284 WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1848 



tube to a cloud, from which flashes of lightning proceeded, 

 he was astonished to find it indicated a great degree of cold; 

 he afterwards found out that a considerable quantity of hail 

 had fallen from this cloud. 



He was not satisfied with the appearances of heat sup- 

 posed to have been derived from the moon. The heat that 

 other observers have got, is probably the reflected heat of 

 the sun, and not the moon's proper heat. 



PRACTICAL OPERATIONS OP THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



(From the Second Annual Report of the Secretary to the Board of Regents.) 



December 13, 1848. 



Gentlemen : By a resolution of the Board of Regents, at 

 their last annual meeting, I was charged with the execution 

 of the details of the programme which had been provision- 

 ally adopted, and was directed to report annually to the 

 Board the progress made in the execution of the duty as- 

 signed to me. In accordance with this resolution, I pre- 

 sent the following statement of the operations of the past 

 year. - - - 



It was recommended in my last report that the details of 

 the plan should be adopted provisionally, and should be car- 

 ried into operation gradually and cautiously, with such 

 changes, from time to time, as experience might dictate. 

 The Institution is not one of a day, but is designed to en- 

 dure as long as our Government shall exist; and it is there- 

 fore peculiarly important that in the beginning we should 

 proceed carefully, and not attempt to produce immediate 

 effects at the expense of permanent usefulness. The process 

 of increasing knowledge is an extremely slow one, and the 

 value of the results of this part of the plan cannot be prop- 

 erly realized until some years have elapsed. - - - 



In the publication of the first volume of the Contributions, 

 the question occurred as to the propriety of securing the 

 copyright to the Institution. I had not an opportunity of 

 conferring with the Executive Committee on this point, and 

 was therefore obliged to settle it on my own responsibility. 



