . 08 57.46.2 2.8731 4.03 61.493 2.921 4.073
2.982 2.279 87.844 2.9496 2.256
2 .9 !!
._ .
6 5 .5 ~~
7n . 1
....
ai
z ..
3.9876 59.816 2.566 62.31 3.8987 2 . 405
6 I . 787 3.611 1.Bi5 66.382 3.6878 3.322 R9.704 3.6fi86 0.753 70.457 3.6’228 3.5’23 73.98 3.5’31 3.91 7 i . 89 3.5401 1.M7 i9.697 3.4651 1.912
81.609
3.4
2
2
M
4.349 65.246 8.7R3 69.029 4.314 4.373
4.3178 1 .0 9 75.04 4.1688 3.811 78.851
1.0I 79 . BR1
3.994 8.8.51 88.735 4.2255 1.7fi8 90.503 4.1131 6 . 81% 97.366 4.2333 2.555
I . 911
4.163
7s .m i
4.1.50
. 9
2.6243 39.371 4.017
2 . 8 1171 3.737 47.1% 2.772 2.712 49.83; 2.7686 1.23 51 .OW-
2.6811
1.868 62.935 2.64675 1.636 .% . €71 2.6983 1.17 58.741 4 6701 4.92 63.661 2.7678 2.312 65.973
3 . i4R85
4 3 .y
A . I
c,
4.5766 68.65 2.738 71 ..W 8 4.48175 5.818 77 . 236 4.5433 6.178 83.414
4.6341
4.2fi9 87.688 4.6149 4.208
91.891 4.5945 1.392
9 3 .1 3 4.4125 3.03 95.3!3 4.8325 3 . m Y9.472 4.3lG2 2.731 02 . no3
4.2501
_. ... ...... . -1 .....
2.5123 37.685 1 .m 39.107 2.4442 2.771 41.859
2.4635 6.727 47.606 3.6448 5.66
2.8035 4.383 57.599 2.8795 3.713 61.312 2.9195 2 . 19 63 . .M 2 2 . 8R65
55 . 2ra
3.5936 53.904 3.856 57.76 3.61 1.641 59.401
3 . 4%* 5.156
a . 557 3.5865 2 184 66.741 3.6126 5.915 72.656
8.6325 3.171 75.827 8.6107 5.669
R1.496
3 . i044 3.555 85.051 3.697 1 . %59 87.01
3.6255
8.461 51.91
3.113 55. 023
3.438 1.726 56.749 3.8382 4.302 61.051 3.8916 4 .1 7 65 . 3.4425
66.881
8.32405 1.187 87.668 3.22225 2.186 69.864 3.1752
72.876 3 .1 w 6.142 78.018
1 .om
3. on
3.25075
4.4412 66 . 619 3.085 69.701 4.3565 5.324 75.0% 4.4134 2.35* 77.382 4.291) 3.016
$0.428
4 . 2.p905
1.825 82.253 4.1146 5 . .30 7 87.56 4.1696 2.484
9Ll . 044 4.09b 6.68 69.677 4 . %I33 4 .om
100.686
2.8488 *2.729 2 . e91 45 .cia
2.85125 4.033 49.6.5’2 2.9206 5.386
55.038
3.057 1.476 56.514 2.9744 3.563 60.077 3.0039 1.062 61.139 2.0114 6 .3 8 67.417 3.0053 2.059
69.496 3.0214 2.794
3.0121
72.29
7.648
3.0935
2.938 74.088
7! . 15
[Pa@ Means ................................................. I 2.9588 tarn]
a very active interest in meteorology . Franklin purchased in
England an %foot telescope and some other instruments for
Professor Winthrop. and the meager correspondence we have
deals largely with these matters . In one letter from Franklin
to Winthrop. appears this sentence: “1 thank you much for
the papera and accounts of damage done by lightning. which
you have favored me with.” Further than this there is noth-
ing of strictly meteorological interest .
made at Greenwich noon (gh 07“ a . m . Rio time) at about forty
station a Most of these are the regular stations of the Navy
Department already referred to; some are under the control
of the Telegraph Department (e . g., the important one at
Curityba). and some are in neighboring foreign countries (e . g., Cordoba. Rosario. Buenos Ayres. Mendoza. Montevideo.
and Asuncion) . Several reports are missing each day . The
despatches are sent by telegraph. in cipher. and include pres-
sure. temperature. vapor tension. mean temperature of the
preceding day. cloudiness. wind direction. and wind velocity . It is a serious lack not to have the amounts of precipitation
during the preceding twenty-four hours given . These data
would be more valuable even than the temperature and at
many. if not all. of the reporting stations rain gages are already
provided . The information regarding rainfall ‘now included
in the daily despatches is limited to such vague generalized
statements as the following:
GOVEFtNMENT METEOR0LOaICA.L WORg IN BRAZIL.’
Ry Prot B~BEBT DEC . WARD. Harvard University .
[ UmEinusd from th.e iUm.thlg Wdher R c u h . Aiquat. 2908 . ]
TEE DAILY WEATHEB MAP AND FORECASTS . The daily weather map published by the meteorological
section of the Navy Department is based on observations
Aocompmied by Chert I X .
- -. .... -