THK SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 23 



has been adopted to state candidly and respectfully the objections to 

 such propositions, and to endeavor to convince their authors that their 

 ground is untenable. 



Though this course is in many cases attended with no beneficial 

 results, still it is the only one which can be adopted with any hope of 

 even partial good. In answering those who persist in declaring that 

 the present received laws of mechanical action are erroneous, and that 

 they have discovered new and more correct generalizations, they are 

 requested to prove the truth of their assertions by predicting new and 

 important phenomena, the existence of which ma}' he immediately 

 tested either by experiment or observation. It is not enough that the 

 new system explains facts which we know, for this would be merely 

 exhibiting old knowledge under a new form, but it should point out in 

 the way of deduction new facts which have hitherto escaped the eye 

 of the observer or the scrutiny of the experimenter. 



It is to be regretted that S(^ many minds of power and originality in 

 our country should, from defective scientific training, be suffered to 

 diverge so widely from the narrow path which alone leads to real ad- 

 vance in positive knowledge. Providence, however, seems in some 

 measure to vindicate the equality of its distributions, by assigning to 

 such a double measure of hope and self-esteem, whicli serves them 

 instead of success and reputation. 



The faithful discharge of the duty of the correspondence of the insti- 

 tution imposes a serious labor on the secretary and his assistants. 

 Beside the correspondence above mentioned, there is added to their 

 duties that which relates to the reception and publication of the 

 memoirs ; to the lectures ; the letters sent forth by the Institution respect- 

 ing particular branches of research ; the answers to the almost innu- 

 merable inquires as to the character of the Institution, and applications 

 for its publications ; all the business matters which relate to the 

 printing, engraving, binding, transportation, payment of accounts ; and 

 all the foreign correspondence relating to the exchanges of publications. 



All the letters received are bound in volumes, and a copy of every 

 answer is careflilly preserved, the whole thus forming a permanent 

 record of all the transactions of the Institution, as well as a history of 

 the topics of scientific interest which have particularly occupied the 

 public mind during any given period. The exposition of this labor, 

 which has been increasing from year to year, will be a sufficient answer 

 to the question which is sometimes asked as to what the officers ol 

 the Institution find to do. 



Meteorology. — The general system of meteorology described in the 

 last and previous reports has been continued, and though some changes 

 have taken place among the observers, yet the number and efficiency 

 of the corps have been kept up. New instruments have been gradually 

 introduced, and constant improvement has taken place with the expe- 

 rience of each year in the precision and accuracy of the observations. 

 Since the beginning of the system, a large amount of valuable matter 

 relative to the meteorology of the United States has been collected ; 

 and the Institution has now commenced to reduce these observations, 

 and to deduce from them the general laws which govern the chmate of 



