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Gustavus A. Hyde, Professor Espy's Volunteers, and the Development Ol Bruce Sinclair Gustavus A. Hyde, Case Institute of Technology Professor Espy's volunteers, Cleveland, Ohio and the development ol systematic weather observation In December 1842, James P. Espy, meteorologist, some- time professor of mathematics for the U. S. Navy but better known as the "Storm King" for his theories on the cause of storms, issued a public call for volunteer weather observers. Addressed to the "Friends of Science," via the medium of newspapers throughout the country, Espy requested all those interested in weather phenom- ena to record meteorological data in their own localities and send him the information for use in testing his weather theories.1 One of the readers of Professor Espy's circular was Gustavus A. Hyde, a seventeen year old student at the Framingham, Massachusetts Academy. Fired with en- thusiasm for the new project "I wrote to him," Hyde later recalled, "and in return received blank slips on which to take my readings."2 He purchased a ther- mometer and together with a barn weather vane and a home-made rain gauge he began making a record of the weather. Hyde's zeal lasted for well over half a century, a record perhaps unmatched by any of the other volunteers who answered the call for their serv- ices. During the period of Hyde's career, meteorology advanced from the empirical compilation of amateur observations to a science, based on the interpretation of data systematically collected by professional meteor- ologists. Gustavus A. Hyde Espy's call for volunteers came at a time of particular interest in weather. His own theory of storms was in sharp conflict with that of William Redfield, another was triumphantly received in France. Meteorology was 3 meteorologist and first president of the American Asso- developing into a science. ciation for the Advancement of Science; debates between Weather recording has exercised a universal fascina- the two continued in and out of scientific circles for tion in all ages, especially among men of some intel- several years. During the 1840's and 1850's meteorology lectual attainment. Benjamin Franklin proposed a commanded the attentions of almost all America's fore- theory of storm movement, for instance, based on a most scientists—Robert Hare, Joseph Henry, A. D. comparison of observations at Philadelphia and Boston. Bache and Benjamin Apthorp Gould, among others— Thomas Jefferson also carried out extensive observa- and those in Europe as well. Redfield corresponded tions on the subject and in his wide correspondence with Charles Darwin on the subject and Espy's work exchanged weather information with those who shared his interests.4 But it was early realized that any scien- 1 James P. Espy, First Report on Meteorology to the Sur- tific understanding of weather conditions required the geon General of the United States Army (Washington, Sur- geon General's Office, 1843), 1. For a discussion of Espy's 3 Nathan Reingold, Science in Nineteenth-Century America related meteorological interests see J. E. McDonald's recent (New York, Hill and Wang, 1964), 93. article, ''James Espy and the Beginnings of Cloud Thermo- 4 Donald R. Whitnah, A History of the United States dynamics," Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 44, 634-641. Weather Bureau (Urbana, Illinois, University of Illinois 2 Cleveland News (Cleveland, Ohio), November 15, 1909. Press, 1961), 5. Bulletin American Meteorological Society 779 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/10/21 07:24 PM UTC Vol. 46, No. 12, December 1965 systematic collection of knowledge. This obvious need observers, with or without equipment, to observe cloud for a network of observers inevitably suggested the fa- patterns and movement, wind direction, rainfall and cilities of the federal government and the first step in the times of its starting and stopping, temperature and that direction was taken in 1814 when James Tilton, barometric pressure. The future development of the the army's Surgeon General, directed post surgeons to science of meteorology rested on these observations record weather details.5 Although it was another half- Espy claimed, and he exhorted his readers: "Let none century before the plan became significantly effective, think their mite too insignificant to be thrown into a precedent was established for the successive efforts of this common treasury." 9 the government Land Office, the Patent Office, the Army In the spring of 1842, Espy went to Boston. Hyde Corps of Engineers and the Signal Corps.6 State gov- visited him there and apparently worked with Espy for ernments also experimented with systems of weather ob- a short period of time in the analysis of meteorological servers, New York beginning in 1825 and Pennsylvania data. Espy's visit to Boston was of short duration, how- in 1839. In fact, it was Espy who supervised efforts in ever. He helped Hyde find a position in the Boston city the latter state which had appropriated $4000 to be engineering department and returned to Washington to used by the Franklin Institute in the establishment of settle in his new headquarters in the Surgeon General's meteorological stations throughout the commonwealth.7 office.10 As head of a joint committee representing both the For the next three years, Hyde worked on land sur- American Philosophical Society and the Franklin In- veys for the Boston water works and from 1846 to 1849 stitute, Espy developed in 1834 the outline of a system on the construction of an aqueduct from Lake Cochitu- of volunteer observers which he later duplicated in ate to Brookline, a Boston suburb. Frequent moving 1839. His meteorological investigations had won the interrupted his meteorological observations and his re- Magellanic Prize of the American Philosophical Society ports from 1843 to 1849 were sporadic. However, during in 1836 and from about that time on, Espy devoted all the six year period he successfully completed what his efforts to weather science. He lectured on his theory amounted to an apprenticeship as a civil engineer and of storms before the British Association for the Advance- in 1850 went west to seek his fortune, arriving in ment of Science and the French Academy of Sciences in Cleveland, Ohio, in April of that year.11 He secured a 1840 and in 1841 published his Philosophy of Storms. position as assistant engineer on the Cleveland 8c Pitts- These activities brought Espy a great scientific reputa- burgh railroad then under construction. In the follow- tion; in France he was compared with Newton. The ing year Hyde obtained the post of resident engineer wide esteem in which he was held also earned him a for the Lake Shore 8c Michigan Southern Railroad and Congressional appointment as meteorologist to the War was in charge of the construction of that line from Department in 1842.8 Toledo to Cleveland, work which occupied him until His new position provided Espy with the opportunity 1854.^2 to project a grand scheme for weather observations, and Hyde was a personable, attractive young man and he one which he hoped would ultimately be world-wide. soon found his way into local politics. He was advanced Foreign ministers, consuls, and other diplomatic agents as the Republican candidate for city engineer in 1855, had been requested to keep w;eather records and for- won the election and served in that capacity until 1858.13 ward them to Espy through the Secretary of State. His association with the city continued for another year, Masters of sailing vessels were asked to transmit a copy however, when he was hired to superintend the con- of their logs to the Surgeon General's office. Weather struction of the Euclid Avenue sewer. A local newspaper journals standardized according to Espy's plan were to called the work "one of the most important and neces- be maintained at all military posts, naval stations, and sary improvements now in contemplation," and urged ships at sea. Light-house keepers were to receive his its rapid completion.14 Early in 1859 Hyde was hired as forms on which to make their reports, and the Gov- engineer of the Cleveland Gas Light and Coke Com- ernor of Bermuda promised his assistance as did other pany, a position he held for the next forty-eight years. observers in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The final The steady regularity of his work as engineer for the link in his system was the corps of domestic volunteer gas company ideally suited Hyde's scientific avocation. Espy's plan for reporting called for observations at 7 s Ibid., 10. a.m., 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. The essence of his scheme de- 6 Gustavus A. Weber, The Weather Bureau, Its History, pended upon the regular and simultaneous recording Activities and Organization (New York, D. Appleton and of weather data. Gustavus A. Hyde was the perfect man Company, 1922), 2. 7 Whitnah, A History of the United States Weather Bu- 9 Espy, First Report, 1. reau, 12. 10 Cleveland News, November 15, 1909; Reingold, Science s James P. Espy, The Philosophy of Storms (Boston, C. C. in Nineteenth-Century America, 129. Little and J. Brown, 1841), 77 ff; Dictionary of American 11 "Autobiography of Gustavus A. Hyde, Oct. 10th, 1910." Biography (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931), VI, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. 185. Other details of Espy's life are related by his niece, 12 Ibid. Mrs. L. Morehead, in A Few Incidents in the Life of Prof. is Cleveland Leader (Cleveland, Ohio), March 2, 1855. James P. Espy (Cincinnati, R. Clarke & Company, 1888). 1* Ibid., June 17, 1858. 780 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/10/21 07:24 PM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society "A solar radiation thermometer, with blackened bulb, in a stout glass tube exhausted of air within one-tenth of an inch of the mercurial guage, constructed agreeably to the sugges- tion of Sir John Herschel." Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution .
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