REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



various collections are now being formed, which will be of great in- 

 terest in comparing analogous stages of the mental development of 

 the primitive inhabitants of this country and those of Europe. For 

 the purpose of assisting this comparison it is proposed to make pho- 

 tographic impressions of all type specimens which have been found 

 in this country, to be distributed to the most distinguished archaeolo- 

 gists in Europe, and to invite a general exchange of illustrations and 

 articles of this character. Mr. Franklin Peale, of Philadelphia, has 

 arranged with artistic skill, in thirty tablets, nearly a thousand speci- 

 mens of arrow heads, hatchets, knives, chisels, and other instruments 

 belonging to the stone period, and has ascertained by actual experi- 

 ment that a photographic picture can be taken of each tablet of full 

 size, which presents the form and peculiarities of each article with 

 such distinctness that the impressions may serve almost as well as the 

 specimens themselves for comparative study. 



Meteoi'olocjy . — The system of meteorological observations, organized 

 and carried on successfully for several years past, has suffered more 

 from the disturbed condition of the country than any other part of 

 the operations of the Smithsonian establishment. But few records 

 have been received since the commencement of the war from Vir- 

 ginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, and, with two or three exceptions, 

 none from the States further south. 



The withdrawal of the troops from the numerous stations along the 

 coast of the Pacific and from the interior of the continent has mate- 

 rially diminished the number of observers reporting to the office of 

 the Surgeon General. 



The popular system of daily telegraphic reports of the condition of 

 the weather from distant parts of the United States has been dis- 

 continued ; the continuity of the lines to the south having been inter- 

 rupted, and the wires from the north and west being so entirely 

 occupied by public business that no use of them could be obtained for 

 scientific purposes. 



We may mention in this connexion that a daily bulletin of tele- 

 grams relative to the weather in difi'erent parts of Europe, similar to 

 that established by this Institution, is published at the Imperial Ob- 

 servatory at Paris, copies of which are regularly transmitted to us, 

 through the kindness of the director, M. Le Verrier. From an ex- 

 amination of these records we find that the meteorological phenomena 



