The astronomer is, in some measure, independent of his fellow astronomer; he can wait in his observatory till the star he wishes to observe comes to his meridian; but the meteorologist has his observations bounded by a very limited horizon, and can do little without the aid of numerous observers furnishing him contemporaneous observations over a wide-extended area.
James Pollard Espy, Alfred Osborn Pope Nicholson (1857). “Message from the President of the United States: Communicating, in Compliance with a Resolution of the Senate of July 24, 1854, the Fourth Meteorological Report of Prof. James P. Espy”, p.40
