OCR Rendition - approximate

232   MEMORIES OF MY LIFE

many previous attempts to represent the distribution of the weather in a form suitable for printing with movable types. With the aid of Mr. W. Spottiswoode I had types cut for me of appropriate forms, and casts from them were used in the set of my published charts based on the above-mentioned data (Meteorographiia (Macmillan), 1863) [17], but these were not a success. Later I tried the plan of cutting curves and arrows in soft material by a drill pantagraph, whence casts might be taken for printing. A drill pantagraph is made like an ordinary one, except that the pencil is replaced by a drill, which is rotated by a string that passes over the joints and does not hinder the movements of its arms. I do not know whether this plan of making the weather maps is still adopted. It was submitted to the Times by the Meteorological Council, through their Secretary, and I still have the first trial stereotype that was cast on this principle. I heard that there was trouble at first. in finding a suitable soft material better than plaster of Paris and the like, but that this difficulty of detail was soon overcome.

I have already mentioned Admiral R. FitzRoy (1805-1865). He was captain of the surveying ship The Beagle, whose name became familiar to the public through Charles Darwin's Voyage of the " Beagle." He had always been most zealous in the advancement of weather forecasts and storm warnings. The " cone " was his device. A Meteorological Office was established under his superintendence in 1854, entirely owing to his exertions, but it was on a very small scale. His publications unfortunately failed in scientific solidity,