392 REPORT OF THE REGENTS. 



so many literary institutions and men of talent put them 

 in a condition to benefit science, by the collection espe 

 cially of meteorological data, which the publication of 

 their annual reports g % ave them facilities for generally 

 bringing before the country, and at little expense. This 

 idea they have acted upon, and not only are the tabu 

 lated observations they now annually append to their 

 report considered of great importance, but the records of 

 interesting occasional phenomena observed by intelligent 

 men in different parts of the State, which this appendix 

 embraces, give it a peculiar value, even in a popular 

 sense, which almost every reader is able to appreciate.* 



Would it not be a help to intellectual progress among 

 us, and to the most useful application of the educational 

 means we possess, were annual reports from all our 

 colleges also presented to the British Parliament, and 

 published for the information of the country ? 



Before leaving New York, I crossed over to Staten 

 Island, with the intention of making an agricultural 

 examination of a large part of its surface. A piercing 

 cold wind, however, and a thin flaky snow came on, 

 which confined me to a range of a few miles only. The 



* From a voluminous contribution upon various meteorological sub 

 jects, made to the appendix of the report for 1849, by a gentleman of 

 Brooklyn, the following short extracts will interest or amuse the 

 reader : 



1st. Speaking of the hot springs of the Washitta in the State of 

 Arkansas, he mentions that &quot;there is a water-insect that lives and 

 sports in the hottest springs, (148 Fahr.) something larger than the 

 wood-louse.&quot; 



2d. &quot; The forest on the White-faced peak of the Adirondack was 

 burned to the ground in 1843, and the very soil, not more than twelve 

 inches thick, calcined ; and it is now covered with blueberry bushes in 

 such profusion that 2000 bushels were picked there last season for 

 Montreal market.&quot; 



3d. After describing the burning wells of Kanhawha in north-western 

 Virginia, in which, from a depth of 1500 feet, large quantities of com 

 bustible gas rise along with the brine, and arc employed in boiling it 

 down into salt, he adds, &quot; The wells first sunk in this neighbourhood 

 to the depth of 300 or 400 feet, yielded petroleum, (liquid coal,) 



