Erected by the Citizens of Cumberland County, July 4, 1876.

[THE WEATHER BUREAU.]

BY W. J. HENDERSON.

What is the Weather Bureau? It is a branch of the national government service whose duty it is to make forecasts of the weather, to estimate and publish the probabilities twice in every twenty-four hours. Its headquarters are at Washington, and it is attached to the Agricultural Department. It was originally a part of the army, for on June 1, 1860, Congress passed an act establishing the Signal Service, and detailing a major and several signal officers to conduct it. In 1863 the Signal Corps was organized. It served through the war, and was then permitted to disband. It was reorganized in 1866, and the weather predictions were a part of its duties until recently. Now the weather service, or, to be more accurate, the Meteorological Bureau, is a separate service.

Its business is to predict the weather as nearly as it can. Most persons are of the opinion that it can do this accurately. At any rate, they blame the observers very severely when, owing to local causes, their predictions, intended to cover a large territory, are not fulfilled to the letter. If they predict showers followed by clearing weather in eastern New York, and it does not clear up in New York city till nine o'clock in the evening, inhabitants of the metropolis are very likely to say unkind things about the observers. They forget that the chief objects of this service are to furnish valuable information to mariners, to the great rice and cotton growers of the South, to the farmers, and to all other persons upon whose prosperity the weather has a potent influence. The fact that John Smith is caught in an unexpected rain and gets his new hat spoiled is not so important as the sailing of a ship, laden with valuable freight, into the teeth of a howling hurricane, of which she might have been warned. The government spends a good deal of money on this service. It costs $5000 to fit out a station, and the yearly allowance for incidentals alone is $500. This is exclusive of the pay of observers and the cost of telegraphing. And there are 182 of these stations at work now.

Twice a day, at 8 a.m. and at 8 p.m., the observations of the weather conditions are taken; and they are immediately telegraphed, in a cipher devised for the purpose, to Washington, at the headquarters. There the facts contained in the reports from the different parts of the country are collated, and the probabilities deduced from them. The bulletins which are printed in the newspapers are sent out, and also weather maps. On these maps are printed lines showing the areas over which certain variations of the barometer exist, and other lines showing the changes in temperature. If you understand the manner in which American weather operates, you can take these maps every day and make pretty good predictions yourself.

As I have said, it is from the local observations that the general predictions are made. In the city of New York the weather is studied away up on top of the tall building of the Manhattan Life-insurance Company. The Local Forecast Observer—that's his official title—is E.. B. Dunn, who, when this was an army service, was Sergeant Dunn. Now the irreverent newspapers call him "Farmer" Dunn. What he does in his office is what all the other observers throughout the country do in theirs. I am going to describe his methods as he described them to me, and then you'll know all about it.

The instruments used in observing the weather are the aneroid and cistern barometers, wet and dry bulb thermometers, wind vane and compass, anemometer and anemograph, and the rainfall. Of all these the barometer is probably the most important. The standard form of the instrument is a tube thirty-four inches long, closed at the top, exhausted of air, and immersed at the bottom in a cup of mercury. The purpose of the barometer is to measure the pressure of the atmosphere. In general, the mercury will stand high in the tube when the weather is fair, and low when it is foul. By noting the minute changes, measured on a graduated scale beside the tube, the observer reads the indications of the barometer. The words "fair," "change," etc., engraved on the front of the instrument are disregarded. They have no significance whatever. The rising or falling of the mercury in the tube is caused by the beginning of those atmospheric changes which precede a storm but are not discernible by our senses. The barometer discerns them for us, and gives warning of weather changes. Of course there are many different conditions which affect the instrument, and the weather observers are instructed in these matters. The aneroid barometer is round, like one of the cheap nickel-plated clocks that are so numerous, and the changes are indicated by a hand moving across a scale on the dial. The weight of the atmosphere is measured not by a column of mercury in a tube, but by the expansion and compression of a small metal box from which the air has been exhausted.

The thermometer, as the reader knows, measures the temperature of the air; and in all readings of the barometer the changes in temperature have to be taken into account. The weather observers use two kinds of thermometers, the dry and the wet bulb. The dry bulb is the ordinary form, which every one knows, and is used to measure heat and cold. The wet has the bulb wrapped in some absorbent material, which is kept soaked with water. Now you know, without my telling you, that the water will cool the bulb, and hence the wet-bulb thermometer will stand lower than the dry. That cold is caused by evaporation, and the evaporating power of the atmosphere depends upon the amount of moisture there is in the air. So you at once see that the difference between the readings of the wet and dry bulb thermometers indicates the amount of moisture in the air. This amount the observers express in percentages of 100; and thus we read of "humidity, 60 per cent." Under ordinary circumstances, when the humidity gets close to 100, the point at which the air is soaked with moisture, it is going to rain. The temperature, however, and also the wind, have a good deal to do with this. The form in which the weather observers use these two thermometers is called the whirling psychrometer. The two instruments are put on the end of an arm, which is fixed on an axle turned by a crank. The observer whirls this around a few times before reading the instrument, for the purpose of making the air act freely on the two bulbs.

The direction of the wind, as every one knows, is shown by a weather vane. Those which are used by the observing stations, however, have an attachment which automatically records on a sheet of paper every variation of the vane, so that the office has an account of the smallest changes of the wind during the twenty-four hours. The speed of the wind is measured by the anemometer. This consists of four half-spheres at the end of four horizontal arms, which centre on an upright axle. The force of the wind causes the arms to revolve, and it has been found that 500 revolutions equal one mile. If the arms revolve 3000 times in an hour, the wind is blowing six miles an hour. The revolving of the upright axle operates a contrivance by which the speed of the wind for every minute in the day is recorded.

The amount of rain which falls is measured in a way which shows what the depth of water would be on a level surface if it did not, in the natural order of things, run off. The rain is caught in a funnel 8½ inches in diameter, so placed as to be protected from all gusts of wind. The record is made in five-hundredths of an inch.

In addition to all these instruments the observers watch the well-known weather signs in the sky. Sunset and sunrise and the various changes in the appearance of the clouds are carefully studied. When a man has spent a year or two of his life in watching all these things, he can make a pretty safe prediction as to the weather for the next twenty-four hours. The Weather Bureau does not profess to foretell the conditions, except in special instances, for more than forty-eight hours.

Now I have told you what the local observers at each station watch and record and note in their reports sent to Washington. What you naturally desire now to know is how do the officials at the central office make their deductions as to the probable weather throughout the country. How do they know that a cold wave is advancing eastward, or that a severe storm is travelling up the coast, and that cautionary signals are to be set between Cape Henry and Passamaquoddy, or some other points? One of the principal ways in which the observers can tell the path of a storm is by watching the rainfall ahead of it. They have found that there is a sort of advance guard of rain, behind which is the lowest barometric area; and they regard that part of the country where the barometer is lowest as the centre of the storm. The reports from various stations show the path of the advancing rain, and the weather observers know that a low barometer is likely to follow it. They cannot tell exactly how fast it will advance, for areas of clear weather stand in the way of the storm, and local causes sometimes prevent them from yielding quickly.

COURSE OF CIRCULAR STORM SHOWING ITS TWO MOVEMENTS.

The chief reliance of the observers, however, is on a general acquaintance with the laws of storms. Years of observation and recording have proved that storms have ways of their own, and when you know where a storm has come from you can come very close to telling just where it is going. At any rate, it cannot get lost so long as it is in the United States, for the weather men are always on its track. The greatest originating place for storms is the equator, and, in our hemisphere, that part of it which is near the West Indies. Most of our cyclones, or revolving storms, originate there. These storms have two kinds of motions. In the first place, the storm-wind blows in a circle, like a gigantic whirlwind; and in the second place this whole thing advances over the land and sea, very much as a top, while spinning on its own centre, will move slowly along the floor. A cyclone starting down near the equator will begin by moving westward; then it curves around and goes northward, its diameter increasing and the velocity of its rotation decreasing, and finally it edges off over the New England States, and goes out to sea. (See diagram.) In the southern hemisphere these storms follow a similar track to the southward. In both hemispheres the storms advance at from two to forty miles per hour, and it is this movement which is uncertain and which requires close watching.

The storms which come from the far West are less understood. One theory is that they go around the world; and some of them have been traced all the way around, except in Asia, where there are no observers. These storms cross the United States in three ways. Sometimes they come in by way of Alaska, sometimes further down the Pacific coast, and again by Lower California. They usually lose some of their force when they reach the middle of the continent. From that point they are very likely to move to the Lake region, where they acquire a fresh supply of vapor and energy, and finally go off to the Atlantic by way of the St. Lawrence River. The observers keep posted as to their path by watching the premonitory rainfall and the succeeding low barometer.

Cold waves also have ways of their own, and the observers have learned them. The waves come in from three different points—northwest, west, and southwest. Those from the northwest often move directly east, and in that case the cold weather is not likely to extend south of the Ohio River. Sometimes, however, they move in a southeasterly direction, and then the whole country east of the Mississippi is affected. Those which come in from the southwest usually extend in a north-easterly direction. In these cases there are large decreases in temperature at Shreveport, St. Louis, and such places, before Chicago is affected.

Thus I have given you the outlines of the data from which the Weather Bureau predicts what kind of a day it will be to-morrow. The observers could tell more than they do now if they could only keep track of the storms when they are out on the ocean. But unfortunately there is no method by which stations can be maintained on the face of the great deep. The weather students are compelled to do the best they can with such information as they can obtain from ship captains, and this is not constant or systematic, and is therefore far from satisfactory. The value of the information which the service furnishes to the sailors is, on the other hand, very great. The steamers of the regular lines, of course, sail as they are advertised to do, without considering the weather; but they know what to expect, and can be prepared for it. Sailing-vessels, however, often avoid heavy weather and even danger at sea by heeding the warnings of the observers. You and I just take our umbrellas with us when the probabilities are rain, but the sailor stays in his harbor and lets the cyclone get well out to sea ahead of him before he sets sail.

"FARMER" DUNN'S HOME.

The mile run is about the only long-distance event practised by American school and college athletes. In England the three-mile race is popular, and is one of the standard events of the inter-university field meetings, but it has not as yet been adopted in this country. At the International games last fall it was on the card, and Conneff won for the New York Athletic Club. Since then there has been some talk of placing the event on the Inter-collegiate schedule, but the proposition was defeated at a recent meeting of the Executive Committee of the I.C.A.A.A.A.

T.. P. CONNEFF'S STRIDE IN THE MILE RUN.

Training for the mile run may be begun at almost any time of the year, but it is presumed in all these short sketches that training will be started in the winter-time and developed in the spring. Preliminary work in long-distance running is of the simplest kind, consisting merely of walking and running at a slow jog four or five miles every day until the spring season has fairly set in. For this kind of work the best costume to wear are knickerbockers, heavy shoes and stockings, a flannel shirt, and a sweater. This walking and running across country will harden the muscles and gradually develop staying powers, which can be acquired in no other way.

When the weather has become warm enough to go on the track in light running costume, the following scheme will be found a good one for steady training: On the first day do a mile and a half at an easy jog; on the second day, run a half-mile at a good pace, trying to do it in 2 min. 45 sec. (as the weeks pass by the athlete should try to reduce this time for the half-mile down to 2 min. 30 sec. or below); on the third day run a quarter of a mile at speed; on the fourth day cover three-quarters of a mile at an easy jog; on the fifth day do a mile and a half again very leisurely; on the sixth day another quarter at speed. Always lay off on Sunday, for one day's rest a week is necessary when training for any event.

After this method has been practised for several weeks, it will be well to take a trial mile on time. But thereafter do not run trials more frequently than once in ten days, and never make a trial within ten days of the date for the race. Before a competition it is well to lay off for two or three days, and before trying a mile on time during the practice season it is always best to lay off the day before. In other words, do your trial mile on Monday, Sunday being the regular lay-off day.

W. E. LUTYENS.
English Inter-University Champion.

There is little to be said about the strategy of mile-running. The mile-runner must know just how fast he can run, and when he goes into a race he should cover his distances regardless of what his rivals are doing. This is sometimes very difficult, especially for younger runners who are not judges of pace, and who allow themselves to be run off their feet in the first half-mile. It is true that the first half-mile is always run at a greater speed than the second; but a well-trained athlete, who knows exactly how fast he can do his event, should not allow any opponent to make him go faster than he is in training for. A number of athletes, knowing the average weakness of mile-runners, train themselves to go a very fast half-mile at first, in the hope that they may run their opponents, who have trained in a different way, off their feet. Those, however, who are confident of their ability, and are judges of pace, will frequently allow these fast fellows to get a quarter of a lap ahead of them, knowing very well that in the second half-mile they will be able to close up and finish strongly.

The accompanying pictures show the stride of Conneff—the American and International champion—and Lutyens, the English Inter-University champion, who was defeated by Conneff in the International games last fall. It is plain to see that the Englishman's stride is much longer than Conneff's; but stride does not seem to be such an important factor in long-distance running as it is in the shorter distances. In fact, it will be noticed that most mile-runners are short, stocky men, although, as a rule, their legs are much longer in proportion to their bodies than is the case with other men. Conneff runs with his mouth open the whole distance, and, as I have already said, this is undoubtedly the best method for runners to adopt, in spite of the old adage about breathing through the nose. Conneff also runs with his arms hanging down, which is by far the best way, as it relieves the chest and shoulders of the weight of the arms (which counts in a long race), and the swinging of the hands low down seems to give a forward impetus similar to that which a jumper gets when he uses dumb-bells. The costume and footwear for long-distance running are the same as for other distances, except, perhaps, that the shoes may be made a trifle heavier if the athlete prefers.

Training for the low hurdles is, in general, the same as that for the high hurdles, which was described in this Department last week. The jump over the obstacle itself, however, is radically different, and it is for this reason that many hurdlers who are invincible over the shorter distance are frequently defeated in the longer. It is hardly necessary to repeat here that the low hurdles are placed twenty yards apart, and are only 2 feet 6 inches high. The fact, however, that they are 2 feet 6 inches high only is what makes the difference in the style necessary.

Diagram showing the proper (a) and the improper (b) line along which the shoulders of a low-hurdler should travel.

In clearing the low hurdles the athlete should endeavor not to jump. He must put as little spring as possible into his effort, but should clear the obstacle by a dexterous management of the legs. Here is where the advantage of the double-jump exercise comes in. In the 220 race the body of the hurdler should be kept on as constant a level as possible. In other words, his shoulders should move along an imaginary straight line from start to finish.

The diagram at the top of the page shows this more clearly perhaps than any description could. The line A is the one that the shoulders should follow; the line B shows the motion that should be avoided. With practice this form can be readily acquired, and it adds greatly to the speed of the hurdler. The secret of the motion is to lunge slightly forward at the hurdle and to spread the legs to the widest angle as you clear it. The movement is somewhat similar to that which a man would make if he were suspended from the ceiling, his toes just touching the floor, and a series of hurdles on a treadmill were passing under him. To avoid being struck he would merely lift his legs, as he has learned to do in the double jump.

In running the high hurdles the athlete may use either foot he chooses at the take-off, although it is better to become accustomed to jump from the right foot. It is better, because in the low hurdles the successful man must jump from the right foot. This is made necessary by curved tracks. There are few 220 straightaway courses; most low hurdle contests being conducted on a curved track, and it is practically impossible to make any speed at all on such a path when jumping from the left foot. Jim Lee used to jump from the left foot, and for that reason he almost never entered a contest on a curved track. He knew he could not win.

The low hurdles being placed twenty yards apart, it is of course necessary to take a greater number of steps between obstacles. Seven strides is the number to be aimed at, although a runner with a short stride has to be content with nine. This sometimes necessitates slowing up before each hurdle, which is bad; and consequently it is more advisable to train for eight strides, in that case jumping from alternate feet. This makes the race more complicated, and is a form that should be avoided, although there are many men who are compelled to adopt it.

In practice the athlete should never go over more than seven hurdles in succession, except, perhaps, once a month for a trial on time, for the event is too exhausting. The footwear adopted by hurdlers is similar to the high-jumper's shoes. They are made of kangaroo-skin, and should be slightly heavier than sprinters' shoes. The heel should be constructed of quarter-inch leather with two spikes placed at the extremities of diagonals drawn through the centre of the heel. This precludes the possibility of bruising from the constant pounding on the jumping foot. In the toes there should be the usual six spikes.

Berkeley turned the tables on Barnard by scoring thirty-four points to the latter's fifteen at the Berkeley in-door games a week ago Saturday. At the Barnard games a fortnight previous the Harlemites took thirty-six points to Berkeley's thirteen. Each institution has thus presented the other with a trophy, and both are now preparing to shake out of their respective sleeves what they count on to win with at the Interscholastics in May. It will be interesting, too, to see how close they will come to one another in points at the New Manhattan Athletic Club games on the 28th.

Irwin-Martin showed himself to be in excellent form, and broke two in-door scholastic records—the quarter-mile and the 220-yard run. In the quarter he took the lead from the start, and did not bother about any of his rivals until he had finished, although Evans of Oxford School kept pretty close to him all the way around. The half-mile run went to Hipple of Barnard, as might have been expected, for Hipple is undoubtedly the strongest man for this distance that has run in interscholastic contests for a number of years.

Another Berkeley athlete who showed himself to be in excellent form was Walker, the well-named. There is no doubt about his being the best walker of the schools in this vicinity. He made a brave attempt for first honors at the Interscholastics last spring, and finished an exceedingly close second, showing that he had plenty of grit and undoubted ability. He has vastly improved in the past nine months, and I doubt if there is any one who can touch him in his class. He is a little fellow, too, and must have worked very hard and conscientiously to develop such a great amount of strength and speed, maintaining at the same time such excellent form. At these games there were about a dozen starters besides Walker, but at the crack of the pistol he strode to the front, and literally walked away from the laboring bunch behind him. He kept increasing his distance so steadily that the contest really narrowed down to a battle for second place. This struggle was very hot between Myers and Adams, the former barely reaching the tape ahead of the others. Walker's time was 8 min. 13-1/5 Sec.

In the mile run Bedford took good care not to give Manvel of Pingry's a chance, and set a 2 min. 14-1/5 sec. pace for the first half-mile, which practically ran all the other contestants off their feet. But this pace was hot enough even to tire Bedford, for he had to slow up considerably in the last half, although he covered the whole distance in the excellent time of 4 min. 54-1/5 sec.

The dashes developed several speedy runners, three of the heat winners getting close to record time. In the final, Moore of Barnard and Doudge of Berkeley ran a dead heat in 7-3/5 sec., but in the run-off Moore proved himself to have the greatest staying powers, and took the event. The hurdle-racing was also good, the winners of each of the preliminary heats making the same time. Bien showed himself in excellent form in the trials, but in the final heat he did not do so well, and let Herrick pass him.

The field events were not particularly interesting. Pell tied Duval at 5 ft. 5 in. in the high jump; Young tied Irwin-Martin at 37 ft. 2 in. in the shot; and Eddy tied Katzenbach for third place in the pole vault at 8 ft. 10¾ in. In each one of these instances athletics were superseded by the less exhausting expedient of gambling, and coins tossed into the air decided which man should take the medal.

The points made by the several schools are as follows:

School.First.Second.Third.Total
Berkeley4½3½134
Barnard30015
St. Paul's12213
Adelphi Academy1108
Brooklyn High1108
Pingry's0206
Newark Academy0125
Brooklyn Latin½½04
Ailing Art0011
Columbia Grammar0011
Cutler0011
Oxford0011
Pratt Institute0011
Poly. Prep0011

St. Paul's School again made a good record on this occasion, as her athletes did at the recent games of the Long Island Inter-scholastic League in Brooklyn. These St. Paul athletes seem to be developing at a rapid rate, and may be counted upon to make an excellent showing at the New Manhattan Athletic Club games, and they will probably take a strong membership in the team which is to represent the Long Island League in the National Meet this spring.

The Graduate.

Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.