-1859] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 27 



these were made, with improvements, by Mr. James Green, 

 a scientific artisan, of New York. A large number of tliese 

 instruments have been constructed and sold to observers. 

 Full sets have been furnished by the Institution to parties 

 in important positions, and in some cases, half the cost has 

 been paid from the Smithsonian fund. 



A growing taste having been manifestly created for the 

 study of practical meteorology, directions for observations 

 and a volume of tables for their reduction, have been pre- 

 pared and widely circulated at the expense of the Institu- 

 tion. It has also distributed blanks to all the observers of 

 the different systems alluded to, except those of the army, 

 and has received in return, copies of all the observations 

 which have been made. It has in this way accumulated a 

 large amount of valuable material relative to the climate of 

 this country and to the character of the storms to which it 

 is subjected. The completeness and accuracy of the obser- 

 vations have also increased from year to year ; and by an 

 arrangement which the Institution has now made with the 

 Patent Office, it is hoped that the system will be extended, 

 and its character improved. 



It being manifest from the foregoing statements, and 

 from other evidences, that much interest is awakened in 

 this country on the subject of meteorology, it is hoped that 

 the means may be afforded for reducing and publishing the 

 materials which have been and may hereafter be accumu- 

 lated, and that important results to agriculture, as well as 

 to other arts, ma}' be hence deduced. 



Description of the Tables* 



The numbers given in the accompanying meteorological 

 tables are mostly those indicating average or mean results. 

 The principle of deducing general laws from a multiplicity 

 of facts or observations — though liable in themselves to error, 

 is of the greatest value in modern science. If we observe 



* [Twenty pages of Meteorological Tables following this part are omitted 

 in the present re-print.] 



