The Expedition Journals

Abstract

While several scientific books have been written describing the expedition’s study of flora and fauna,* its advances in the fields of geology, geography, and cartography,† and its members’ medical needs,‡ the expedition’s systematic daily observations of climate, water, and weather elements have largely been ignored. However, the daily observations en route represent the dawn of modern meteorology, when only a handful of scientists were noting the changing weather patterns. In general, regular daily observations, although noted back to the Greeks as early as the fifth century B.C.E., were not recorded until the late 1600s as instruments such as the thermometer, barometer, and hygrometer were developed (Frisinger 1983).