Nalional Scioilifir and Rdiicafioiia} Instiliilioiix. 30T 



United States. The reports are received about ten o'clock in the morning, and the 

 changes on the maps are made by temporarily attaching to the several stations pieces 

 of card of different colors to denote different conditions of the weather as to clear- 

 ness, cloudiness, rain, or snow. This map is not only of interest to visitors in exhib- 

 iting the kind of weather which their friends at a distance are experiencing, but is 

 also of importance in determining at a glance the probable changes which may 

 soon be expected.' 



Ill a still earlier report Professor Henry said: 



We are indebted to the National Telegraph line for a series of observations from 

 New Orleans to New York, and as far westward as Cincinnati, Ohio, which have 

 been pu1)lished in the ' ' Evening Star, ' ' of this city. These reports have excited much 

 interest, and could they be extended farther north, and more generally to the west- 

 ward, they would furnish important information as to the approach of storms. We 

 hope in the course of another year to make such an arrangement with the telegraph 

 lines as to be able to give warning on the eastern coast of the approach of storms, 

 since the investigations which have been made at the Institution fully indicate the 

 fact that as a general rule the storms of our latitude pursue a definite course.^ 



In 1868, Cleveland Abbe, then director of the Cincinnati Observatory, 

 revived the Smithsonian idea of meteorological forecasts, and suggested 

 to the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce that Cincinnati should be made 

 the headquarters of meteorological observation for the United States, ' ' for 

 the purpose of collecting and comparing telegraphic weather reports from 

 all parts of the land and making deductions therefrom." His propo.sals 

 were favorably received, and he began, September i, 1869, to issue the 

 Weather Bulletin of the Cincinnati Observatory, which he contintied 

 until, in January, 1871, he was summoned to Washington to assist in 

 organizing the national meteorological service, with which he has ever 

 since been identified. 



The Smithsonian meteorological system continued its ftinctions until 

 it was finally consigned to the ctistody of the Chief Signal Officer of the 

 Arm5^ I,ike all the efforts of this Institution, this work was in the direc- 

 tion of supplementing and harmonizing the work of all others, and atten- 

 tion was especially devoted to preparing and distributing blank forms in 

 this direction, calculating and publishing extensive papers for systema- 

 tizing observations, introdticing standard instrtiments, collecting all public 

 documents, printed matter, and manuscript records bearing on the meteor- 

 ology of the American Continent, submitting these materials for scien- 

 tific discussion, and ptiblishing their resttlts. The Smithsonian work was, 

 during its whole existence, under the immediate personal direction of 

 Professor Henry, assisted by Professor Arnold Guyot, who, in 1850, pre- 

 pared and published an exhaustive series of directions for meteorological 

 observations, intended for the first-class observers cooperating with the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



'Thirteenth Annual Report of the vSecretary of the Smith.sonian Institution, p. 32. 

 (1858.) 



^Twelfth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1857, 

 p. 26 ; also Twentieth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Smitlusonian Institu- 

 tion, 1S65, pp. 54-57. 



