146 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



to be much interested in the prosperity of the Institution — such is the 

 nature of the law that the duty could not be remitted. 



Tliere is an article of apparatus which, within a few years past, has 

 opened almost a new world of research in the phenomena of life and 

 organization, the use of which is now indispensable in advancing our 

 knowledge of physiology and its kindred branches of science. I allude 

 to the achromatic microscope, to increase the power of which the artists 

 of Germany, France, and England have vied with each other. On ac 

 count of the small number of persons who are capable of constructing 

 the proper lenses, the best specimens of this instrument are very scared 

 in this country, and can be procured only at a great expense. Under 

 these circumstances, it was a matter of much interest to learn, from a 

 source which could be relied on, that an individual in the interior of the 

 State of New York had successful^ devoted himself to the study of the 

 microscope, and that he was able to produce instruments of this kind 

 which would compete with the best of those constructed in Europe. In 

 order to do justice to the talents and labors of this person, as well as to 

 furnish the Institution with a valuable instrument of research, I re- 

 quested him to construct a microscope, to be paid for out of the iiinds 

 t()r the purchase of apparatus, provided that a commission, appointed 

 by myself, should find it capable of producing certain effects. This 

 proposition was accepted, and the result will probably be given to the 

 Board at the next meeting. 



Preparations have also been made for instituting various lines of phy- 

 sical research. Among the subjects mentioned by way of example in 

 the programme for the application of the hinds of the Institution is terres- 

 trial magnetism. I need scarcely say that this is a subject of high in- 

 terest not only in a theoretical point of view, but also in its direct reference 

 to navigation and the various geodetical operations of civil and military 

 lite. A resolution of Congress authorizing the exploration of the mine- 

 ral lands adjacent to the great lakes has given to us the means of ad- 

 vancing this branch of knowledge with but little expenditure of the 

 funds of the Institution. The Secretary of the Treasury readily agreed 

 to the proposition that there should be added to the mineralogical 

 and geological surveys of these regions, determinations of the dip, 

 the variation, and the intensity of the magnetic forces, provided that 

 the Smithsonian Institution would furnish one set of the instruments, 

 and take charge of the direction of the observations, and of reducing 

 and publishing them. In the survey of the mineral lands in the vicinity 

 of Lake Michigan, under Dr. Jackson ; Dr. Locke, of Cincinnati, has 

 been employed with his own apparatus; and, to make provision for 

 the survey in Wisconsin, preliminary steps have been taken to pro- 

 cure other instruments from London. 



Another subject of research mentioned in the programme, and which 

 has been urged upon the immediate attention of the Institution, is that 

 of an extensive system of meteorological observations, particularly with 

 reference to the phenomena of American storms. Of late years, in our 

 country, more additions have been made to meteorology than to any 

 (jther branch of physical science. Several important generalizations 

 have been arrived at, and definite theories proposed, which now enable 

 us to direct our attention, with scientific precision, to such points of 



J 



