248 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



3. Irregular tables and single series, extending over long periods, and 

 where reliable observations have been made. 

 A series of" charts has been constructed to exhibit the distribution of 

 temperature on the North American continent, by isothermal lines ; and 

 also another series, illustrative of the distribution of precipitation for 

 each month, season, and year of 1860, 1851, and 1852, and for the 

 periods given in the general tables. It is proposed to present these 

 results to Congress as a part of the Annual Report of the Regents, and 

 as the first fruit of the labors of the Smithsonian Institution on the sub- 

 ject of meteorology. 



Catalogue of Libraries. 



In addition to the preparation of the work previously mentioned. Pro- 

 fessor Jewctt has continued his experiments on the new process of stereo- 

 typing, to be used in his system of cataloguing. Much difficulty and 

 delay have been experienced in the prosecution of these experiments, on 

 account of the want of workm'-n to construct the peculiar apparatus 

 required. The services of an ingenious and skilful artisan have, however, 

 been secured ; and the process is now brought to such a state that it 

 can be applied with certainty, and abridgment of labor, to produce the 

 best specimens of typography. 



The system of catalogues described in previous Reports, though future 

 experience may suggest other improvements, is now apparently perfect 

 in all its details. A stereotyping office has been established in the 

 basement of the west wing of the Smithsonian building, and the Insti- 

 tution is ready to commence the formation of a general catalogue of 

 the principal libraries of the United States. The commission to which 

 the catalogue system was referred, recommended that measures be 

 taken to procure the preparation and printing of the catalogue of the 

 Library of Congress. The cost of the first collection of stereotype 

 titles can be best borne by this library, and it w^ill be the first to reap 

 the benefit of this invention. The stereotype blocks of the titles can 

 be preserved in the Institution, and a new catalogue annually furnished 

 at a small expense, with all the additions inserted in their proper places. 

 The same titles will be employed in printing the catalogues of other 

 libraries, and the new titles which may be prepared for these will, in 

 turn, be used for the Library of Congress. 



I beg leave to commend this subject to the immediate consideration 

 of the Board of Regents. The whole plan is in perfect harmony with 

 the active operations, and has always received my cordial commenda- 

 tion. The Institution has incurred the expense of reducing it to prac- 

 tice, so far as it depends on mechanical arrangements; and it now only 

 requires to be applied, to reafize all the benefits which have been antici- 

 pated in regard to it, to do honor to the Institution and to coafer de- 

 served reputation on its author.* 



*NoTE. — Since this report was presented to the Board of Regents, Congress has appropri- 

 ated three thousand dollars to commence the catalogue of its library on the stereotype plan, 

 under the direction of the Smitiisonian Institution. 



