REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 43 



The library now contains a very large collection of the catalogues 

 and reports of different public institutions in this country, which have 

 been classified and arranged in a separate apartment so as to be 

 readily accessible for statistical inquiries; and we trust that this 

 collection will continually be enlarged by additions of the current 

 reports, particularly those of all institutions which receive the Smith- 

 sonian publications. 



Meteorology. — The arrangement between the Patent Office and this 

 Institution in relation the collection of meteorological statistics still 

 continues. The amount appropriated, however, by the former has 

 been less than in previous years. The observers have very much in- 

 creased in number, and are now divided into three classes — the first 

 making records with a full set of instruments, the second with a 

 thermometer and rain gage, and the third without instruments; all, 

 however, reporting the state of the sky, the direction of the wind, 

 beginning and ending of storms, and casual phenomena. All the 

 observations which have been taken since 1854 have been reduced, 

 and are now in the hands of the Commissioner of Patents to be pre- 

 sented to Congress as an Appendix to his Agricultural Report. It is 

 presumed they will be ordered to be printed since they form an in- 

 teresting part of the agricultural statistics called for by the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior. 



The several systems of observations made in different parts of the 

 American continent have been continued and extended during the 

 past year. Those under the direction of the Surgeon General of the 

 United States have been made to include the new military posts of 

 the army, and a series of investigations of much interest has been 

 prosecuted in California by Lieut. R. S. Williamson, of the topo- 

 graphical corps, relative to the diurnal changes, the diminution of 

 temperature depending upon elevation, and the extent of simultaneous 

 barometrical fluctuations. 



Observations have also been made by the following surveying and 

 exploring parties, sent out under different departments of the gov- 

 ernment, viz: 



Under the Interior Department: 



The Wagon Road Expedition from South Pass to California, under 

 command of F. W. Lander. 



The survey of the boundary between Texas and New Mexico, 

 John H. Clark, commissioner. 



