Mi.s. No. 48. 61 



successor. Under these circumstances, I signified my willingness to 

 bestow mine on any institution for the promotion of science which would 

 give it suitable apartments and cases, so as to have it kept in due order, 

 and to render it available for the advancement of scientific kn(nvlt>dge. 



Subsequently, Professor Henry, the distinguished Secretary of the In- 

 stitution over which you are the legitimate guardians, suggested to me 

 that I should offer my apparatus to that Institution in tlie following com- 

 plimentary language: " I hope you will conclude to present it to the Smith-L». ^^-v 

 sonian Institution. Several of the articles belong to the history of llie ^'/^ 

 science of our country, and would be interesting mementos of the/ past '■^ 



which should be preserved in sctme public institution." In reply, I wrote.^ • 

 informing him that it would be agreeable to me to comply with his proposal,' ' 

 it being understood that the cost of the removal of the apparatus and of ita 

 being put in good order should be defrayed by -the Institution, so that 

 while, on the one hand, I should receive nothing, on the other, I should not 

 be at any expense; also, that suitable apartments and cases should be pro- 

 vided for the keeping and using of the apparatus for the purpose of investi- 

 gation and illustration. 



Having been subsequently advised that you were willing to do me the 

 honor of accepting the apparatus on these terras, I put it at the disposal of ,y 

 the Secretary, leaving it to his discretion to reject all that might not be . --^ 

 considered of use to the Institution. I did not deem it proper that I should 

 determine how far articles, which I had preserved under the idea of a con- 

 tingent utility, might be worthy of the cost of transportation and of the 

 space which 'they would occupy in the buildings of the Institution. I 

 understand that Professor Henry gave to Mr. De Beust, for many years 

 employed as my laboratory assistant, directions to pack up all that might, 

 iu his opinion, be useful in the way of research or illustration. 



Agreeably to these directions, the apparatus was packed up last summer 

 during my absence. I owe it to myself to state these circumstances, as it 

 may happen that every body may not consider all the articles packed up 

 by my assistant as meriting the honor done to them by their transfer to 

 the halls of the Institution. 



I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



ROBT. HARE,. 



Washington, January 3, 184S. 



APPENDIX C. 



Extracts from Communications from Professor Guyot to the Stcretary of 



the Smithsonian Institution. 



There is no man of science who does not deplore the want of uniformity 

 in the scales of scientific instruments adopted by different cin izod 

 nations The comparisons between the observations, made m ditlcrent 

 iuntri^s-comparisins indispensable in establishing the general resu s to 

 which meteorology aspires-are at present ^'^JPOf ^^l^^^'^^-^^^T^^^^y " Xk -^ 

 reductions, which are a source of errors in calculation, (against which us 

 diS to guard,) and which impose heavy labor and a considerable oss 

 of time! It is therefore very desirable, for the interest of meteorology, that 

 a uniform system of annotation should be established. 



