they are made upon
a point, while the speculations to be derived from them must be on
space. It is of no avail that he changes his position, ignorant of what
is passing behind him and before; he desires to estimate the movements
of space, and can only observe the dancing of atoms; he would calculate
the currents of the atmosphere of the world, while he only knows the
direction of a breeze. It is perhaps for this reason that the cause of
meteorology has hitherto been so slightly supported; no progress can be
made by the most gigantic efforts of a solitary intellect, and the
co-operation demanded was difficult to obtain, because it was necessary
that the individuals should think, observe, and act simultaneously,
though separated from each other by distances on the greatness of which
depended the utility of the observations.

283. The Meteorological Society, therefore, has been formed, not for a
city, nor for a kingdom, but for the world. It wishes to be the central
point, the moving power of a vast machine, and it feels that unless it
can be this, it must be powerless; if it cannot do all, it can do
nothing. It desires to have at its command, at stated periods, perfect
systems of methodical and simultaneous observations,--it wishes its
influence and its power to be omnipotent over the globe, so that it may
be able to know, at any given instant, the state of the atmosphere at
every point on its surface. Let it not be supposed that this is a
chimerical imagination, the vain dream of a few philosophical
enthusiasts. It is co-operation which we now come forward to request, in
full confidence, that if our efforts are met with a zeal worthy of the
cause, our associates will be astonished, _individually_, by the result
of their labors in a body. Let none be discouraged because they are
alone, or far distant from their associates. What was formerly weakness
will now have become strength. Let the pastor of the Alps observe the
variations of his mountain winds; let the voyagers send us notes of the
changes on the surface of the sea; let the solitary dweller in the
American prairie observe the passages of the storms, and the variations
of the climate; and each, who alone would have been powerless, will find
himself a part of one mighty mind, a ray of light entering into one vast
eye, a member of a multitudinous power, contributing to the knowledge,
and aiding the efforts, which will be capable of solving the most deeply
hidden probl