Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 31.djvu/125

Rh the House on Expenditures of the War Department: "At the beginning of the work of the Signal Service, the duty of giving notice of the approach and force of storms and floods for the benefit of commerce and agriculture throughout the United States implied that the notices should be correct, reliable, and timely, as none others could possibly be of benefit; it was, therefore, absolutely necessary to provide for the careful study of the atmosphere. On my accession, I found every evidence, from popular criticism, that still further progress in weather predictions was expected. I therefore emphasized especially the necessity of the study of the instruments and methods of observing and the investigation of the laws of the changes going on in the atmosphere. ... It is evident by these successive steps that, in addition to knowledge gained for current work, the office is powerfully contributing toward the establishment of a deductive science of meteorology which will eventually give us a solid, rational basis for predictions, thereby improving on the empirical rules by which predictions have generally been made hitherto." And he adds that he was led more especially to assist in the researches on the sun's heat by reason of the encouragement given him by the late President Garfield, whose "last words to me were, 'Give both hands of fellowship and aid to scientific men.'"

As a further illustration of General Hazen's appreciation of the scientific needs of the office, must be noted his appointment of Professor William Ferrel as meteorologist, and of Professor T. C. Mendenhall as electrician; to the latter, all matters relating to standards, instruments, and instrumental research were also committed. Nor did he stop here, but, by appointing several younger men to positions as junior professors, he largely increased the amount of study and research that the office was able to perform, and, by publishing a series of professional papers and smaller notes, he took the final steps necessary to stimulate every man to do his best. Laboring in this same direction, he sought to elevate the intelligence and scientific training of the Signal Corps proper, by enlisting college graduates as far as possible, by extending the course of instruction for observers, and by establishing a course of higher instruction for commissioned officers.

In still another direction General Hazen showed his affiliation with scientific interests, namely, by his desire to conform as thoroughly as possible to the recommendations of the International Meteorological Conferences. These recommendations, as soon as received in the printed minutes of the conferences, were, by General Hazen's orders, carefully examined, and instructions at once prepared calculated to introduce methods of observation and publication in conformity with the recommendations of the leading meteorologists of the world.

Among the items specially noteworthy, wherein General Hazen