32 PROCEEDINaS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



publications of European Societies, addressed to the Acad- 

 emy, which had come into his possession at a custom-house 

 sale, on payment of certain charges. Also a letter from the 

 Librarian of the University Library, Cambridge, England, 

 February 3, 1858, acknowledging the receipt of the Acad- 

 emy's publications. 



Professor Lovertng, for ihe Committee on Meteorological 

 Observations, read the following report : — 



" At a meeting of the Academy on the 27th of May, 1856, Dr. B. A. 

 Gould, Jr. offered some remarks on the difficulties which meteorolo- 

 gists (particularly in Europe) find in obtaining meteorological obser- 

 vations made in Boston and its vicinity. Whereupon it was voted that 

 Professor D. Treadwell, Professor Lovering, and Mr. Jonathan Hall 

 be a committee to take the subject into consideration. During the long 

 period which has elapsed since their appointment, this committee have 

 not lost sight of this subject. After carefully examining the materials 

 at their disposal, they have begun with the publication of Mr. Jonathan 

 Hall's observations on the thermometer, made at No. 51 Hancock 

 Street, Boston, since January 1, 1821. These observations, made 

 three times a day, with scarcely a single interruption, and continued 

 down to the present time, have been published for a period of thirty -six 

 years, ending with January 1, 1857 ; together with observations on the 

 quantity of rain which has fallen since 1823, or during a period of 

 thirty-four years. This publication fills eighty of the quarto pages of 

 the Memoirs, and terminates with tables which show the mean heat of 

 each year, and the mean heat of each month, for thirty-six yeai's ; also, 

 the mean heat of the whole period : the same means also for the three 

 particular hours of the day at which the observations were taken. 



'' The committee propose, Avith the approbation of the Academy, to 

 publish next the meteorological observations of the late Dr. Enoch 

 Hale. Dr. Hale's observations on the thermometer, winds, and clouds 

 began January 1, 1818, and ended December 31, 1848, covering a 

 period of thirty-one years. His observations on the barometer began 

 December 1, 1818, and ended December 13, 1848, extending over a 

 period of thirty years and a few days. The publication of these obser- 

 vations is due, not only to the cause of science, but also to the memory 

 of Dr. Hale, who was recognized by the Academy as its meteorological 

 observer, and who was encouraged to contmue and improve his obser- 

 vations by its aid and advice." 



