The traveller should, at the end of each day, give his opinion of the
nature of the weather, saying whether he felt it hot or cold, relaxing
or bracing, close or fresh. Such observations have no necessary relation
to degree of temperature or humidity as recorded by instruments; but
the human body is the most important of all instruments, and everything
which affects it should be studied. By paying attention to the foregoing
instructions, an observant traveller will bring home a far better
meteorological log without instruments than a more careless person
could produce by the diligent reading of many scales. Yet, in enforcing
the importance of non-instrumental observations, we must not leave the
impression that the readings of instruments are of little value. It is,
in ordinary circumstances, only by the readings of instruments that the
climate of one place can be compared with that of another, and only the
best results of instrumental work are precise enough to form a basis for
climatological maps.
INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATIONS.
The minimum requirement of instrumental observations by a traveller is
the reading twice daily of the barometer and of the dry and wet bulb
thermometers, to ascertain the temperature and humidity of the air,
also the reading once daily, in the morning, of the minimum thermometer
which has been exposed all night, and on days in camp of the maximum
thermometer also. It is very desirable to expose a rain gauge whenever
it is practicable to do so. Unless special meteorological researches are
to be carried out, nothing farther in the way of observations need be
attempted. A very useful supplement to the necessary observations is the
use of a self-recording barograph or thermograph; but these are delicate
instruments, liable to get out of order unless very carefully handled,
and it will not always be possible to make use of them.
The observer must understand what his instruments are intended to
measure, how they act, and how they should be exposed, read, and the
reading recorded. He must know enough about all these things to be
able to dispense with unnecessary precautions only possible at fixed
observatories, and, at the same time, to neglect nothing that is
necessary to secure accuracy in the results.
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