476 JOURNAL OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



Washington or Boston, and the Secretary had been obliged to apply to the author 

 for another copy ; for the transcribing of which $20 had been paid. To avoid a sim- 

 ilar occurrence in future, the plan had been adopted of sending the memoirs prepaid 

 by express, care being taken to obtain a receipt from the express line for the same. 



Meteorological observations — good progress is making in these, though considerable 

 delay has been experienced in obtaining proper instruments. We have decided upon 

 the form of the barometer and thermometer, wind, snow, and rain gauges. Mr. 

 Green, formerly of Baltimore, now of New York, has been employed to construct 

 them, and to compare them with the standard procured from London. Pike & Son, 

 of the same city, are engaged in constructing the other instruments named. Twenty- 

 five sets of these have been purchased by the State of New York, and are now in 

 progress of distribution under the direction of Professor Guyot. The midland de- 

 partment of the army has agreed to purchase instruments of the same kind for all the 

 new military posts. So that with those which shall be procured at the expense of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, a combined system, with compared instruments, of great 

 extent and importance, will be established. The number of compared instruments is 

 further increased by purchase by our observers, and in order to induce purchases of 

 this kind, Mr. Green is authorized to sell to them, on our order, a compared barom- 

 eter and thermometer at a reduced price, the Institution paying the remainder of the 

 cost. 



The presidents of the several telegraph lines from Washington have given us per- 

 mission to use, at stated periods, their wires for meteorological purposes, and this 

 part of the system will be put in operation as soon as Mr. Green has completed the 

 necessary instruments. 



Researches. — The sum of $100 had been appropriated for the exploration of the 

 mounds of the State of New York, an equal sum having been advanced by the His- 

 torical Society of that State. The results form the subject of one of the memoirs of 

 the second volume. The wood-cuts and engravings to illustrate this paper are in a 

 forward state of preparation. 



Mr. Davis has been requested to furnish directions for examining, surveying, and 

 describing mounds. The same gentleman is now engaged on an ethnological chart 

 of North America, giving the location of the ancient monuments found in various 

 parts of our country. 



Letters have been addressed to several engineers, asking copies of the statistics 

 of the explorations of railway and canal routes, for the purpose of improving our 

 knowledge of the physical geography of the United States. It is hoped in this way 

 to collect much interesting statistics relative to this subject. 



Letters also have been addressed to different historical societies and individuals 

 asking the exploration of mounds, &c, the accounts of which may be published in 

 the contributions ; and a number of communications have been received on this sub- 

 ject. 



Dr. Spencer P. Baird, of Pennsylvania, to whom an appropriation of $75 was 

 granted, has made a large collection of specimens in zoology and comparative anatomy. 

 The former are preserved in spirits, and will be deposited, for the present, in one of 

 the rooms of the basement story. 



A number of individuals interested in natural history have subscribed to the sup- 

 port of a scientific exploration, in the new possessions of the United States west of 

 the Rocky Mountains ; and the Secretary has agreed to subscribe, in behalf of the 

 Institution, $150 for one share, it being understood that all the new objects discov- 

 ered shall be presented for publication in the Smithsonian Contributions. One set of 

 plants has been received, for which $20 has been paid. 



Operations of the Library. — The books ordered to be purchased by the Executive 

 Committee, from Mr. Marsh, have been received and are now in the library. 



Statement of the Librarian. — Since the last meeting of the Executive Committee, 

 the larger part of the library, at present belonging to the Institution, has been re- 

 ceived and provisionally arranged. About one-half of it has also been catalogued. 



There are, at present, in the library — 



Books, say 3,500 volumes. 



Pamphlets, say 300 



Maps and charts, say 50 



Music, say 100 pieces. 



Engravings, say 500 sheets. 



