ON PROPOSED AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 321 



Mammalia, of utterance of characteristic cries among Reptiles 

 and Insects, and anything else which may be deemed note- 

 worthy. 



II. To record, in addition to the foregoing, the changes of atmospheric 

 temperature as indicated by a standard thermometer. 



III. This class to be furnished with a full set of instruments for recording 

 all the changes deemed important in the study of meteorology, exclusive of 

 magnetism. 



To carry on this system, the Institution has received, or expects to receive, 

 cooperation from the following resources : — 



1. From the small appropriation made by Congress to be expended under 

 the direction of this Institution and the Navy department conjointly. 



2. From the appropriations made by different States of the Union. 



3. From the observations made under the direction of the Medical depart- 

 ment of the U.S. Army. 



4. From observations made by institutions and individuals on different parts 

 of the Continent, who report immediately to the Smithsonian Institution. 



5. From officers of Her Britannic Majesty's Service in different parts of 

 the British Possessions in North America. 



The following is an account of what has been actually accomplished, ex- 

 tracted from the last Report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to 

 Congress. 



" A small appropriation has been made by Congress for two years past, to 

 be expended under the direction of the Navy department, for meteorological 

 purposes, and Professor Espy, engaged under the Act authorizing this appro- 

 priation, has been directed to cooperate with the Institution in the promotion 

 of the common object. Besides the aid which we have received from the know- 

 ledge of Professor Espy on this subject, the general system has been benefited 

 from that source by the use of instruments purchased by the surplus of the 

 appropriatioji, after paying the salary of Professor Espy, and other expenses. 



" During the last year Mr. Espy has been engaged in a series of interesting 

 and valuable experiments on the change of temperature, produced by a 

 sudden change in the density of the air. The results which he has obtained 

 are interesting to science in general, and directly applicable to meteorology. 



" These experiments were all made in one of the rooms of the Smithsoniaa 

 Institution, and with articles of apparatus belonging to the collection which 

 constituted the liberal donation of Dr. Hare of Philadelphia. An account of 

 these experiments will be given to the Secretary of the Navy in Mr. Espy's 

 report. 



" It was mentioned in the last report, that the regents of the University of 

 the State of New York in 1849, made a liberal appropriation of funds for 

 the reorganization of the meteorological system of observations established 

 in 1825, and that Dr. T. Romeyn Beck, and the Hon. Gideon Hawley, to 

 whom the enterprise was entrusted, had adopted the instruments prepared 

 under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. Another appropriation 

 has been made for 1850, and the system has been carried during the last 

 year into successful operation by Professor Guyot, late of Neufchatel in 

 Switzerland. This gentleman, who has established a wide reputation as a 

 meteorological observer by his labours in his own country, was recommended 

 to Dr. Beck and Mr. Hawley by this Institution, and employed by them to 

 superintend the fitting up'of the instruments, to instruct the observers in the 

 minute details of their duty, and to determine the topographical character, 

 and elevation above the sea, of each station. 



" The whole number of stations which have been established in the State 

 1851. y 



