Unlocking Pre-1850 Instrumental Meteorological Records: A Global Inventory

Instrumental meteorological measurements from periods prior to the start of national weather services are designated “early instrumental data.” They have played an important role in climate research as they allow daily to decadal variability and changes of temperature, pressure, and precipitation, including extremes, to be addressed. Early instrumental data can also help place twenty-first century climatic changes into a historical context such as defining preindustrial climate and its variability. Until recently, the focus was on long, high-quality series, while the large number of shorter series (which together also cover long periods) received little to no attention. The shift in climate and climate impact research from mean climate characteristics toward weather variability and extremes, as well as the success of historical reanalyses that make use of short series, generates a need for locating and exploring further early instrumental measurements. However, information on early instrumental series has never been electronically compiled on a global scale. Here we attempt a worldwide compilation of metadata on early instrumental meteorological records prior to 1850 (1890 for Africa and the Arctic). Our global inventory comprises information on several thousand records, about half of which have not yet been digitized (not even as monthly means), and only approximately 20% of which have made it to global repositories. The inventory will help to prioritize data rescue efforts and can be used to analyze the potential feasibility of historical weather data products. The inventory will be maintained as a living document and is a first, critical, step toward the systematic rescue and reevaluation of these highly valuable early records. Additions to the inventory are welcome

Insecurity and economic development in Colombia in the 1st century of independence

The article questions the degree of importance that has been attributed to insecurity in the recent analysis of Colombia’s lack of development in the 19th century, and of the lack of development in post-independence Latin America generally. The author criticizes their lack of empirical evidence, and their lack of comparative focus, both within the hemisphere and outside it, and offers a series of arguments against their conclusions. His own evidence in the Colombian case indicates that neither «anarchy» nor deficiencies in property rights constituted significant brakes on the development of the country’s economy. He also questions the direction of causation in institutionalist explanations.El artículo cuestiona el grado de importancia que ha sido atribuido a la inseguridad en los análisis recientes del atraso colombiano en el siglo XIX, y del atraso de la América Latina en general en la post-independencia. El autor ofrece argumentos críticos a la falta de evidencia empírica y ausencia de un enfoque comparativo en estos análisis, tanto dentro como fuera del hemisferio. La evidencia mostrada para el caso colombiano indica que ni la llamada «anarquía» ni las deficiencias de los derechos de propiedad constituyeron un freno importante al desarrollo de la economía del país. El autor también cuestiona la dirección de causalidad de las explicaciones institucionalistas

Bemerkungen über die Zusammensetzung des Leimsüss und der Leimsüsssalpetersäure

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Ueber die Gewinnung des Sauerstoffgases aus der atmosphärischen Luft

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Zur Milchprüfung

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