15 [1] 



4. To all States and Territories; provided they give in return, copies of all 



docmnents published under their authority. 



5. To all incorporated Public Libraries in tliis country, not included in 



either of the foregoing classes, now containing more than seven thou- 

 sand volumes; and to smaller Libraries, where a whole State, or large 

 district would be otherwise left unsupplied. 

 The author of each memoir receives, as his only compensation, a certain 

 number of copies of it, to distribute among his friends, or to present to 

 individuals who may be occupied in the same line of research. In this 

 way single memoirs are distributed to individuals, and especially to those; 

 who are most actively engaged in promoting discoveries. Copies of the 

 reports, and also in some cases, of particular memoirs, are sent to all 

 meteorological observers. Besides these, we have placed on the list the 

 more prominent Academies and Lyceums, as recipients of the minor 

 publications. It is also intended, in order to benefit the public more gene- 

 rally, to place on sale copies of memoirs and reports, though on account 

 of the nuud)er required for the supply of Institutions, we have not as yet,, 

 been able to carry this plan into eli'ect. 



No copyright has been taken for the Smithsonian publications ; they are 

 therefore free to be used by the compilers of books, and in this way they 

 are beginning to reach the general reader and to produce a beneficial effect 

 on the public mind.. 



METEOROLOGT. 



The system of meteorology under the direction of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, has^ during the last year made good progress. And though the 

 whole number of stations has not been much increased, yet the character 

 of the instruments adopted, antl consequently, the value of the observa- 

 tions, has been improved both in precision and variety. 



This system is intended to embrace, as fiir as possible, the whole surface 

 of North America, and to consist of three classes of observers. One 

 class, without instruments, to record the changes in the aspect of the sky, 

 the direction of the wind, the beginning and ending of rain, the appear- 

 ance of the Aurora, &c. Another, in addition to the foregoing, to give an 

 account of the changes of temperature, as indicated by the thermometer. 

 A third class, furnished with full sets of instruments, to record all changes 

 deemed important in the study of meteorology. 



To carry on tliis system, the Institution has received or expects to 

 receive assistance from the ibllowing sources: 



1. From the small appropriation made by Congress, to be expended under 



the direction of the Navy Department. 



2. From the appropriations made by ditferent States of the Union. 



3. From the observations made under the direction of the Medical Depart- 



ment of the United States Ai-my. 



4. From the Officers of Her Majesty's service in different parts of the 



British possessions in North America. 



5. From observations made by institutions and individuals, in different 



parts of the continent, wdio report immediately to the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 

 A small appropriation has been made by Congress lor two years past, to 

 be upended under the direction of the Navy Department for meteorolo- 



