REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 49 



inspired by the prospect they afford, that in the course of time they 

 will not only reflect the past but foreshow the future, and enable us 

 by their timely monitions to avail ourselves of the benignity, or 

 guard against the ravage of the coming day. 



During the year 1859 a remarkable exhibition of the Aurora 

 Borealis occurred, and special efforts have been made to collect all 

 the reliable observations which could be obtained in regard to this 

 phenomenon. The materials thus accumulated have been arranged 

 and will be published in order to render them generally accessible. 

 The occurrence of the Aurora, as is well known from the observa- 

 tions of Arago and others, is attended with a remarkable disturbance 

 of the magnetic needle; and since the latter, as has been shown in 

 the account of the paper of Dr. Bache, is connected with the spots 

 on the sun, it would follow that the Aurora, although apparently of 

 electrical origin, is connected with influences entirely exterior to our 

 planet, and hence precise information as to its appearance over so 

 wide an area as that in which it was exhibited about the beginning 

 of September last, must be specially acceptable to the student of 

 terrestrial physics. 



Two remarkable meteors have appeared during the last year, one 

 of which exploded near the boundary between New York and Mas- 

 sachusetts, and the other apparently descended to the earth either in 

 Delaware bay or in the ocean in its vicinity. All the facts collected 

 in regard to these mysterious visitants of our atmosphere have been 

 referred to scientific gentlemen for critical examination, the results 

 of which will be published either by the Institution or in the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science. 



The reduction of the current observations is continued by Professor 

 Coffin, who is also engaged, with the assistance of the Institution, in 

 the investigation of the winds of the southern hemisphere and in the 

 extension of his previous researches in regard to those in the northern 

 hemisphere. 



The office duties of distributing the blanks; arranging the meteoro- 

 logical material and returns received from- observers; of superintend- 

 ing the observations made at the Institution, and in assisting in the 

 Smithsonian publications relative to meteorology, are assigned to Mr. 

 William Q. Force, of Washington, and to his industry, ingenuity, and 

 efficiency the system owes many improvements. 

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