CHAPTER VI.
Scheme for Meteorological co-operation on Land—Invitation to Agricultural Societies to communicate Observations for the construction of Meteorological Land Charts—Proposal for a System of Warnings for Farmers—Opposition he met with—Prophecy about the Weather Bureau—Weather Forecasts—Extracts from Mr. Harlan's Report before the Senate, praying for an extension of Meteorological Observations for the benefit of Farmers—Letter to Mr. Dorr on the same subject—Honor to whom Honor is due—List of letters on this subject to be found at the Observatory—Fulfillment of Maury's prophecy.
Maury's return from his labors at the 1853 Brussels Conference was accompanied by many acknowledgments of the great value of his services. But probably the most gratifying of those acknowledgments was the following letter from the great Prussian traveler, written at the age of ninety years:—
From Baron Humboldt to Lieutenant Maury.
Berlin, April 11th, 1857.
It is with the most lively acknowledgment that I offer to my illustrious friend and associate, the Superintendent of the United States Observatory and Hydrographical Office at Washington, the tribute of my respectful admiration. The Maritime Conference at Brussels, and the happy influence which your visit to Europe has fortunately exercised upon the course of meteorology, both by sea and land, especially where your presence has been enjoyed, have contributed to spread your views. You are now enjoying the fruits of immense labours. It belongs to me more than to any other traveler of the age, to congratulate my illustrious friend upon the course which he has so gloriously opened.
Scarcely in a state of convalescence, I must limit myself at
