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The advance of meteorology as a school study has been much hampered by thelack of a published outline of work in this subject which may beundertaken during the school years. There are several excellent text-booksfor more advanced study, but there is no laboratory manual for use in theelementary portions of the science. In many secondary schools someinstruction in meteorology is given, and the keeping of meteorologicalrecords by the scholars is every year becoming more general. There is yet,however, but little system in this work, and, in consequence, there islittle definite result. The object of this book is to supply a guide inthe elementary observational and inductive studies in meteorology. ThisManual is not intended to replace the text-books, but is designed toprepare the way for their more intelligent use. Simple preliminaryexercises in the taking of meteorological observations, and in the studyof the daily weather maps, as herein suggested, will lay a good foundationon which later studies, in connection with the text-books, may be builtup. Explanations of the various facts discovered through these exercisesare not considered to lie within the scope of this book. They may be foundin any of the newer text-books.
This Manual lays little claim to originality. Its essential features arebased on the recommendations in the Report on Geography of the Committeeof Ten. A scheme oflaboratoryivexercises, substantially the same as thatproposed in this Report, was, for some fifteen years, the basis of thework in elementary meteorology done in Harvard College under the directionof Professor William M. Davis. The plan proposed by the Committee of Tenhas been thoroughly tested by the writer during the past five years, notonly in college classes, but also in University Extension work amongschool teachers, and the present book embodies such modifications of thatscheme and additions to it as have been suggested by experience. Emphasisis laid throughout this Manual on the larger lessons to be learned fromthe individual exercises, and on the relations of various atmosphericphenomena to human life and activities. No attempt is made to specify inexactly what school years this work should be undertaken. At present, anduntil meteorology attains a recognized position as a school study,teachers must obviously be left to decide this matter according to theopportunities offered in each school. The general outline of the work,however, as herein set forth, is intended to cover the grammar and thehigh school years, and may readily be adapted by the teacher to fit thecircumstances of any particular case.
This book contains specific instructions to the student as to the use ofthe instruments; the carrying out of meteorological observations; theinvestigation of special simple problems by