Meteorology 663 



In the annual Report for i860 it appears that the appro- 

 priation from the Commissioner of Patents was " suddenly 

 and unexpectedly suspended,"^ so that thereafter it was im- 

 possible to continue the reduction of the results. Fortunately, 

 however, the general results of all the observations for six 

 years had already been presented to Congress in the joint 

 name of the Smithsonian Institution and the Patent Office, 

 and were in the hands of the Pul^lic Printer. The first vol- 

 ume, with the title of " Results of Meteorological Observa- 

 tions made under the direction of the United States Patent 

 Office and the Smithsonian Institution from the year 1854 to 

 1859 inclusive, being a Report of the Commissioner of Pat- 

 ents made at the First Session of the Thirty-sixth Congress," 

 was published in 1861.^ 



The second volume of these " Results of Meteorological 

 Observations" was issued in 1864, and, although it bore the 

 same title as the earlier volume, the subject matter was 

 entirely different, for it consisted chiefly of a digest of " Ob- 

 servations upon Periodical Phenomena in plants and ani- 

 mals from 1 85 1 to 1859, with tables of the dates of opening 

 and closing of lakes, rivers, harbors, etc.,"^ arranged by 

 Doctor Franklin B. Hough, and also a critical study of three 

 storms of 1859 made from data collected from the records in 

 the institution and prepared for publication by Professor 

 James H. Coffin, of Lafayette College. 



The first of the three papers demands more careful con- 

 sideration. Mention has already been made of the blanks 

 sent out in 181 7 by Josiah Meigs when in charge of the Land 

 Office, calling for information concerning the time of the 

 unfolding of the leaves of plants, the time of flowering, the 

 immigration of birds whether from North or South ; the im- 



1 " Smithsonian Report," iS6o, page 3 }. tiie year in meteorology appears on page 36 of 



2 A discussion of its contents together with the " Smithsonian Report " for 1861. 

 an account of the work accomplislied during 3" Smithsonian Report," 1864, page 25. 



