652 The Smithsonian Institution 



whether they are round or oblong, and if oblong whether 

 they move sideforeniost or e7idfore7nost, or obliq^iely ; and to 

 ascertain their velocity and direction in all the different sea- 

 sons of the year ; the course of the wind in and beyond the 

 borders of the storm ; the fluctuation of the barometer and 

 change of temperature which generally accompany storms, 

 and the extent to which their influence is felt beyond their 

 borders." ^ 



Henry's request, sustained by the weighty opinions of such 

 eminent authorities, easily convinced the Board of Regents 

 of the value of the proposition, and on December 15, 1847, 

 that body appropriated " for instruments and other expenses 

 connected with meteorological observations, one thousand 

 dollars." ^ Such was the beginning of the meteorological 

 work of the Smithsonian Institution. 



With this very small appropriation it was impossible to put 

 into active operation the plan proposed by Loomis, if in- 

 deed, such was ever the intention of Henry, and the money 

 was properly diverted to the purchase of instruments. With- 

 out accurate appliances for the determination of observations, 

 no true results are possible in science, and no one knew this 

 fact better than Henry. 



It was the policy of the Institution then as now to seek aid 

 "from every quarter whence it maybe obtained,"^ and the 

 cooperation of the meteorological services then in existence 

 was the evident ambition of Henry. In August, 1848, Espy 

 was appointed Meteorologist in the Navy Department, and 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1846, page 47. I am inclined to believe that the introduction 



See also " Memoir of Elias Loomis," by Hu- of this simple method of representing and dis- 



bert A. Newton, contained in " Smithsonian cussing the phenomena of a storm was the 



Report," for 1890, page 754, where Professor greatest of the services which our colleague 



Newton calls attention to the weather maps rendered to science." 



made by Loomis in the year 1842, and points 2 Rhees, William J., " The Smithsonian In- 



out the great similarity between the maps stitution : Journals of the Board of Regents, 



now in use by the Weather Bureau and those Reports of Committees, Statistics, etc.," 



invented by Loomis. He says : "The great- page 43, Washington, 1879. 



est inventions are oft-times the simplest, and 3 « Smithsonian Report," 1849, page 14. 



