Descriptive Meteorology

Abstract

A TEXT-BOOK by the Chief of the great Weather Bureau of the United States of America will be received with not a little interest, and Prof. Willis Moore, in submitting this treatise, has had before him the definite aim of providing the young men entering the service of the bureau with “a comprehensive introduction to modern meteorology.” We think that the author has in most ways successfully realised his aim, though the great prominence given to American methods and the researches of American official meteorologists make the work to some extent unsuitable for adoption as a text-book for students in other countries. The author warmly expresses his obligation for valuable help received from various colleagues —Abbe, Bigelow, Kimball, Henry, Cox, and Humphreys—and the extent of this indebtedness will be appreciated by those familiar with the writings of these specialists in the “Monthly Weather Review” and in various official bulletins of the bureau. We should have been glad, however, if attention had been directed somewhat more fully to the splendid work of A. L. Rotch, for a book such as this should be a source of inspiration to the student, and nothing in American meteorology is more inspiring than a consideration of the history of the Blue Hill Observatory.