Sholto Percy

“ That an instrument so rude and so abundant in error as is the marine barometer generally in use should, in this age of invention and improvement, be found on board any ship, will doubtless be regarded hereafter with surprise; and it will be wondered how an instrument so important to meteorology, and so useful to navigation, should be permitted to remain so defective that meteorologists, in their investigations concerning the laws of atmospheric pressure, are compelled in great measure to omit all reference to the observations which have been taken with them at sea. ”

“ With respect to the thermometer having a bulb of the colour of sea-water, it is unnecessary to say more in favour of its use on board ship than that the object is to ascertain whether or no such observations will throw any light upon the psychrometry of the sea, or upon any of the various interesting phenomena connected with the radiation from the surface of the ocean. ”

“ An improvement of the ordinary sea route between distant countries had long engaged the attention of commercial men, and both individuals and nations had profited by the advances which this science had made through a more correct knowledge of prevailing winds and currents of the ocean. ”