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Robert FitzRoy and the Early History of the Meteorological Office

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Jim Burton
Affiliation:
139, Curly Hill, Middleton, Ilkley, West Yorks. LS29 ODS, U.K.

Extract

Historians of science have shown little interest in meteorology and, in Britain at least, have almost totally ignored the development of meteorological institutions. The Meteorological Office itself has found some mention at times such as its supposed centenary in 1955, but even then the interest has come mainly from meteorologists writing for the delectation of their fellows. This neglect is surprising because the story of the Office contains much to reward the historian. Its very formation as a governmental scientific institution in 1854 supports arguments against the popular concept of mid-nineteenth century Britain as a cauldron of unbridled laissez-faire; the role it adopted in developing practical usages for science brought it into conflict with members of the academic scientific establishment; its later transition from an inaugural period as a department of the Board of Trade to a second phase under the control of a committee appointed by the Royal Society, with consequent changes in the methods of financing and administration, gives useful insights into the contemporary attitudes of government officials towards public expenditure on science; and its first head, Robert FitzRoy, was himself a man of such remarkable interest and complexity as to render the subject worthy of investigation on that count alone.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 1986

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References

My thanks are due to Dr V. M. D. Hall, Associate Professor, University of Malaya, and to Dr C. W. Chant of the Open University for many helpful comments on the subject matter included in this essay; also to the editor of BJHS for constructive criticisms of my first and second drafts, and for considerable patience during a rather lengthy gestation period. I must add a special note of thanks to Mr David Stanbury for much valuable assistance with the life of Admiral FitzRoy.

1. A number of short accounts of the history of the Office appeared at this time. Amongst these were: Bull, G. A.: ‘Short history of the Meteorological Office’, Meteorol. Mag. (1955), 84, p. 163167Google Scholar; and Brunt, D.: ‘The centenary of the Meteorological Office: retrospect and prospect’. Sci. Prog. (1956), 174, p. 193207Google Scholar. More recent notes on the Office's beginnings are: Lewis, R. P. W.: ‘The founding of the Meteorological Office, 1854–55’. Meteorol. Mag (1981), 110, p. 221227Google Scholar; and Burton, J. M. C.: ‘The foundation and early years of the Meteorological Office’. Weather, (1983), 38, p. 364368. 39, p. 710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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13. The deputation consisted of Wrottesley, the Earl of Harrowby, the Earl of Rosse, the Bishop of Oxford, James Heywood M.P., Sir Roderick Murchison, Edward Sabine and Inglis.

14. The salient points of the conference are covered in ‘Abstract of copy of report of conference held at Brussels respecting meteorological observation’, P.P. (1854), XLII, p. 443474Google Scholar. Participating nations were Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S.A. For Beechey see D.N.B.

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16. Hansard, 3rd series, 134, col. 1006Google Scholar

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18. FitzRoy, to SirWalker, Baldwin (surveyor of the Navy), 28 10 1853Google Scholar, National Maritime Museum Library MS, and FitzRoy, to Beaufort, , 1 11 1852Google Scholar (2 letters), 6 December 1852 and 8 February 1853, Hydrographic Office Library MS 379, 383, 384, and 409. For Beaufort see: Friendly, A.: Beaufort of the Admiralty. London, 1977Google Scholar; and D.N.B.

19. See ‘First report from the select committee on shipwrecks’, P.P. (1843), IX, p. 1934Google Scholar. FitzRoy sat as a Tory M.P. for North Durham from 1841–1843 but later changed his political views, espousing the Liberal cause; see FitzRoy, to Shaw, Norton (Secretary R.G.S.), 7 11 1853Google Scholar, R.G.S. Library MS.

20. The date is given in Tennant, (Board of Trade) to Secretary, Treasury, 22 11 1856, BT 3/50, 778Google Scholar. This letter gives details about military officers holding civil appointments with the Board. No other record has yet been traced.

21. The present-day Parliament Street was divided longitudinally into two roads by a line of buildings, one of which was occupied by the Meteorological Department. See Jacobs, L.: ‘A short history of former homes of the Meteorological Office’. Meteorol. Mag. (1973), 102, p. 4850Google Scholar. The accommodation is mentioned in Booth, (Board of Trade) to Trevelyan, (Treasury), 1 09 1854, BT 3/47, 681.Google Scholar

22. Farrer, (Board of Trade) to Trevelyan, , 27 11 1854, BT 3/47Google Scholar, and FitzRoy, to Wrottesley, , op.cit. (17)Google Scholar. The accumulation of materials was presumably due to FitzRoy's solo efforts prior to this date.

23. William Partrickson was the senior of the three men and, with special skills as a draughtsman, received a salary of £180 per annum; Thomas Henry Babington and F. R. Townsend were both paid £81–0–7 per annum.

24. See Cawood, J.: ‘Terrestrial magnetism and the development of international collaboration in the early nineteenth century’, Ann. Sci. (1977) 34, p. 551587CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Supporters of terrestrial magnetism for primacy in scientific internationalism are referred to Brunt, D.: Physical and dynamical meteorology. Cambridge, 1939, introduction xxiiiGoogle Scholar. There are, of course, other arguments!

25. For Glaisher see: Hunt, J. L.: ‘James Glaisher’. Weather, (1978), 33, p. 242249CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and D.N.B. For a brief history of the Royal Meteorological Society, see Ratcliffe, R. A. S.: ‘The story of the Royal Meteorological Society’. Weather, (1978), 33, p. 261268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26. The original Kew Committee included Herschel, Gassiot and Reid. Sabine was a prominent member for many years. The work of Kew is covered inter alia, in Scott, R. H.: The history of the Kew Observatory, Richmond, Surrey. London, 1885Google Scholar, (also published in Proc. Roy. Soc. (1885), 38Google Scholar, Jacobs, L.: ‘The 200 years story of the Kew Observatory’. Meteorol. Mag. (1969), 98, p. 162171Google Scholar, and Howarth, O. J. R.: The British Association, a retrospect. London, (1931), p. 155169Google Scholar. Acquisition of the Observatory is described in Morrell, J. B. & Thackray, A.: Gentlemen of science. Oxford, 1981, p. 348349.Google Scholar

27. The letter was dated 22 February 1855 and is reproduced in full in a number of publications, for example: FitzRoy, R.: The weather book. London, 1863, app DGoogle Scholar; Proc. Roy. Soc. (1855), 7, p. 342361Google Scholar; and BJ 7/4. The correspondence relating to the letter (including replies from foreign meteorologists consulted by the Royal Society) is also contained in BJ 7/4.

28. FitzRoy, R.: Report of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade (private). London, 1855.Google Scholar

29. FitzRoy, to Herschel, , 4 05 1858Google Scholar, Royal Society Library MS Hs 7.252. Beaufort's earlier work is mentioned in ibid.

30. Hooker, to Darwin, , 2 05 1865Google Scholar, Cambridge University Library MS.

31. The introduction of the Marsden square is mentioned in, for example, Deacon, M.: Scientists and the sea. London, 1971, 290Google Scholar. The statistical error made by Maury and FirzRoy was pointed out in Galton, F.: ‘On an error in the usual method of obtaining meteorological statistics’. B.A.R., Nottingham 1866, p. 1617.Google Scholar

32. FitzRoy, R.: Barometer manual. London, 1858Google Scholar (and many editions). The FirzRoy barometer is well described in Bolle, B.: Barometers. Watford, 1982, p. 4749, 5461, 218219.Google Scholar

33. Third number of meteorological papers. London, 1858Google Scholar. The second, and much enlarged, edition of Dove's work, translated by R. H. Scott, carried a dedication to FitzRoy. It was published in Britain as Dove, H. W.: The law of storms. London, 1862.Google Scholar

34. For Dove see D.S.B. For an outline of Scott's career see Who was who 1916–28.

35. The work of the Department at this stage is covered in FitzRoy's 1857 Report and 1858 Report, both published as Parliamentary Papers – respectively P.P. (1857), XX, p. 283305Google Scholar. and P.P. (1857–8), XXIV, p. 389398.Google Scholar

36. FitzRoy had applied for the position of Professional Member of the Marine Department on Beechey's death in 1857, but the vacancy was filled by Sulivan, a former midshipman and protégé of FitzRoy's during his days in command of the ‘Beagle’ (see also p. 167).

37. Report of the select committee on shipwrecks, op. cit. (19), 1843. The incident with the ‘Beagle’ is best covered in Anon. ‘Admiral FitzRoy’, Good Words, (1866), 7, p. 406413.Google Scholar

38. The correspondence regarding this affair is held under file BT 5/67 and is illustrative of FitzRoy's loyalty towards his subordinates.

39. This is well covered in Davis, John L.: ‘Weather forecasting and the development of meteorological theory at the Paris Observatory, 1853–78’. Ann. Sci. (1984), 41, p. 359382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

40. Buys Ballot's Law states that if an observer in the northern hemisphere stands with his back to the wind, then the atmospheric pressure is lower on his left hand than on his right, whilst in the southern hemisphere the converse is true. Buys Ballot described his system in a paper read to the British Association. ‘On the system of forecasting the weather pursued in Holland’. B.A.R., Newcastle, 1863, p. 20Google Scholar. His disapproval of Maury emerges in Ballot, Buys to Galton, , 13 08 1866Google Scholar, University College London Library, Francis Galton papers, 190.

41. ‘Report of the Commission on Lights, Buoys and Beacons’, P.P. (1861), XXV, p. 595Google Scholar. Herschel's statement dated 24 June 1860 was given in reply to a Commission questionnaire circulated to 50 ‘…scientific men…’.

42. Reported inter alia in the Athenaeum, 10 12 1859, p. 777.Google Scholar

43. The involvement of the Prince Consort is noted in FitzRoy's 1862 Report, P.P. (1862), LIV, p. 433521Google Scholar, ch. 1 para. 9. A popular account of the Royal Charter disaster is given in McKee, Alexander, The golden wreck. London, 1961Google Scholar. FitzRoy's two papers were published as: ‘Remarks on the late storms of 25–26 Oct and 1 Nov’. Proc. Roy. Soc. (1860), 10, p. 222224Google Scholar; and ‘On British storms’. B.A.R., Oxford (1860), p. 3944.Google Scholar

44. See Davis, op. cit. (39), p. 365.Google Scholar

45. 1862 Report, op. cit. (43). The original 13 stations were at Aberdeen, Berwick, Hull, Yarmouth, Dover, Portsmouth, Jersey, Plymouth, Penzance, Cork, Galway, Londonderry and Greenock.

46. Ibid., ch. 2.

47. B.A.R., op. cit. (43), p. 43.Google Scholar

48. FitzRoy, 's 1864 Report, P.P. (1864), LV, p. 125207Google Scholar, notes the Duke of Northumberland's generosity, and Lady Kay-Shuttleworth is mentioned in FitzRoy, to Washington, (Hydrographer to the Navy), 15 11 1861Google Scholar, Hydrographic Office Library MS. FitzRoy, 's 1863 Report, P.P. (1863), LXIII, p. 2792, app. 2Google Scholar, shows seventy-six out of eighty-nine recipients as ‘…definitely favourable…’ to use of the instruments, the other 13 having ‘…no decided view…’.

49. 1862 Report, op. cit. (43), ch. 1, para. 14.

50. Ibid., ch. 1 para. 17, and FitzRoy, , op. cit. (27), p. 170171Google Scholar. Many of FitzRoy's writings contained extensive passages copied verbatim one from another.

51. 1862 Report, ibid., ch. 1 and 9. For Symons see D.N.B.

52. FitzRoy, , op. cit. (27), p. 194.Google Scholar

53. The term ‘synoptic chart’ was originated by FitzRoy, see ibid., p. 103. Cyclone ‘horns’ consisted of a number of concentric circles inscribed on celluloid or other transparent material and carrying arrows showing cyclonic flow (anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere).

54. See FitzRoy, R.: Notes on meteorology. London, 1859, 34Google Scholar. Production of the earliest series of daily weather charts is generally attributed to H. W. Brandes. See, for example, Shaw, W. N.: Manual of meteorology, 1. London, 1932, p. 135, 299Google Scholar. Daily maps of the weather were first prepared in England by Glaisher for distribution during the Great Exhibition of 1851.

55. FitzRoy, , op. cit. (27)Google Scholar, and 1862 Report, op. cit. (43).

56. FitzRoy, ibid., appendix N.

57. 1863 Report, op. cit. (48), para. 13.

58. See, for example: ‘B’, ed.: The science of the weather. Glasgow, 1867Google Scholar; and Christopher, Cooke: Admiral FitzRoy: his facts and failures. London, 1867Google Scholar. The activities of the Astro-Meteorological Society are mentioned in Britton, C. E.: ‘Forgotten English meteorological societies’. Quart. J.R. Met. Soc. (1935), 61, p. 343346Google Scholar, an article that also acknowledged a Copernican Meteorological Society. A lunarist view is given in Saxby, S. M.: Saxby's weather system. London, 1864Google Scholar. The Astro-Meteoric Journal was also a short lived publication devoted to the subject which appeared during 1867–1869.

59. See: Shaw, , op.cit. (54), p. 305Google Scholar; and Marriott, W.: ‘An account of the bequest of George James Symons, F.R.S., to the Royal Meteorological Society’. Quart. J.R. Met. Soc. (1901), 27, p. 258259.Google Scholar

60. Shown in answers to a questionnaire addressed to maritime centres concerning the efficacy of the warnings. FitzRoy claimed that fifty-six responses showed three ‘decidedly unfavourable’, seven ‘qualified’, and forty-six ‘decidedly favourable’, see 1862 Report op. cit. (43), appendix. A stringent independent check (by the author) of the raw data was slightly less favourable – the figures were respectively 4; 12; 38 (two replies must have ‘got lost’ somewhere), but the result still shows impressive support for FitzRoy.

61. ‘Correspondence between the Board of Trade and the Royal Society on the subject of meteorological observations, telegraphy and forecasts’. P.P. (1863), LXIII, p. 9597Google Scholar. The letters were Farrer, T. H. (joint Secretary, Board of Trade) to Sharpey, W. (Secretary, Royal Society). 27 02 1863Google Scholar, and Sharpey, to Farrer, , 27 05 1863.Google Scholar

62. Relevant leading articles were published in The Times on 11 04 1862 (p. 9 cols 3–4)Google Scholar, 30 June 1862 (p. 11 col. 6) and 18 June 1864 (p. 11 cols. 4–5). Mellersh, , in op. cit. (17), p. 278279Google Scholar, considered these articles to be critical but it is difficult to sustain this view even though some critical remarks are included. Amongst the magazine articles were: Anon: ‘Admiral FitzRoy on the weather’. The Intellectual Observer, (1863), 3, p. 103109Google Scholar; and Herschel, J. F. W.: ‘The weather and weather prophets’. Good Words, (1864), 5, p. 5764Google Scholar. Corresponding popular articles attacking FitzRoy are not readily in evidence.

63. The Athenaeum, (1862), 1811, p. 4950Google Scholar; (1863), 1838, p. 80–81; and (1863), 1852, p. 556–557. Beardmore, 's remarks appear in Proc. British Meteorol. Soc., (1861), 1, p. 28.Google Scholar

64. Queen Victoria made a practice of consulting FitzRoy before her frequent trips to the Isle of Wight, see Anon., op. cit. (37). Letters notifying FitzRoy of his election by the Academic are contained in the Farrer papers, County Archives, Dorchester.

65. The criticism came in The Times, 18 06 1864 (p. 11 cols 4–5)Google Scholar. The commendation in the Athenaeum, (1863), 1838, p. 8081.Google Scholar

66. ‘Weather forecasts’. P.P. (1864), LV, p. 341428Google Scholar. FitzRoy dissociated himself from the report in a letter to The Times, 9 06 1864 (p. 11 col. 6).Google Scholar

67. See Sulivan, H. N. ed.: The life and letters of Admiral Sir B. J. Sulivan. K.C.B., 1810–90, London, 1896.Google Scholar

68. The Times, 18 01 1864 (p. 7 col. 2)Google Scholar. FitzRoy also wrote an earlier letter on the subject published in The Times, 1 01 1864 (p. 7 col. 1).Google Scholar

69. For evidence implicating Saxby see The Meteorological Magazine, (1864), 1, p. 1819Google Scholar. This magazine apparently went out of production after its second edition. It was published by Williams and Strahan of London, and presumably had no connection with (Symon's) Mthly Meteorological Magazine, which first appeared in 1866.

70. Hansard, 3rd series, 175 cols 401–402.Google Scholar

71. The Times, 14 05 1864 (p. 10 col 3).Google Scholar

72. The articles appeared in Courier des Sciences and Bulletin International, two Paris magazines. FitzRoy devoted two pages of his 1864 Report to a refutation of Maury's articles, op. cit. (48).

73. It was increased from £600 to £800 per annum, placing FitzRoy on the same footing as the other Naval officers employed by the Board of Trade, including Sulivan. BT 3/64, 379, 20 July 1863.

74. FitzRoy, R.: Narrative of the surveying voyages of H.M.S. ‘Adventure’ and H.M.S. ‘Beagle’, 2. London, 1839, p. 671672Google Scholar. FitzRoy also committed himself to a literal interpretation of the Creation as described in Genesis.

75. FitzRoy died leaving an estate of £3400 with debts of £5400, The Times, 10 07 1865 (p. 10 col 6)Google Scholar. That FitzRoy could take a comparatively detached view of the Darwinian controversy is shown in a relaxed account of the famous 1860 debate at the British Association meeting in Oxford, see FitzRoy, to Washington, , 11 07 1860, Hydrographic Office Library MS.Google Scholar

76. See: Mellersh, , op. cit. (17)Google Scholar; and Anon., op. cit. (37).

77. FitzRoy's predecessor in command of the ‘Beagle’ was Capt. Pringle Stokes. Amongst accounts suggesting a religious motive for FitzRoy's suicide were: Moorhead, A.: Darwin and the ‘Beagle’. London, 1971, 212Google Scholar; and Lewson, Charles's fascinating solo play, In the seventh circleGoogle Scholar, unpublished, which deals exclusively with FitzRoy's last hour of life. The idea that his meteorological work was responsible was put forward, inter alia, by: Lord Stanley, see The Times, 3 09 1866 (p. 10 col. 5)Google Scholar; FitzRoy's wife, see Mellersh, , op. cit. (17), 286Google Scholar; and the Royal Society obituary writer, see Proc. Roy. Soc. (1866), 15, xxiii.Google Scholar

78. Minute by Gibson, T. M., President of the Board of Trade, 9 06 1866. BT 5/74, 315.Google Scholar

79. The Athenaeum, (1865), 1960, p. 686.Google Scholar

80. For Galton, Farrer, and Evans, see D.N.B.Google Scholar

81. ‘Report of a committee appointed to consider certain questions relating to the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade’, P.P. 1866, LXV, 329418Google Scholar. (This committee will be referred to below as the ‘Galton Committee’ and the report as the ‘Galton Report’, or simply as ‘Galton’.)

82. Galton, to Sabine, , 16 03 1866Google Scholar, Royal Society Library MS, Sabine correspondence, D-J (MS 258), 586.

83. Symons, G. J.: ‘The Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade’. (Symons's) Mthly Meteorological Magazine, 1866, 1, p. 68.Google Scholar

84. Op. cit. (66).

85. Op. cit. (81). p. 356–357 (28–29 of the Report). The letter was probably Gibson, Thomas Milner (President of the Board of Trade) to FitzRoy, , 10 05 1862Google Scholar, Farrer papers, County Achives, Dorchester.

86. See Minutes of the Meteorological Committee. 1868, 9394Google Scholar, draft of letter to Board of Trade, also ‘Eighth report of the Royal Commission on scientific instruction and the advancement of science’. P.P. (1875), XXVIII, p. 484, 529Google Scholar, R. H. Scott in reply to Qs 13 933 and 14 459.

87. MacKenzie, D. A.: Statistics in Britain. Edinburgh, 1981, 6368.Google Scholar

88. University College London Library, Francis Galton papers, 118/1. On a copy of the Galton Report, in the margin against the section containing the derived maxims, is an undated note in Galton's handwriting ‘Babington withheld information’. It seems probable that this was inserted in 1875 when Galton was asked to serve on a further committee appointed to inquire into the Meteorological Office.

89. See the conclusions of Cowan, Ruth Schwarz in ‘Nature and nurture: the interplay of biology and politics in the work of Francis Galton’. In: Coleman, , William, & Limoges, , Camilla, , eds.: Studies in the history of biology. 1. Baltimore, 1977, p. 133165 especially p. 133135Google Scholar; also Forrest, D. W.: Francis Galton, the life and work of a Victorian genius. London, 1974, especially the quote of Clements Markham p. 6869Google Scholar. Galton's character is also noted in Fancher, Raymond E.: ‘Francis Galton's African Ethnology and its role in ihe development of his psychology’. B.J.H.S. (1983), 16, p. 6779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

90. See margin notes on his own copy of the Galton Report, probably inserted around 1875, op. cit. (88).

91. All this ralher diverse information is contained in ‘Papers relating to the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade’. P.P. (1867), LXIII, p. 497512Google Scholar. Notification of the cessation of warnings was given in the Board of Trade circular dated 29 November 1866, p. 503–504. The Meteorological Committee appointed by the Royal Society was:

Galton was also a member of the Kew Committee. The members of the Meteorological Committee received no payment for their services.

92. The correspondence dealing with this extraordinary episode is contained in T1/6754A.

93. Minute by Northcote, Stafford N., President of the Board of Trade, 7 12 1866, BT5/74, 323.Google Scholar

94. Some of the letters combining in this chorus of protest, together with replies from the Board of Trade, are contained in ‘Storm signals’, P.P. (1867), LXIV, p. 185208.Google Scholar

95. See Symons, G. J.: ‘Report of the British Association meeting at Dundee on the subject of meteorology; storm warnings’. (Symons's) Mthly. Meteorol. Mag. (1867), 2, p. 101105Google Scholar. The official British Association report gave no indication of the stormy nature of the meeting and omitted all mention of the resolution. For Sykes see D.N.B.

96. Baxendell, 's paper, ‘On the recent suspension by the Board of Trade of cautionary storm warnings’, was read to the Manchester Lit. and Phil, on 11 12 1866Google Scholar. BJ 1/98. For Baxendell see D.N.B.

97. This dichotomy is covered, as far as it affects meteorology, in a perceptive account by Tucker, G. B.: ‘Research and services: differing attitudes within the science of meteorology’. Weather, (1976), 31, p. 104113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

98. Abbé, C.: ‘The progress of science as illustrated by the development of meteorology’. Ann. Rpt. Bd. of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1907, Presidential address, p. 289290Google Scholar. Shaw, , op. cit. (54), p. 9Google Scholar. Simpson, G. C.FitzRoy and weather forecasts’. Meteorol Mag. (1955), 84, p. 167173.Google Scholar

99. Symons, for example, referred to his ‘…total lack of management…’, op. cit. (83), p. 67. Other evidence is not lacking.

100. ‘Synoptic chart’, ‘weather forecast’, ‘north and/or south cone’, and ‘gale warning’ are all terms emanating from FitzRoy. He also wished to change the name of the science to ‘metrology’, see op. cit. (29).

101. Bergeron, T.: ‘Synoptic meteorology: an historical review’. Pageoph. Basel, (1980/1981), 119, p. 446Google Scholar. The article is a reprint from the Rossby Memorial volume, Bolin, B., ed.: The atmosphere and the sea in motion. New York, 1959.Google Scholar

102. See Cannon, S. F.: Science in culture. New York, 1978, p. 225Google Scholar; Forbes, J. D. ‘Report on recent progress and present state of meteorology’. B.A.R., Oxford, (1832), p. 196258Google Scholar; and William, Whewell: B.A.R., Plymouth, 1841, Presidential address, p. xxiii.Google Scholar

103. Elizabeth, Garber: ‘Thermodynamics and meteorology’. Ann. Sci. (1967), 33, p. 5165.Google Scholar

104. Thornes, J. E.: ‘A paradigmatic shift in atmospheric studies?’. Prog. Phys. Geog. (1981), 5, p. 429440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

105. The separate identity of scientific disciplines is well considered in LeMaine, G., MacLeod, R., Mulkay, M. & Weingart, P. eds.: Perspectives in the emergence of scientific disciplines. The Hague, 1976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

106. This was Napier Shaw.