172 BOARD OF REGENTS. 



I do not hesitate, therefore, to say, that provided a balloon can he constructed of 

 sufficient size, and of sufficient impermeability to gas, in order that it may maintain 

 a high elevation for a sufficient length of time, it would be wafted across the Atlantic. 

 I would not, however, advise that the first experiment of this character be made 

 across the ocean, but that the feasibility of the project should be thoroughly tested, 

 and experience accumulated by voyages over the interior of our continent. It is 

 true that more eclat might be given to the enterprise, and more interest excited in the 

 public mind generally, by the immediate attempt of a passage to Europe ; but I do 

 not think the sober sense of the more intelligent part of the community would be in 

 favor of this plan ; on the contrary, it would be considered a premature and foolhardy 

 risk of life. 



It is not in human sagacity to foresee, prior to experience, what simple occurrence, 

 or what neglect in an arrangement, may interfere with the result of an experiment ; 

 and therefore I think it will be impossible for you to secure the full confidence of 

 those who are best able to render you assistance except by a practical demonstration, 

 in the form of successful voyages from some of the interior cities of the continent tc* 

 the seaboard. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



JOSEPH HENRY, 

 Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 



T. S. C. Lowe, Esq., 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



The Board then adjourned sine die. 



January 15, 1862. 



In accordance with a resolution of the Board of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, fixing the time of the beginning of their 

 annual session on the third Wednesday of January of each year, 

 the Board met this day in the Regents' room at 11 o'clock a. m. 



Present, Hon. H. Hamlin, Hon. J. A. Pearce, Hon. E. McPher- 

 son, Hon. S. S. Cox, Hon. Richard Wallach, and the Secretary. 



The Secretary stated that since the last session of the Regents 

 the following changes had taken place in the Board, viz: 



Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, as Vice-President of the United States. 

 has become ex officio a member of the Board. The vacancy occa- 

 sioned by the death of Hon. Richard Rush has, by joint resolution 

 of Congress, approved March 2, 1861, been filled by the appoint- 

 ment of Hon. William L. Dayton, of New Jersey; the vacancy 

 caused by the expiration of the term of Hon. Gideon Hawley, by 

 the appointment of William B. Astor, of New York ; and that by 

 the expiration of the term of Cornelius C. Felton, of Massachu- 

 setts, by the reappointment of the same gentleman. 



The Secretary also stated that on the 7th of March, 1861, the 

 Vice-President of the United States reappointed Hon. James A. 

 Pearce a Regent for the term of six years, and on the 4th of De- 

 cember, 1861, he appointed Hon. W. P. Fessenden, of Maine, and 

 Hon. L. Trumbull, of Illinois, to fill the vacancies occasioned by 

 the decease of Hon. S. A. Douglas and the removal of Hon. J. M. 

 Mason ; and that on the 19th of December the Speaker of the 



