DISCOURSE OF W. B. TAYLOR. 289 



the practicability of telegraphic weather signals : 6th, in publishing 

 records and discussions made at its own expense, of the Arctic ex- 

 peditions of Kane, Hayes, and McClintock : 7th, in discussing and 

 publishing a number of series of special records embracing periods 

 of from twenty to fifty years in different sections of the United 

 States, of great interest in determining secular changes of the 

 climate: 8th, in the publication of a series of memoirs on various 

 meteorological phenomena, embracing observations and discussions 

 of storms, tornadoes, meteors, auroras, etc.: 9th, in a diffusion of a 

 knowledge of meteorology through its extensive unpublished cor- 

 respondence and its printed circulars. It has done all in this line 

 which its limited means would permit; and has urged upon Con- 

 gress the establishment with adequate appropriation of funds, of a 

 meteorological department under one comprehensive plan, 'in which 

 the records should be sent to a central depot for reduction, discus- 

 sion, and final publication.'"* 



In 1870, a meteorological department was established by the 

 Government under the Signal Office of the War Department, with 

 enlarged facilities for systematic observations : and agreeably to the 

 settled policy of the Institution, this important field of research 

 was in 1872, abandoned in favor of the new organization. f Of 

 the voluminous results of nearly a quarter of a century of system- 

 atic records over a wide geographical area which have been slowly 

 digested and laboriously discussed, only a small portion has yet been 

 published. The publication of the series when practicable, will 

 yet prove an inestimable boon to meteorological theory. 



Although our country can boast of many able meteorologists, 

 who have greatly promoted our knowledge of the laws of atmos- 

 pheric phenomena, it is safe to say that to no single worker in the 

 field is our nation more indebted for the advancement of this branch 

 of science to its present standing^ than to Joseph Henry. Quite as 

 much by his incitement and encouragement of others in such re- 

 searches, as by his own exertions, does he merit this award. To 



* Smithsonian Report for 1870, p. 43. 



t As an illustration of the popular favor in which this Signal service is held, it 

 may be stated that the annual appropriation by Government for its support now 

 exceeds not merely the entire Smithsonian income, but sixteen times that amount; 

 or in fact its whole endowment. 

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