THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — CLARK. 141 



day in use in every telegraph system, " Henry's oscillating machine 

 was the forerunner of all our modern electrical motors. The rotary 

 motor of to-day is the direct outgrowth of his improvements in 

 magnets." His name is perpetuated in the term "henry," the unit 

 of electric inductance. 



Henry also inaugurated the system of daily meteorological observa- 

 tions, out of which grew the United States Weather Bureau, and, 

 as head of the Lighthouse Board, he revolutionized the methods of 

 lighthouse operation and signaling. 



In 1847 the Institution made an appropriation "for instruments 

 and other expenses connected with meteorological observations." 

 The instruments thus secured w^ere distributed throughout the 

 country, and within two years the volunteer observers reporting to 

 the Institution numbered about 400. In 1849 Henry realized the 

 value of the electric telegraph as " a ready means of warning the 

 more northern and southern observers to be on the watcli for the 

 first appearance of an advancing storm," and there was inaugurated 

 a system of daily telegraphic w'eather reports, a system whi-ch was 

 continued under the direction of the Institution until the beginning 

 of the Civil War. On a large map in the Smithsonian building the 

 weather over a considerable part of the country, according to re- 

 ports received at 10 o'clock each day, was indicated by suitable 

 symbols. 



Spencer FuUerton Baird, Secretary, 1878 to 1887, noted as a biolo- 

 gist, during his administration bent his energies to increase man's 

 knowledge of animal life. He established the United States Com- 

 mission of Fish and Fisheries, now known as the Bureau of Fisheries, 

 for the study of food fishes and river and ocean fauna. Secretary 

 Baird, as keeper of the Museum, took a deep interest in the national 

 collections in natural history and other objects, and under his direc- 

 tion there was erected the Museum building for the exhibition of the 

 valuable collections acquired from the International Exhibition at 

 Philadelphia in 1876. During his administration the National 

 Museum was rapidly developed under the direction of Assistant 

 Secretary G. Brown Goode, and the need for more adequate quarters 

 soon became evident. 



Samuel Pierpont Langley, Secretary, 1887 to 1906, won eminence 

 by his achievements as an astronomer, especially by his astrophysical 

 observations and discoveries, and he became Imown to the world at 

 large through his 18 years of administrative service as Secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. His fame will also become increasingly 

 greater as the new science of aviation is further developed, for to 

 Langley belongs the honor of being the first to demonstrate to the 

 world, in 1896, the practicability of mechanical flight with machines 

 heavier than the air, sustained and propelled by their own power. 



