ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XXI 



ing to cooperate with the Association, in regard to this subject, and to 

 establish a system of observations, at such of the posts belonging to the 

 Company as might seem desirable to the Association. By order of the 

 War Department, a system of meteorological observations is maintained 

 at all the U. S. military stations, under the supervision of the Surgeon- 

 General of the army ; and measures are now on foot to provide for a set 

 of observations by the keepers of all light-houses on the American coast, 

 under the direction of the Treasury Department. The instruments sup- 

 plied to many of the stations established by the Smithsonian Institution, 

 embrace a thermometer, barometer, hygrometer, rain and snow gauge, and 

 wind vane, all carefully compared, and of uniform construction. At some 

 stations, hourly observations are maintained, and at all others observations 

 three times a day. At many of the stations, the observations embrace the 

 following particulars : The phase of the moon, the barometrical indication, 

 the height of the thermometer, direction and force of the wind, the plants in 

 flower, the migratory birds first seen, the state of the psychrometer, the 

 amount of vapor or humidity, the state of the rain gauge, the state of 

 cloudiness, with notes on the various kinds of clouds visible. 



Active measures, in relation to meteorological science, have recently 

 been taken by various foreign governments. The government of Great 

 Britain, having greatly enlarged its system of meteorological observations, 

 and wishing to extend it still farther, in November last invited the coop- 

 eration of the United States therein. To this official invitation the Amer- 

 ican authorities have favorably responded, and have also suggested the 

 propriety of including the sea as well as the land, and of enlisting in the 

 meteorological field the voluntary cooperation of the commercial, as well 

 as the aid of the naval marines, not only of England and the United States, 

 but of all other maritime nations. Lieut. Maury, on the part of the United 

 States, and Gen. Sir John Burgoyne, on the part of Great Britain, have 

 been entrusted with the charge of the work ; and a committee of con- 

 ference, composed of representatives of several nations, has also been 

 requested to make arrangements for carrying out this universal system of 

 observations. The English Government have determined to extend the 

 system of meteorological observations over the whole of their vast empire, 

 and, to aid in this movement, the East India Company and the Trinity 

 Board have agreed to lend their influence and assistance. In addition tc 

 this, letters Lave recently been sent, by Lord Palmerston and by the Colo 

 nial Office, to all British Consuls, reguesting their cooperation in the col 

 lection of data in regard to a theory of storms, a work under the charge of 

 Col. Reed. By discoveries recently made, particularly at St. Helena, it 

 has been found that there is a tidal movement of the air, in obedience to 

 the movements of the moon, answering to the tides of the ocean, and point- 



