HIS EXTRA-PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS 87 



of science and directed the legislation of Congress to 

 other subjects. 



The bill was still pending, however, in the Senate 

 early in 1857, and the details of Maury's plan were 

 presented in Senator Harlan's report, made on behalf of 

 the Committee on Agriculture. The following extract 

 from this report will indicate to what extent those who 

 afterwards established the United States Weather 

 Bureau were indebted to Maury's plan: 'Tt is believed 

 that the Superintendent of the Observatory can obtain 

 the necessary cooperation to enable him to subject the 

 atmosphere to this system of research by an appeal to 

 the farmers similar to that made to the mariners, if the 

 Government will furnish appropriate instruments and 

 defray the expense of transmitting this intelligence to the 

 Hydrographical Office. In order that these observations 

 might be reliable, the instruments with which they are to 

 be made must be correct. An appropriation of a small 

 sum of money would be necessary for the purchase of 

 a few standard sets, to be distributed among the states 

 and territories, for use and comparison, under suitable 

 regulation to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy. 

 It would be highly desirable, also, to be able to receive 

 from all parts of the country daily reports by telegraph. 

 In this way, the condition of the atmosphere in every 

 part of the country, the presence of a storm in any 

 quarter, its direction, its force, and the rapidity of its 

 march could be known at every point any hour of the 

 day; simultaneous reports from the various stations of 

 the character of the weather, being received and com- 

 bined at the central office, could not fail to afford results 

 of the highest interest and advantage to every industrial 



