INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxiii 



The Smithsonian Institution alone had over six hundred sta- 

 tions in active operation during 1872, representing every 

 state and territory of the Union, as well as a large part of 

 British America and Mexico. 



Among the publications of the year none will rank higher 

 in importance than the " Discussions of the Rain-fall Obser- 

 vations" in the United States published by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. This laborious work has been so thoroughly ac- 

 complished by Mr. Schott that it must for perhaps a genera- 

 tion to come be our standard authority. The promised vol- 

 umes on temperature and barometric pressure, and the new 

 discussion of the winds, will complete that great undertak- 

 ino 1 which the Smithsonian Institution has, with the very lim- 

 ited means at its disposal, so persistently and successfully 

 carried forward. As a foretaste of what may be hoped for 

 when these works are completed, Ave may instance the inter- 

 esting study of the temperature in the neighborhood of the 

 great lakes, as lately published by Professor Winchell. 



Passing to the problem of physical meteorology, we notice 

 the observation by Professor Young of coincidences between 

 solar-spot outbursts and terrestrial magnetic disturbances, 

 confirmatory of the oft-cited observation of Carrington in 

 1859. On the other hand, Meldrum and Lockyer have pro- 

 claimed the increase of Indian cyclones (and, therefore, of 

 rain-fall) with the increase of solar spots. These are the first 

 fruits of the attention awakened by the previous publications 

 of Abbe, Smyth, and Stone on the solar-spot period in terres- 

 trial temperature. Some paper published in the Toronto 

 Leader in 1870 and 1871, by Mr.Elvins, appears to have -first 

 enunciated a connection between solar spots and rain-fall. 



In the obscure field of Electricity much labor has been 

 spent, and with fair results. The splendid aurora of February 

 4th gave rise to very extensive essays on this subject, from 

 all of which it appears that, while the purely atmospheric ori- 

 gin of this phenomenon seems well established, its cosmical or 

 solar origin is rendered extremely doubtful. The great work 

 of Professor Lovering, containing, as it does, a critical and 

 exhaustive catalogue of all recorded auroras, has appeared 

 during the year, and must long mark an epoch in the litera- 

 ture of this subject. 



The eruption of Vesuvius, ending in April, 1872, afforded 



