31 



porated by the Board of Regents was furnished with a thermometer and a 

 ain-auge, and was reqmred to keep a register, after a prescribed form, m 

 order- to be entitled to a portion of the pnbhc Hterary fund This system 

 has now continued for more than twenty years, and the number of 

 academies reporting has increased from ten to f-'^^- J^^ P^^;;;^^^!;;^^^^ 

 creditable to the public spirit and scientific taste of New York. It was a 

 movement in advance of pubhc sentiment in the other States, and the ob- 

 servations were, perhaps, as extensive as it was expedient to undertake at 

 thit time These observations have determined, with considerable accu- 

 racy, the mean temperature of the State; and the annual report contains 

 a vast amount of important meteorological statistics. 



More recently, Pennsylvania has set an example of the same kind to her 

 sister States In 1837 the legislature of that State appropriated $4,0U0 lor 

 ihe advancement of meteorology; and out of this sum, which was placed 

 at the disposal of a joint committee of the American Philosophical Society 

 and Franklin Institute, a barometer, two common thermometers, a selt- 

 recnstering thermometer, and a rain-gauge, were purchased for each county 

 in%he State, to be placed in the hands of some skilfal observer who 

 should volunteer to keep a journal of the weather, according to a com- 

 mon form prescribed by the committee. The observations were com- 

 menced with little delay, and have been regularly conUnued. Here are 

 made observations of the barometer and thermometer three times a day; of 

 the self-registering thermometer; the winds estimated for sixteen points of 

 the compass; the depth of rain; and, at some stations, observations of the 



dew-point. , .,. 



In the year 1S43, the system of observations at the military posts was 

 reorganized upon a scale more in accordance with the claims of science 

 They now comprise observations of the barometer, attached and external 

 thermometer, wet-bulb thermometer; direction and force of the wind; di- 

 rection, velocity, and amount of clouds; each at four hours of the day, 

 viz: sunrise, 9 a. m., 3 and 9 p. m.; together with the amount of ram, 

 and the times of its beginning and ending. 



Thus it appears we have observations from the general government at 

 about sixty posts, stretching along the entire Atlantic coast, the gulf of 

 Mexico, the Indian territory beyond the Mississippi, and the chain of 

 the northern lakes. Next come the observations of two large States, 

 New York and Pennsylvania. And then we have amateur observers 

 pretty numerous in New England-scattered more sparingly over the south 



and west. 



I now come to the inquiry, what progress has been made, 

 2, Towards deducing from these observations general laws. 



